Something I learned today is that the silly looking font
that the German language is often typed in is called “fraktur.” Here is an example of what I am talking about
if it doesn’t ring a bell.
The word “fraktur” also refers to a type of folk art of the
Pennsylvania Dutch. (I learned that today, too. Good for me!) They are manuscripts that often employ the
fraktur font and are illuminated with ink or water color images. Pennsylvania Dutch people created all kinds
of documents using the fraktur styles.
Birth certificates, family records, marriage certificates, and book plates.
Here is an example of a family record fraktur for the Müskenug family of
Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Dutch are not actually Dutch. They are German-speaking people and Americans
just took the word for Germans, “Deutsch,” and messed up the pronunciation, as
Americans enjoy doing. Their ancestors
came to America largely in the 18th century and settled in
Pennsylvania. They decided to keep their
traditions and language that they brought with them from Germany, and thus didn’t
fully assimilate into American society.
Many of them were Lutheran or Reformed, as well as Anabaptist, but in
WWII a lot of the Pennsylvania Deutsch gave up their language and strict German
traditions to avoid persecution. This
occurred during WWI too, but not to such great extent. However, some of the stricter sects of
Anabaptism clung to their language and traditions, such as the Amish and
Mennonites.
Grubb, Farley. "German Immigration to Pennsylvania,
1709 to 1820," Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 20, No. 3
(Winter, 1990), pp. 417–436 in JSTOR
Shelley, Donald. The Fraktur Writings or Illuminated
Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania
German Folklore Society, 1961.
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