Object Number 1954.0018 A

Object Name

Fraktur (Birth and baptismal certificate)

Title

Birth and baptismal certificate (Geburts und Taufschein) of Christian Braun

Category

Works on Paper

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Edgar H. Sittig

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. Exact place Otto decorated certificate not known; he moved from Lancaster County to Northumberland County about 1790.

Secondary Place of Origin

Bethlehem Township, Northampton, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Secondary Origin Notes

Secondary creation place is birth place given on certificate. According to Frederick S. Weiser, a number of blank certificates printed in Ephrata and decorated by Otto were filled out using red letterpress printing for children born in the Lehigh Valley.

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; Lower right; Henrich Otto.

Materials

Ink; Watercolor; Paper (laid)

Techniques

Hand colored, Letterpress, Woodblock, Drawn, Painted

Dimensions (inches)

13.3 (H) , 16.6 (W) , 13.3 (Image H) , 16.6 (Image W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

33.8 (H) , 42.2 (W) , 13.3 (Image H) , 16.6 (Image W)

Measurement Notes

H at left. W at bottom. Chain interval: 2.6 cm; 9 laid lines per cm.

Watermark

Right center

Coloring

Hand colored with watercolors

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 in Stopp 2, p. 148.