Pennsylvania German Arts and Antiques

Popularity of "Amish Fiction"

"Wanda E. Brunstetter has written more than 45 books and six series. Her first Amish novel, 'A Merry Heart,' featured an embittered Amish schoolteacher and is the first book in her Brides of Lancaster County trilogy."

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Himmels Brief: Letter from Heaven Insurance Policy

"Hanging framed copies of this 'Himmels Brief' (or Heaven’s Letter) on the wall protected a house and barn 'from fire and water. ... Anyone who carries this letter with him or has it in his house will not be struck by thunder and lightning.'"

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A New Website: John Fass: A Pennsylvania Dutch Artist in New York City

Above: John Stroble Fass   (born 1890 - died 1973)

 

Above: Photography and Letterpress Printing by John Fass

John Stroble Fass was a graphic designer and a printer of fine press books. Fass designed books for the leading American publishers of limited edition books.

Collectors of private press books also remember John Fass for the handcrafted books he printed on a tabletop printing press in his one-room apartment at the Bronx YMCA. John named this press the Hammer Creek Press, for the stream which flows near his hometown of Lititz, PA. 

Website by Lee J. Stoltzfus

The website is Here

New Book about Berks County and Its Colorful Personalities

"For 36 years, Laub lived alone on the mountain about 2 miles northwest of Strausstown. Ten months before he died in the Berks Almshouse in April 1909, an Eagle reporter interviewed the 73-year-old recluse and told a fascinating story of his solitary existence."

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Hex Signs and Himmelbriefs at Wyomissing

"'Hex Signs and Himmelbriefs' is the topic Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. during a presentation at the West Lawn-Wyomissing Hills Library, 101 Woodside Ave., West Lawn."

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Pennsylvania German Society Publishes Earl Haag Volume

"An area linguist's book whose initial draft was literally plucked from the waste can will soon be in the mailboxes of Pennsylvania German Society members and for sale to the public."

"'Die Pennsylvaanisch Deitsche,' translated as "The Pennsylvania Germans" by Earl C. Haag, "Der Alt Professer," will be the first volume of its kind, according to the society's editor, Tom Gehrherdt."

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Pennsylvania German Poetry Painted on Walls

"That's what Dolores Kirschner, director of Clay on Main in Oley, wants to do with a Poet's Wall at the nonprofit cooperative ceramic artists' studio."

"The project is being funded with a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She expects the wall to be finished by next summer."

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Amish Romance Novels in "The Wall Street Journal"

 

Image: WaterBrook Press

"Ms. Woodsmall writes "bonnet books," or Amish love stories, which are a booming new subcategory of the romance genre. The books, written by non-Amish writers, are aimed at a mainstream audience. But Ms. Woodsmall researches her stories among the Pennsylvania Amish, and she has a loyal Amish following."

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The French and Indian War Journal of John Michael Lindemuth

"The journal was written in the old style Pennsylvania-German dialect and was translated by the Rev. Henry Sylvester Bickel in 1926. The translated account of the Turtle Creek ambush was published by Lewis C. Walkinshaw in his "Annals of Southwestern Pennsylvania" in 1939."

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Richard Beam's Pennsylvania Dutch Dictionary on Fox/Business

"The recently completed 11-volume 'Comprehensive Pennsylvania German Dictionary' records the language spoken during the 20th and 21st centuries. 'We really don't have much of a record of the language before that,' explained Beam. Beam also does his part to keep the language alive with weekly radio broadcasts and newspaper columns."

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