PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH FRAKTUR GALLERY

Strictly speaking, fraktur is an ornate type of written or printed German, similar to Gothic lettering in English. Pennsylvania Dutch Geburts und Taufscheins --- birth and baptismal certificates --- and other such documents often employ fraktur lettering. Often, the documents themselves are called "frakturs," even if they have no fraktur lettering at all.

All of the images below can be enlarged by clicking them. The captions and/or the images themselves usually have additional genealogical information, beyond that given on this page. Many images were directly scanned, and the edges are cut off ... sorry ! There may also be a noticeable cut line where I merged two scans to make a single image.

For the benefit of those who would like to learn more about fraktur, I've added a section on recommended reading.

If you buy only one book about fraktur, you should buy Fraktur: Folk Art & Family by Corinne and Russell Earnest. The reason is simple: Fraktur should be looked at, read, appreciated as art. This book is jammed with large-format color photographs of prime fraktur documents. The book is also enormously instructive. Simply by browsing and reading the informative captions, one gains a basic knowledge of American fraktur.

For the serious student of fraktur, there are three essential works:

(1) The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans by Donald Shelley is not the first written work about American fraktur. But it is the best and greatest of the early studies of fraktur. The general approach is scholarly, and (for its time) comprehensive, yet it is also very readable and clearly evidences the author's enthusiasm for his subject. This is a real classic. It is long out of print, but copies can still be obtained from antiquarian booksellers.

(2) Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners by Russell D and Corinne P Earnest is the definitive work about the schoolmasters, itinerant artists, and scholars who filled in fraktur certificates, and who sometimes decorated them with watercolors. The work of the fraktur scribes and artists ranges from mundane to sublime. But Russell and Corinne cover them all. This is a scholarly work, and all known scriveners/artists are included.

(3) The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, 6 volumes, by Klaus Stopp is the definitive work about the printers of fraktur Birth and Baptismal Certificates, or Geburts= und Tauf=Schein. This is a monumental, magnificent work. The discussion of printers and printing methods in 18th and 19th Century America is fabulous. Thousands of certificates are cataloged, and key genealogical information from each one is presented.

OK ... What I described above are the essential works on American fraktur. There are many other very worthwhile publications. For instance, the 2-volume catalog of fraktur in the Free Library of Philadelphia, or Fraktur Writings and Folk Art Drawings of the Schwenkfelder Library Collection by Dennis Moyer, which combines a scholarly narrative and magnificent color reproductions.

Many books about fraktur are available for purchase from Russell D Earnest Associates. For further information, contact Russell D Earnest Associates, P.O. Box 1007, East Berlin, PA 17316-0507. Phone: 717-259-0299. FAX: 717-259-0744. E-mail: RDEARNEST@aol.com.

Fraktur: Folk Art & Family by Corinne and Russell Earnest. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, Atglen, PA, 1999.