Object Number 1957.1221 A

Object Name

Fraktur (Birth and baptismal certificate)

Title

Birth and baptismal certificate (Geburts und Taufschein) of Jacob Laucks

Category

Works on Paper

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Johann Henrich Otto (Decorator)
02/05/1733-c. 1799
References: Earnest, Papers for Birth Dayes, pp. 312-19. Otto started making hand-drawn fraktur in the 1770s and printed broadsides in 1772. He also used birth and baptismal certificates printed at Ephrata Cloister in the 1780s (the earliest printed date is 1784). He marred Anna Catharine Dauterich, and they are believed to have had ten children, including four sons who also became fraktur artists: William (1761-1841), Jacob (active in Lancaster County, n. d.), Conrad (1770-1857; his son, P. C. Otto, was also a fraktur scrivener) and Daniel (c. 1770-c. 1821; formerly known as the Flat Tulip Artist). (See Earnest, p. 313.)

Ephrata Cloister printshop (Printer)
References: Stopp, The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol. 2, pp. 98-217. The Ephrata printshop is credited with producing the first printed certificates in America. Its press printed forty editions by 1800. (Stopp, p. 98).

Place of Origin

Ephrata, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Origin Notes

Primary creation place is location of printshop.

Secondary Place of Origin

Tulpehocken, Berks, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Secondary Origin Notes

Secondary creation place is birthplace on certificate. Exact place Otto decorated certificate not known; he moved from Lancaster County to Northumberland County about 1790.

Date

1788-1790

Materials

Ink; Watercolor; Paper (laid); Board

Techniques

Drawn, Hand colored, Hand lettered, Letterpress, Woodblock, Painted

Dimensions (inches)

13 (H) , 16.5 (W) , 12.8 (Image H) , 16.5 (Image W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

33 (H) , 42 (W) , 12.8 (Image H) , 16.5 (Image W)

Measurement Notes

H at left. W at bottom. Chain intervals and laid lines per cm not measured.

Coloring

Hand colored with watercolors

Edition Notes

Bird panels, third state (see Stopp 245.2).

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Stopp, Klaus. 1997 The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans. 2.
• Published under Stopp 245.2, p. 144.
[Book] Earnest, Russell D. & Earnest, Corinne P. 1997 Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners. 2 vols. 909.
• For mroe on Otto, see pp. 594-600. This example not listed.