Fraktur birth certificate for Lydia Glasz / Glass, daughter of Leonard Glass and wife Christina, nee German. Hand drawn and colored on paper. Unusual confronting women with yellow dresses and red parasols flank central textblock within border. Tree of life above textblock; undulating plant w/ flowers sit on shelf at sides. Triple-line outside border.
German text translates to "Lydia Glasz daughter of Leonard Glasz and his wife Christina a born German. Was born 25th day of Jan. in the year of our Lord 1811.
Some buckling of paper overall. Some bleeding of ink, causing brown marks around letters; also in entire upper left corner. Small 1.4" brown streak below the word "Christina" in center panel.
Condition report of 1986 by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Phila. in file. No documented treatment. Matted and framed in 1996 by conservator Brian Howard.
Object ID
P.77.12
Notes
Similar to designs of Plate #61 in Weiser & Heaney, Penna. German Fraktur of The Free Library of Phila., v.1.
Research: Ancestry.com gives the marriage of fraktur recipient Lydia Glass to John Kempfer on 20 Nov. 1828 in Ephrata at the Bethany United Church of Christ. Husband John was born 19 Feb. 1809, died 4 April 1865. Lydia died 24 June 1853. Their daughter Elizabeth Kempfer (1836-1909) married David Rudy Buch (1834-1925) and lived in Lititz.
Ancestry also gives the 1810 Census in Earl, Lancaster Co. that lists Leonard Glase with 4 household members under 16 yrs., 1 at 16-25 yrs., and 2 over 25 yrs. Total of seven in home. Lydia was born the following year in 1811.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Credit
Gift of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Birth & baptismal certificate on laid paper. Printed form with central textblock in German within a multiple line border. Infilled and decorated around textblock by Speyer; cross-legged angel at top, pelicans feeding young at sides and flowers at sides and bottom. Watercolors are red, blue, yellow, green and brown.
Infilled for Johannes, son of Valiendein (Valentine) and Eliesabetha (Elisabetha) Bohmer of Brecknock Township in Lancaster Co., born Dec. 13, 1788.
Georg Friederich Speyer (active 1774-1801) used this printed form produced c. 1789 by Barton & Johnson of Reading. See Notes.
General wear with numerous creases and wrinkles; one pronounced vertical centerline crease. Repaired tears, esp at left edge. All edges are ragged and uneven, esp. at right.
Conserved by CCAHA in 1989 (see report in file). Hinged into window mat & back mat. Relaced in its original frame using UF-3 Plexiglas and acid-free cardboard on reverse with a taped mylar dust shield.
Object ID
G.77.50.1
Notes
Printed form by Reading printers Thomas Barton and Benjamin Johnson, circa 1789 (see Klaus Stopp, The Printed Birth & Baptismal Certificates of the Pa. Germans, v. 4, p. 84). Speyer used this printed form for Johannes Bohmer who was born the previous year in1788.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Role
Artist
Credit
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard Flanders Smith, Heritage Center Collection
Birth & Baptismal Certificate for Maria "Temi" (Demmy) printed in German language by "Johann Ritter und Comp." of Reading. Darkened golden oak frame.
Central text within boilerplate border; a putto above, angels standing on clouds at top sides and birds on branches at lower sides. Text infilled by unknown hand states Maria was born Oct. 26, 1806 in Manheim Twp. to Christoph Temi and his wife Catarina, nee Etienne. Maria was baptized May 10, 1807 by Rev. August Miehlenberg and the witnesses were Mathis Wolff and his wife Maria. Infill in printed fraktur hand includes interesting line extensions drawn to fill in gaps
Heavily watercolored with dense reds, blue and green on all images and borders. This version of Ritter's print is one of many variations printed in the early 1820s (see Klaus Stopp, pp. 182-186).
Inscribed "Mary" twice at top of reverse side; once in pencil and once in brown ink with decorative scrolling line surrounding name.
Note: See hand towel (P.04.26.1) done by "Maria Macdallna Damy" in 1836 (Younger sister of Maria). Another nearly identical towel (Plate 14 in This is the Way I Pass My Time) was done by sister Elizabeth Damy in the same year. Both sisters married the following year in 1837, Maria to Henry Fenstermacher, whose initials are on her towel in a central heart. Also included on towel are parents' names "Christopher and Catharine Damy."
Printed by Johann Ritter in Reading, PA; Lancaster County infill by unknown scrivener.
Age darkening & soil overall w/ darkest staining/soiling in upper area. Several small breaks; holes caused by green paint (branch at lower right, upper cornucopia and stalks opposite cornucopia).
