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
Printed and hand-decorated Haus Segen is a 3-heart form on wove paper. Unable to detect if outlines of the 3 hearts are printed and painted over with heavy paint or if this is free hand work or traced. Outline on large central heart is black; two small ones are red.
Text block in large heart begins "Haus= Segen" followed by 9 lines of a house blessing in German. Between title and text is a small tailpiece of angels. Below the text is another tailpiece of a robed woman holding a shield with an anchor and "IN GOD / WE HOPE". Below tailpiece is the imprint "Gedruckt und zu haben bei / Isaac Palm, / Brecknock Taunschip, / Lancaster Co. / 1860."
Each small heart has a printed stanza. Remaining paint decoration is uses very thick, dark paints of red, yellow and black to create the conventional printed motifs such as used by Ephrata printer Samuel Baumann (2004.742).. Decoration consists of flowers at top, birds at sides, running stags in lower corners and two large flowers at bottom center. Printed line border across very bottom.
Printed in Brecknock Twp. by Isaac Palm; Decorator unknown
Fraktur has been inexpertly trimmed all four sides. Minor foxing and light brown stains & soil. Three cellophane tape mends on tears at bottom have bled through, creating dark brown stains. Bottom is esp. ragged with losses at 4 main areas, most significantly the lower right corner and 4" to left of corner. Paper has moderate wrinkling. Some paint loss, particularly the large red & black bird above stag. Back has areas with tape and glue residue.
Rev. Fred Weised noted that it is worth it to restore this piece.
Object ID
2004.740
Notes
Appraised by Rev. Fred Weiser, 2 Sept 1988. This fraktur designated #40.
Isaac Palm is not listed by Klaus Stopp in his multi-volume set, The B&BCs of the German Americans.
Census of 1880 and 1900 show Isaac Z. Palm lived with his parents Daniel & Nancy in Brecknock Twp. his whole life with no occupation listed. Daniel Palm was listed as a blacksmith in 1880 and a mechanic in 1900.
Isaac's Death Certificate shows Isaac Z. Palm was born 31 Dec.1842 died 26 Aug 1906 and was buried Bowmansville Union Cemetery. He was 63 yrs. 7 mos. old at death and single. Informant John Z. Palm notes father was Daniel and mother was "Zerlee", apparently her maiden name.
Why did Isaac remain a dependent? If Isaac printed this 1860 fraktur, he would likely have been only 17 yrs. of age (not 18 until Dec. 31)..
Bookplate for Peter T.(?) Stauffer penned in purple lettering by Thomas H. Wall (active circa 1876-1898) on a detached end page of a book. Wove paper is light brown. The name arches at top of page with "1876" directly underneath. Embellished with filligree and other decorative flourishes.
Fraktur, hand-made Geburts und Taufschein, watercolor over pencil, on un-ruled wove paper, signed on back in pencil with a shaky or tentative hand: "Henry Lapp / 1871" Certificate is not infilled for a recipient.
Horizontal ribbon-like banner in blue with red outline, split at either end, with the words "Geburts // und Tau // Schein." written within it in black ink. A yellow floral decoration rises above the banner. Center of page is filled with a large rounded heart, outlined in blue and red. Written within the heart, at bottom, is: "Selig sind, die Gottes Wort / horen bewahren und befolgen! / Christus bleibt Dein treur Dort / Er wird fur Dich dan(?) sorgen".
Underneath the heart, at the bottom of the page, is a horizontal rectangle painted yellow, outlined in green and red, with this phrase written within in black ink: "Befolge stets die Schrift, sie sei Dein Gluck auf Erden / Sie Fihrt Dich auf den Weg das Himelreichzuerben". (Translation of 1st phrase is "Always obey Scripture").
According to the inscription & date on the reverse of this birth & baptismal certificate, it would have been executed by Lapp when was only nine years old. This is a nearly identical variant of B &BC (P97.41.1).
Provenance
Purchase at Lloyd C. and Miriam H. Hinden sale at Horst Auction, Nov. 15, 1997
Foxing and age discoloration of paper. Ink smear in bottom phrase.
Horizontal crease at center. Red mark, bottom right quadrant. Minor wrinkles to paper. Lower right corner and right edge badly folded with tears. Folding to bottom left corner and top edge. Small tears to left and top edges.
Framed for an exhibit by Lancaster Galleries.
Object ID
P.97.41.2
Notes
From the collection of Floyd C. and Miriam H. Hinden of Ronks.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Role
Artist
Credit
Gift of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Fraktur birth record for Henry C. Harnish, ink, pencil and watercolor on buff wove paper.
