Happy International Museums Day 2022! This year museums across the globe are celebrating the power of museums to change the world. Leonhart Fuchs, considered the father of modern botany, did just that in 1543 when he produced his “New Herbal” plant catalog. With more than 500 illustrations and 1,100 pages of text, he identified and detailed many types of medicinal plants found both in the Old World and the recently discovered New World.

In 1758, Rev. Lucas Raus, a Lutheran pastor and trained physician, brought an original copy of Fuch’s book across the Susquehanna to Yorktowne, where he became pastor of Christ Lutheran Church for 10 years. Rev. Raus had studied at the University of Liepzig and at the University of Jena in Germany, where he may have acquired Fuch’s work. Raus went on to help establish numerous Lutheran churches across York County, including Quickle’s, Bleimeier’s, Kreutz Creek, Schuster’s, Stehle’s and Frey’s, and to practice medicine and train his sons in the field of medicine until his passing in 1788. Several of Rev. Raus’s descendants were among the county’s most prominent and influential physicians, including Dr. Samuel J. Rouse who practiced medicine for more than 50 years including three years as an Army surgeon at the Penn Park military hospital during the Civil War. In the early 1900s, Dr. Samuel J. Rouse’s nephew, John L. Rouse, donated the herbal to the Historical Society of York, and we have preserved and shared it for more than 100 years.

From Fuch’s world-changing research in the field of botany and medicine to the impact of this work on our local community, it’s a great day to celebrate this important piece of our history and the role museums like the History Center play in preserving and sharing it! #ThePowerofMuseums