This needlework roll or "Housewife" is a handmade pieced storage case having five pockets of four diffferent cotton prints sewn onto one side of a length of fabric. Outer fabric is a polka dot print on blue. Bound with a 1/4" wide cotton binding of a floral print on white ground.
Several small holes and weak spots, especially in blue print.. Splits in the lower red pocket. Areas of strong soiling, especially on binding and the upper red pocket.
Object ID
2015.999.18
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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
SA firefighter's belt marked Shiffler 7. A 2.325in wide black leather belther belt bound around edges in freen leather with a zig zag edge on the front center cut out portion revelas a red background with raised white letters "SH FFLER HOSE." There is a 2.75in wide moveable slide with edges bound in green and red cut out background with raised "7." A 9in leather strip attached to back holds slide. A 10in long x .75in wide belt with 10 holes is attached 14in from the rounded end witha small buckle at the opposite end. Taped to back, handwritten in ink "J./_ G. Goodman."
White metal helmet plate with brass banner with "SHIFFLER" at top, 3in high "7" in center, and banner with "S. FIre Co." at bottom. Names and numbers attached with 7 nuts in the back.
Firefighter's belt from the Shiffler Fire Company. 2.5in wide leather belt painted red, edges bound in blue painted leather iwth a scalloped edge on teh front. Center cut out portion reveals a blue background with raised metal letters "SHIFFLER." A silver colored metal buckle (3") displays in relief firefighting equipment. A shield in the center contains a #7. The bent edge attached to the back hooks over a link at the oppostie end of the belt. metal hooks at ends can be moved to various holes to adjust the size of the belt.
Firefighter's belt from the Shiffler Fire Company. 2.5in wide leather belt painted dark red, edges bound in green leather with a scalloped edge on the front. Center cut out portion reveals a green background with raised metal letters: "SHIFFLER." A silver colored metal buckle (3in) displays in relief fire fighting equipment. A sheild in the center contains a #7. The bent edge on the back of the shield hookos over a link at the pposite end of the belt. Belt size is adjusted by moving hooks (attached at both ends of belt) to various holes in the belt.
Note: A card, found loose in the box near this belt reads: "Shiffler Fire Co., No 7, Leather Belt. Presented by Mrs. Elizabeth Morrison, Bausman, PA."
A card, found loose in the box near this belt, reads: "Shiffler Fire Co., No 7, Leather Belt. Presented by Mrs. Elizabeth Morrison, Bausman, PA." No more information in known. 11/18/2015 VAP
Firefighter's belt from the Shiffler Fire Company. 2.5in wide leather belt painted dark red, edges bound in green leather with a scalloped edge on the front. Center cut out portion reveals a green background and raised metal letters: " SHIFFLER." A silver colored metal buckle (3") displays a #7. The bent edge attached to the back of the shield hooks over a link at the opposite end of the belt. Belt size is adjusted by moving hooks (attached to both ends) to various holes in the belt.
Spiral labyrinth, watercolor and ink on wove paper, signed by John A. Landis (15 Sep 1777 - 8 Mar 1862) of Lancaster City. Within a line border is a compass-drawn large circle filled with interwoven near-circles (paths of labyrinth) emanating from another center circle that is in turn filled with compass-drawn floral decoration. The near-circle pathways have text written within, beginning at the top with the words, "What is a gentleman?" Leafy vines with flowers fill the corners outside of the large circular labyrinth. Two distelfink-type birds are perched on lower vines. At bottom center is a heart in which vines are anchored. Within heart are 4 lines of neatly printed English: "Made By/ John A. Landis in the/ Year of our Lord 1852/ in the Seventy Fifth/ Year of his/ Age."
Reverse side of frame has two stickers; the top one reads: "MSC/ #135" and the lower one reads: "T76.10.37/ (MSC - 135)."
Unusual -- believed to be the only hand-done Lancaster City fraktur known. Samuel Baumann is the design source for Landis's birds, flowers and hearts. Baumann produced printed fraktur in Ephrata in the early 19th century. See NOTES
Provenance
Provenance: Dealer Hattie Brunner to Dr. & Mrs. Donald A. Shelley. Shelley collection sold at auction (Pook & Pook), Oct. 2004 to Heritage Center.
Paper is darkened overall; watercolored words of labyrinth are blurry and often illegible.
Object ID
P.04.45.1
Notes
According to Landis family genealogy & other sources, Landis operated a museum in Lancaster City at several successive locations. Article in Lancaster Gazette, 1825, lists detailed changes & additions Landis made to the museum.
Landis married twice, leaving no children and is buried in Shreiner's cemetery (tall monument along Mulberry St. side). The 1850 Census records him living, at age 72, with his wife Sarah in a hotel kept by Henry Nauman. He is also listed in the 1860 Census but of course gone by 1870.
Labyrinths have been made in various forms for centuries, traditionally of a spiritual nature. According to Michael Bird, "The labyrinth had pre-Christian roots in the worlds of Crete, Greece and Rome..." Landis's labyrinth is unusual in that it is not rooted in a spiritual or Biblical theme, but instead focuses on moral character. This compass-drawn design is not traditional Pa. German; it is likely Anglo-inspired.
This labyrinth was illustrated in Donald Shelley's "The Fraktur-Writings of Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pa. Germans", figure #223. See Klaus Stopp's The Printed B&BCs of the German Americans, Vol. II, pp. 208-217, for fraktur printed by the Baumanns of Ephrata. These show the source of motifs used in this labyrinth.
Dial scribe used originally for engraving circular lines (chapter rings) in brass dials. Converted for use with later white-painted dials (probably held a pen, according to clock expert Ed LaFond). Used by Jacob Gorgas (1728-1798). Maker unknown; most likely Lancaster Borough.
The tool arm is created from a foot-long bar of iron, rectangular in section. One end is enlarged and fitted with a vertical attachment made of cone-shaped iron surmounted by a turned wooden (walnut?) handle. This vertical attachment comes to a blunt point at the bottom. A shaped sleeve fits onto the horizontal iron bar and is fitted with a vertical hexagonal hole at one side. Two iron thumb screws are positioned at each side of sleeve.
Provenance
Owned by two brothers, Samuel K. and William L. Fraser, clockmakers who lived in Lincoln (just west of Ephrata) and grandsons of clockmaker William Fraser (1801-1877), then to early collector Earl T. Strickler (FNAWCC) who had it on display at the Columbia Clock and Watch Museum. Upon Strickler's sudden death circa 1974, it was sold by his widow, Mary Jane Strickler, to Edward F., Jr. and Virginia A. LaFond who owned it for "20 some" years. They then traded it to dealer Jamie Price for some clocks. Price had it on sale at the 2004 Philadelphia Antiques Show in mid-April where, as representative for the von Hess Foundation, Tom Cook, purchased it for this museum's collections.
Ed LaFond believes the Fraser family was related to the Gorgas family, thus they were in a position to inherit tools. Due to this, it was believed at first that both the machine and the scribe were from the Gorgas family. However, LaFond believes the Frasers were also related to the Shreiners.
Iron surface is pitted from corrosion, now stable. Turned wood handle is moderately worn and scarred with a broken off piece creating one flattened side. Wood is also checked (cracked) throughout neck.
Object ID
G.04.19.2
Notes
Stacy Wood researched origins and provenance of these tools and wrote an article in Vol. 96 #4 of LCHS Journal. Conversations with Virginia LaFond ( 5/19/04) and Ed LaFond (7/6/04).
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Usage
Gorgas, Jacob, 1728-1798
Credit
Gift of the Richard C. von Hess Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
