Acknowledgments

As in the case of previous volumes in this series, the research for this one was supported by grants from the American Philosophical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Research Grant Board of the University of Maryland; and this volume is also indebted to the R. J. Taylor Foundation, which contributed to my latest visit to Herrnhut, Marburg, and London.

During and after the Renaissance, European art and scholarship were supported mainly by the princes, both secular and clerical; and it is to royal and noble houses that we owe the great works of Chaucer, Leonardo, Bach, and Mozart, as well as many great literary works. Such princely patronage continued, being augmented in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by successful men of business, who took subscriptions for the works of their artists and authors. Such patronage was slight in the United States until the Great Depression, the main support of the arts and humanities having fallen upon the universities and their limited resources. To enable impoverished artists and intellectuals to continue their work, the New Deal underwrote their productions; and since that time the Federal Government, like the royal governments of Europe, has been the greatest patron of the arts. Now that the Federal Government is reducing its commitment and leaving the responsibility to private foundations, there is less support for the growing number of artists and writers, who have to fill out longer and longer applications for the diminishing number of awards.

Fortunately, at least in the case of this series, history is reversing itself; and we are returning to the era when the cost is being assumed by benevolent persons to whom God has given the means. This and subsequent volumes are to be funded by private individuals urged on by Richard C. Kessler, a Salzburger descendant, who is funding this volume. He writes:

“I am delighted to have the opportunity of dedicating this important historic work of the history of our forefathers to my father, Callie Whitfield Kessler. It is a most appropriate dedication because he is truly a Salzburger—a hard worker, dedicated father, determined perfectionist, and a Christian committed to ideals and principles. We have shared the dream of continuing to promote and build upon what our ancestors so well began, a place where families can live, learn, and support each other in their Christian beliefs. At the site settled by the Georgia Salzburgers we are building the New Ebenezer Family Retreat and Conference Center. Callie Whitfield Kessler has shown exemplary commitment in this work, particularly in constructing the New Ebenezer Family Retreat and Conference Center, which I believe Boltzius would applaud. His commitment, dedication, and fervor for quality are certainly models for other Salzburger descendants to respect and follow.”

All Salzburger descendants who know Callie Whitfield Kessler will surely endorse this loving tribute.

George Fenwick Jones  
University of Maryland