Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur

Fraktur art in America combines family history with folk art in a beautiful, rich tradition - a document any genealogist would be ecstatic to find passed down in their family. Typically found in Pennsylvania Dutch or Germany American families, fraktur are handwritten, or sometimes printed manuscripts that are hand-decorated with pen, ink and watercolor - blending ornate text with riotous color and Pennsylvania Dutch design. Although they evolved from medieval European decorated manuscript art, the American fraktur is a personal family record, used to document births, baptisms, marriages, genealogies, and other personal family recods. They are of special value to genealogists of German and Swiss heritage because they celebrate family events among some of America's earliest immigrant families.

The American fraktur tradition began about 1740 in southeast Pennsylvania, but quickly spread to other states - just about anywhere that Pennsylvania Germans settled. The beautiful hand-written and watercolor decorated paper manuscripts were primarily created during the late-eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century, but are still being made today. The true American fraktur was handmade, but printers in larger cities such as Philadelphia, Lancaster and Harrisburg, printed various versions of decorated birth and baptismal certificates, embellished with colorful flowers, birds, hearts and geometric designs. Even the printed fraktur have their own unique flair, however, with handwritten genealogy data, extra color and designs added to personalize the document.

The fraktur gets its name from a specific type of ornate blackface lettering often employed in its creation, although many later examples no longer employ the fraktur hand. Most of the early examples are written in German, but by the nineteenth century many were written or printed in English.

For further reading on fraktur, read the following:

Fraktur: Folk Art and Family, a book by Corinne & Russell Earnest

Fraktur - Folk Art & Family, an article summarizing some of the background and history found in the above referenced book. From Antiques & the Arts Online.

Fraktur on eBay - original fraktur documents can be found eBay on almost any given day. There are generic printed fraktur certificates available as well, so be sure you know what you're getting before you purchase.