Certificate, Pennsylvania Business and Shorthand College
Description
Printed certificate for efficiency in rapid calculation awarded to Lydia G. Carpenter presented by the Pennsylvania Business and Shorthand College, Lancaster; dated November 13, 1912. Round gold seal on bottom center. All within a red border.
Half-tone print, "Remembrance of the First Holy Communion" of "John Tragesser / Holy Trinity Church, Columbia, Pa , 11 June 1916." Signed in ink by the pastor (faded and unable to read).
Picture of Jesus Christ holding a glowing circular medallion with a cross and IHS. Distributed by "The Diederich-Schaefer Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin (No. 2022); and "Printed in Germany."
Star-patterned, pieced-wool bed cover, created by Martha Lutz Walter from her husband William Walter's Reading Railroad uniforms. Alternate black wool blocks are decorated with multicolored wool plushwork stars w/ raised, sculpted appearance. Remaining alternate wool blocks are secured with wool yarn ties. Seams of pieced blocks have green and red feather stitching. Binding stitch secures edges. Backing is blue and orange, striped, pilled cotton flannel.
Provenance
Made by donor's mother. William Walter was a station agent for the Reading Railroad in Denver, PA.
Plushwork decoration was popular in the early 20th century.
See Trish Herr's Amish Arts of Lancaster Co.1998 for other examples of plushwork and a description of this decoration on page 44. See page 45 for photos demonstrating this technique. See also pp. 90-91 for another example of a plushwork bed cover.
Reverse: "This medal attests the esteem of his neighbors for the journalist, lawyer, friend of education whose citizen devotion to his native country through an active and useful life has added lustre to its history, traditions and honor.