This online bibliography, "German-Language Broadsides in North America, 1730-1830," represents a significant piece of a joint scholarly publishing project between the University Libraries and the Penn State University Press. The other two components of the project are a monograph by Hermann Wellenreuther, titled Citizens in a Strange Land: A Study of German-American Broadsides and Their Meaning for Germans in North America, 1730-1830, and a print bibliography, which shares the title of this online bibliography and was compiled by Wellenreuther and his colleagues Reimer Eck and Anne von Kamp. The online bibliography is intended to be an evolving, searchable resource. By making bibliographic descriptions of German-American broadsides from this era more widely available via Web-based access, we hope that researchers can contribute additional information about them, perhaps enhancing the accuracy of these records or adding to the number of images referenced by them.
Like its print counterpart, the online bibliography shows a brief record for every broadside printed (or partially printed) in German, from 1730 to 1830, in what is recognized today as the United States. Unlike the print bibliography, however, the online version displays many more images. Researchers should find the broadsides recorded here rich in subject areas such as folklore, religion, hymnology, German language, anthropology, and art. The broadsides expand on what is known about German settlers in the Middle Atlantic region. As Wellenreuther notes, "They suggest settlers were consciously developing their own German-language world -- in religious as well as political and economic terms -- within a larger English-language culture. They strongly indicate continuous, vivid ties between North America and the key regions from which the Germans came, particularly Württemberg and Baden. They supply material for the rewriting of radical pietistic thought, on the one hand, and for a description of the settlers' remarkable aloofness from established churches like Lutheranism or the Reformed church on the other.
This collection includes over 250 images from the holdings of Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Special Collections Library. The term "Fraktur" (the word is both singular and plural) originally described a type of German printing similar to old English Gothic. The term today refers to drawings on paper made with pen, ink, and watercolor, using fancy penmanship and illustrations such as birds, hearts, flowers, and angels. They were commonly used in the 18th and 19th centuries to document births and baptisms, marriages, and house blessings, among other occasions. The collection also includes broadsides (sheets of paper printed on one side only, such as commentaries on religious texts and political events) and German-language newspapers. These documents provide us with insight into the everyday life of German immigrants and show the process of acculturation of German settlers to their new environment.
Note: The broadsides shown above are from Penn State's German Broadsides and Fraktur collection.