Text in black lettering with polychrome shading in pink, blue and grey. Names decorated with calligraphic flourishes typical of this time. Each line is a different lettering styles.
Text reads: "Henry C. Harnish/ Son of/ John and Elizabeth Harnish/ Was Born/ September 4th 1874./ Pequea Township/ Lancaster County/ Pennsylvania." The text is surrounded by an oval drawn in pencil.
Removed from frame: old worn frame had wide molding, originally gilded, stained dark brown and varnished.
Fraktur is darkened with acid burn, especially around edges. Large oval acid burn (caused by knot in wood) just below center. Some small tears and losses around edges. Light soiling.
Frame heavily worn with many scratches, gashes and cracks. Removed from frame due to acidic wooden backing boards. Now unframed.
Object ID
P.00.41.1
Notes
Research: A John Harnish is listed as a farmer in New Danville in the 1869 Directory. See file for results of search for Henry.
Watercolor of bird, fraktur-type, done for an Amish female, attributed to Amish artist.
Bird perched in stylized tree, done on plain off-white wove paper. The tree has one main trunk with five small, arching branches terminating in a globular yellow fruit. Uppermost branch ends in a tulip. Three gray-blue leaves attach to trunk. Bird has yellow body decorated with inked texture marks, brown head and wings and gray-blue beak.
Inscriptions: At bottom right in inked German script is "May 1848." At upper left, written sideways in the same hand is "Fannie Hochstetler/ 1848/ Nannie H. Beiler/ 1896.
Mounted in brown paper window mat and frame (likely by sellers for sale). Frame is flat softwood with half-lap, mitered joints and paint-decorated with a dark glaze over a medium-brown ground. Hanging ring at top. (Written by Wendell Zercher)
Provenance
According to sellers' research this may have been a gift to Fannie Hochstetler in 1848, after which she may have married and become "Nannie H. Beiler." Gingerich and Krieder record a Veronica/Fannie/Franey Hostetler (HS5362) (1840-1914) of Mifflin County who married John K. Byler (BY3566) (1831-1904) also of Mifflin Co. Thus, the Earnests are suggesting the sideways description may have been added later than the original 1848 inscription at bottom.
Bought from Russell Earnest & Associates, Nov. 2, 2001, for $1300.00.
Paper has bee trimmed, probably on all four sides. Multiple fold lines with a cluster at upper left corner, a horizontal one at 2 and 2/1 inches from bottom and a vertical one at 1 7/8 inches from right edge. Moderate to heavy soiling, especially above May 1848 date. Upper left cover has minor loss all corners have paste and remnants of paper where previously attached.
Drawing has slid askew since earlier photo. It would be easy to fix. (MAW)
Watercolor painting of strawberries with no background/context, on irregularly cut plain white piece of paper. Berry stems are painted black, berries are red with green and blue sepals, and of the green leaves only one is fully veined, in black. Watercolor was overvarnished, giving a glossy finish.
Mounted on matboard with glue and placed in modern natural-finished frame with sealed back. New article on H. Lapp taped to back, numerous inscriptions on back including "H. Lapp $325 1979" at top. "Elizabeth A. Gilbert" and "56" on a circular sticker at bottom.
(Written by Wendell Zercher.)
Provenance
Bequeathed from the estate of Mary R. Gilbert. Apparently purchased in 1979 for $325.00.
Paining is of plums attached to branch with one leaf; no background, done on small plain white paper. Plums are deep purple, leaf is green and branch is brown. Pencilled sketch lines can be seen, including the veining of the one leaf. All watercolored areas have been overpainted with a glossy laquer or varnish.
Pasted onto matboard and mounted in modern lightly-stained frame with sealed back.
Note: This painting had previously been viewed using the right side (with pin holes) as the top edge. There appear to be remnants of hinges along this edge and others.
Pencil drawing of stylized flower colored with vivid watercolors; dominant flower of orange and yellow on green stem with various leaves of green and yellow; two side stems of black terminate in very stylized "fruit" at left (ball of orange, yellow and purple) and "flower" at right (4-pointed motif of purple and yellow with black dots).
At page bottom is the name "Magdalena Zimmerman" done in fraktur-style, black lettering. It would be inferred that Magdalena was the owner of the painting, and possibly even executed wither for or by this individual, but most likely for her.
Ruled paper has been hand trimmed on all four sides. Reverse has computation of addition and subtraction; also three illegible names (?) with hash marks registered below each.
(Written by Wendell Zercher.)
Provenance
This painting came from The Book Haven in Lancaster, PA, and was paid for by the Donegal Chapter of the DAR. 5 April 1996. $125.00.
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
