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DESCRIPTION:
Fraktur, that exquisite script formed with ornate letters and highly decorated borders, was created for nearly 90 consecutive years (1747-1836) by a series of teachers in the Mennonite schools in communities northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Because Mennonites were not known for producing paintings and other two-dimensional art, this well-developed practice of making quill-lettered bookplates, certificates, and rewards is particularly outstanding.
Historian and fraktur expert and collector Mary Jane Lederach Hershey tells about these Mennonite-run schools, the unusual teachers who oversaw them, and the artistic tradition they carried forward and passed on to their willing students.
Outstanding among these teachers was Christopher Dock, esteemed for his abilities to teach, to understand and motivate students, and to create fraktur that inspired others.
Hershey explores what shaped this respected approach to education and fueled this imaginative productivity. She explains the techniques used to make fraktur and comments on the work itself -- its style, what influenced it, its design motifs, and colors.
This book includes rich full-color photographs of more than 100 pieces of fraktur made between 1747 and 1836, complete with English translations of their German texts.
REVIEWS:
“One of the most
delightful and colorful studies of Pennsylvania German material culture
ever to be published. This Teaching I
Present provides readers with remarkably deep insights into history
and creative expression through fraktur—illuminated
manuscript writings. Mary Jane Lederach Hershey weaves fascinating
stories of a rural way of life
in which education was reverenced and teachers and their pupils created
works of transcending beauty.”
Gerard C. Wertkin, Director
American Folk Art Museum, New York
CONTENTS:
Series Editor’s Foreword, Steven M. Nolt 3
Preface, Alan G. Keyser 5
Maps 9
Introduction 13
From Europe to the New World 15
Starting Schools at Skippack and Salford 19
Schoolmaster Christopher Dock 31
Early Fraktur in Pennsylvania 45
Quills and Colors, Tulips and Birds 49
Color Plates with Notes, 1747 to 1836 57
Epilogue 159
Word Definitions 161
Chronological List of Dated Fraktur 164
from Skippack and Salford
Schoolmaster Biographical List 168
Student Biographical List 175
Transcriptions and Translations 179
Reflections and Acknowledgments 231
Endnotes 234
Bibliography 239
Index 241
About the Author 244 ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Mary Jane Lederach Hershey (b. 1930) has deep roots in the Skippack and Salford communities. In 1717 her Lederach ancestors settled at Salford where descendants of the original Lederachs have continued to live to the present day.
Hershey was baptized at the Salford Mennonite Church in 1945. She is an active member of the congregation where she has served as elder and teacher.
In 1972 Hershey was one of the founders of the Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania. She served as the first director of the Mennonite Heritage Center when it was located in Souderton, Pennsylvania. For many years she was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mennonite Historians, completing her tenure on the Board by serving four years as President. Currently Hershey is a Trustee Emeritus, a member of the Library and Collections Committee, and a consultant on exhibits and acquisitions.
She is a graduate of Goshen College (B.A., 1951) and Drexel Institute of Technology, now Drexel University (M.S., 1957).
Hershey is a real estate broker in a family business where she and her husband, Hiram, work with three of their children, Thomas, James, and Beth. Her son Peter is an occupational therapist and orthotist. All of Hershey’s children and her five grandchildren live in the Lower and Upper Salford community. |
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