Pennsylvania German Fraktur, "Birth   and Baptismal Certificate."  Inscribed for Johanna Montelius, July 14, 1825.  Hand-drawn and printed by Peter Montelius.  Permanent Collection, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College; from the Pennsylvania Folklife Society.

Pennsylvania German Lace-up Shoes, c. early 20th century.  Brown leather, metal rivets, laces.  Permanent Collection, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College; from the Pennsylvania Folklife Society.

A special exhibit of artifacts from this collection is now on view at the Historical Society of Trappe, through December 14, 2003.  For more information, please click here.

One distinct feature of the Berman Museum permanent collection is the Pennsylvania German Folk Art and Archives.  Ursinus College is located near the heart of the Pennsylvania German and Dutch community, and its origins lie deep in the Pennsylvania German heritage of Church Germans and Mennonites in southeastern Pennsylvania.  It is fitting that the Berman Museum of Art celebrate these roots and values by preserving the folk culture tradition in a formal collection of books, fraktur, artifacts, documents, and material objects.

The origins of this collection lay in the work of Alfred L. Shoemaker, Walter E. Boyer, and Don Yoder who built a Folk culture program in Lancaster, Pa., which developed in to the Pennsylvania Folklife Society.  In 1968 the Shoemaker-Boyer-Yoder operation, with its artifacts and archives, was donated to Ursinus College who was entrusted with ensuring the preservation and accessibility of the material.

The Pennsylvania German Archives consist of religious and political broadsides, almanacs, German and American imprints, account ledgers, Bibles, hymnbooks, musical compositions, printed folktales and the Alfred L. Shoemaker Folk Culture Card File.  The Fraktur collection numbers over 100 and includes geburtsund-taufscheine (births and baptismal) certificates, marriage documents, Vorschrift (writing exercises), and bookmarks or awards of merit.  Other artifacts include handcarved wood kitchen utensils such as buttermolds, bowls, plates and buckets, forged iron farm implements, distinctive redware pottery, a rare and valuable punched-tin coffee pot and pie-safe doors, chalkware animals, primitive watercolor paintings, woven baskets, handpainted eggs, children's toys, and exquisite handstitched quilts, coverlets, and bedclothes.

Theresa Weber, class of '02, and Lisa Minardi, Curatorial Assistant, class of '04 are currently overseeing more then 5,000 objects in the Berman Museum of Art's PA German Collection which serve to shed light on a culture that continues to thrive in the fertile land of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Tremper Hanover, The Muriel M. Berman Director

"Quilt-Pomegranate"  c.1860-1875;.  Cotton fabric, thread and batting;Permanent Collection, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College; from the Pennsylvania Folklife Society.

Background Image:  Selected artifacts including Bordner woven coverlet, sgraffito plate, Medinger harvest jug, oak gathering basket, butter print, hinge.  Permanent Collection, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College; from the Pennsylvania Folklife Society.