Episode 33: The Holstein Family Account Book: Studying a Manuscript Artifact of Pennsylvania German Life at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan. - a podcast by Alexander Lawrence Ames

Resources to study the history of Pennsylvania German material texts exist in institutions all around the nation and world, and it behooves scholars to look beyond the best-known repositories in southeastern Pennsylvania in order to discover underutilized and undiscovered resources. It also is in historians’ best interest to make use of examples of Pennsylvania German calligraphy and penmanship that may not rank as the most beautiful examples of the art form but push us to understand Frakturschrift calligraphy in a broader social-historical context. The Holstein family account and penmanship practice book at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan offers a wonderful example of both of these points. Created by several generations of a rural Pennsylvania German family, this everyday manuscript provides insight into how children learned penmanship, manuscript illumination, and lessons in Protestant piety. In this special episode of Cloister Talk, we take a virtual trip to the Clements Library in Michigan to study the complex, fascinating, and analytically rich Holstein manuscript. The episode takes a deep dive into the materiality of the manuscript before considering the history of the Holstein family and drawing comparisons with other account books and penmanship exercise books held by the Winterthur Library in Delaware. The episode also includes reflections on lessons learned for Pennsylvania German studies. You may view the Holstein manuscript here, via the Clements Library’s digital repository: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/h/holsteinfam/.

Further episodes of Cloister Talk: The Pennsylvania German Material Texts Podcast

Further podcasts by Alexander Lawrence Ames

Website of Alexander Lawrence Ames