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With nearly two dozen fraktur in its permanent collection, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art already is recognized as the repository of the largest collection of historically significant Western Pennsylvania fraktur.

Several of these prime examples of Pennsylvania German folk art were on display last summer in the museum's unprecedented Pennsylvania folk art exhibit, "Made in Pennsylvania: A Folk Art Tradition."

But most of the fraktur on display in that exhibition were on loan from the collection of Joy and David Brocklebank of Ligonier. Having focused on Western Pennsylvania fraktur for 38 years, the Brocklebank's collection consists of more than 200 hand-drawn and printed fraktur created in Western Pennsylvania counties.

Now, thanks to proceeds from a nearly $1 million fund left at the bequest of the late William W. Jamison II, who died in 2000, the Brocklebank fraktur collection has been acquired by the museum. Jamison's was the largest planned gift to date made specifically for art acquisitions

Jamison, a Greensburg architect, never said a word about his plans to leave money to the museum, according to Judith H. O'Toole, director and CEO of the museum. He was a member of the Westmoreland Society, the museum's fund-raising organization, and he was an art lover who visited the museum often.

"He would come to the museum not just for the events, but he would come just to soak in the exhibitions and so on," O'Toole says. "But he was really was somebody that wanted to find a way to have an impact on the museum and didn't want any credit during his lifetime, which is kind of remarkable."

The Brocklebank fraktur collection was primarily assembled by Dave Brocklebank, who O'Toole describes as "an amazingly savvy collector" who approached his collection more as a curator than a collector. He became a dedicated scholar who was interested in the artistry and genealogy of these works on paper.

"He has diligently gone to every country auction imaginable to put the collection together," O'Toole says. "Like a lot of good collectors, he has learned more about the makers than probably any scholar living, because he was there in the trenches, interested in the work when no one else was."

The fraktur tradition in Western Pennsylvania flourished primarily in Westmoreland County for more than 100 years. Nine artists have been identified by surviving work dated as early as 1788. The Brocklebank collection also contains fraktur from Allegheny, Bedford, Indiana, McKean, Somerset and Washington counties.

The Brocklebank fraktur join more than a dozen important Westmoreland County fraktur collected by the museum since its founding in 1959, making the Westmoreland's collection of Western Pennsylvania fraktur the most important public or private collection known.

The term "fraktur" arises from the use of individual letters as opposed to cursive writing. Fraktur was used for printed and written German from the 16th century until 1940. Most early fraktur was executed by hand, while printed text became increasingly common in later examples. Typical artistic motifs in fraktur include birds, hearts and tulips, but some fraktur have more unusual inclusions, like soldiers and alligators, among the designs.

Harley Trice, a lawyer with Reed Smith Shaw & McClay, Downtown Pittsburgh, and chairman of the Westmoreland Museum's collection committee, says there are a good number of folks interested in collecting the decorative arts of the Western Pennsylvania heritage, but fraktur always have been difficult to find.

"Fraktur are pretty rare and seldom come on the market," Trice says. "Mainly because these are things that families would treasure. They had the names of their children on them, so they were family heirlooms even more so than a table, a jug or glass, or something like that. So, it meant more to people."

Of the fraktur that do exist, many are in fairly good condition for one specific reason, he says.

"Most of them were kept in bibles. So, a lot of them are in remarkably wonderful condition," Trice says. "They were not made to hang on a wall. They were really more of a religious document, as well as a decorative one."

The Brocklebank collection primarily consists of works created by nine identified fraktur artists, nearly half of whom were teachers who created the works to make extra money.

"These teachers, presumably, taught penmanship in school, and would do these birth certificates and bookplates, even wedding certificiates," Trice says.

Of all the forms fraktur take, certificates to commemorate a wedding are the most rare. There are only six known to exist in Pennsylvania. Two of them are in this collection.

Among the artists represented, Johann Georg Busyaeger (active 1805-41) was the most prolific creator of fraktur in Westmoreland County. During his 30-plus years of work, this schoolteacher created at least 35 percent of the known local fraktur.

As several pieces by him in this collection attest, rarely did he depart from his design in horizontal format, depicting flowers in the upper corners and three tulips across the bottom. On those scarce departures, he produced marriage commemorations, spiritual clocks, and at least one "Letter from Heaven." His very early pieces are in a smaller horizontal format. Virtually all of his fraktur are signed and dated.

Some highlights of the collection include a Taufschein, which is a combined birth and baptism certificate, for Anna Maria Amend, born Jan. 3, 1804, and signed and dated Oct. 21, 1817. A quintessential example complete with bird, heart and tulip motifs, it was created by Johann Andreas von Alms (1758-1826), a schoolteacher and lay preacher created fraktur from 1817 to about 1819. There are three fraktur by Alms in this collection, and no other Westmoreland County fraktur by him are known to exist.

Another is a 1797 New Year's greeting signed: "Written by me Karl Scheibeler." Created by Johann Karl Scheibeler, this ink-and-watercolor on paper is one of only two colored examples by him. The other known example, dated 1798, is in the collection of The Free Library of Philadelphia.

Scheibeler, who was also a schoolteacher, was the earliest maker of fraktur in Westmoreland County and was active elsewhere at least as early as 1769. The New Year's piece was found in an auction in New York state. Generally, his work is of high quality. But some of his more elaborate pieces have semicircular border designs and contain such exhortations as "love humility," "talk little, listen much," and "prepare for patient endurance and you will indeed inherit heaven."

With such a large and historically important collection now part of the musuem's permanent collection, O'Toole says there are plans in the works to publish an extensive catalog of the collection within the next two years. Additionally, they are looking into the possibility of creating more gallery space and additional areas for storage.

"We are hoping to do something along the lines of open storage," O'Toole says. "These are works on paper, so they are fragile. They can't be subjected to (more intense) light levels. But they can be put into cases that are open to the public, so that they can be looked at while still protecting them."

Trice agrees that would be the perfect way for patrons of the museum to see and experience the collection.

"There are fraktur schools wherever German people migrated to in the United States and Canada," Trice says. "The most significant fraktur tradition in America was in Eastern Pennsylvania, and very few people even know that fraktur was made in Western Pennsylvania."

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