Within a twisted foliate border is a central block depicting Adam & Eve flanking a tree with a serpent wound around the trunk offering Eve an apple. This is an engraving executed by Gabriel Miesse of Reading; his name appears at lower right followed by "sc" for "sculpsit", indicating the engraver. Two columns of verse flank the central block, telling the story of "the Fall" in conversational form. At top of broadside is the title in German: "Adam und Eva im Paradies." A subtitle reads: "Mel. Herzlich thut mich Verlangen, etc."
At bottom is: "Gedruckt in der Druckerey des Adlers von H.W. Villee, Lancaster, Pa. allwo alle Sorten Bilder, Bucher,/ Schriebmaterialien und Arzneyen zu haben find." This indicates the broadside was printed in the Lancaster Eagle's printshop (a newspaper started by Villee and Jacob Baab on Oct. 26, 1826). Villee was also selling pictures, books, stationery and even medicines out of his shop on N. Queen St.
See biographical info about Villee from Klaus Stopp's book in this file. He was born in France, served as a captain under Napolean, had to leave France in 1815 and ended up in America in 1820. Villee entered the printing business by working at "the Eagle," a newspaper in Reading. Villee was not successful as a printer in Lancaster, and he left sometime in 1832 or soon after, going to places like Lewisburg, Sunbury and Milton. After moving to Northumberland Co. and becoming a teacher, he finally died in 1842.
The Earnests note that Adam & Eve were popular fraktur subjects, especially among German-language printers of SE PA. They note that there are only about a half dozen Adam & Eve broadsides by Villee known.
Exhibited in Fraktur Exhibit in Masonic Lodge circa 2004 through 2007 (removed spring 2008).
See also P.01.60.1 and P04.48 for examples of a Heaven & Hell broadside by Villee.
North Queen St., Lancaster (printer); Reading, PA (engraver). Villee, Herman W., printer; Gabriel Miesse, engraver; unknown colorist
Paper darkened and soiled overall, wrinkled with fold lines and rough-edged with minor tears and folds. Stains scattered over surface with darkest stains within right text above center. Small hole at center of top foliate border.
Frame is homemade of stained and varnished tiger maple. Acidic cardboard backboard replaced with acid free matboard.
Object ID
P.04.48.1
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Irene N. Walsh, Heritage Center Collection
Fraktur, hand-made Geburts und Taufschein (B&BC), watercolor over pencil, on ruled wove paper, signed on back in pencil: "Henry Lapp / 1872"
Dominating the page is a large rounded heart, outlined in dark green and red, with an exterior conforming border of green vines (edged in black pen) and pink flowers. Written in Ink within the heart is a Christian exhortation: "Selig sind, die Gottes Wort / horen, bewahren und befolgen! / Christus bleibt Dein treuer Dort / Er wird fur Dich dan(?) sorgen". Crowning the heart at top is a ribbon-like banner in blue w/black highlighted edges with "Geburts // und Tauf // Schein." printed within it. A yellow flower peeks out from behind the banner.
Below the heart, is a horizontal rectangle outlined in blue and red, are 2 lines, poorly executed, written in black ink: "Befolge stets die Schrift, sie sei Dein Gluck auf Erden / Sie Fuhrt Dich auf den Weg das Himelreichzuerben." (It begins, "Always obey Scripture...").
According to the inscription & date on the reverse of this B&BC, Henry Lapp would only have been executed by Lapp at age 10. See a nearly identical B&BC -- P.97.41.2.
Provenance
Purchase at Lloyd C. and Miriam H. Hinden sale at Horst Auction, Nov. 15, 1997
Trinket chest of dovetail construction, hinged lid, turned feet and polychrome decoration. Bottom secured with square nails. Keyhole at front; key missing. On a burnt orange ground are 5 large decals (4 of fruit and 1 of flowers) and one small decal at front center of spread eagle, shield and banner. Chest sides and top have centered line decoration of 3 concentric rectangles with hollow corners (black, ochre, white). Feet are black. Edge moldings of lid and base painted black with yellow-green double line decoration enclosing leafy scrolling vines. Interior and underside unfinished.
Inked # 00.43.1 on bottom. Two old stickers: "65603" on back and "65625" on bottom.
Attributed to Joseph Lehn (1798-1892). South of Clay, Elizabeth Township.
Provenance
Transferred from the James Buchanan Foundation where chest was "found in collection" with history/provenance.
Paint soiled and darkened. Large scar on left end of lid molding. Arc scored into top at right front of lid. Wear/abrasions overall, especially lid and base molding. Loose left front foot and paint loss of right back foot. Pristine interior. One hing screw missing.
Object ID
G.03.35.1
Place of Origin
Elizabeth Twp.
Credit
Gif ot James Buchanan Foundation, Heritage Center Collec
