German American Imprints

This large collection consists of multiple types of materials such as rare monographs (books), newspapers, broadsides, almanacs and fraktur published in North America in the German language in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This collection is especially rich in materials printed prior to 1830 from the South-Eastern and Central Pennsylvania regions.

The collection reflects not only the influence of Pennsylvania-German language, culture, printing arts and religion in Lancaster County and Pennsylvania but the historical connection of the College with the German Reformed Church in Pennsylvania as well.

The Unger-Bassler and Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center collections comprise the two major sources of the collection, as well as material from other local donors. 

Complementing the original printed materials are additional collections focusing on German-American Folk Culture and study in the 20th century. These collections document the persistence and influence of German-American culture in the region and provide insight into the particular areas of interest to scholars.

* For reading and learning older German typeface and handwriting, we recommend this resource from Brigham Young University - BYU German Script Tutorial.