Place Made

Date Made

1844

Medium

ink on paper

Accession Number

5853

Description

This printed fraktur was dedicated to Silon Amos Henkel (1813-1844), the youngest son of Dr. Solomon Henkel and his wife, Rebecca Miller, of New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia. Using a printed background produced by the family’s Henkel Press, this fraktur goes far beyond the basic data usually recorded: it includes extensive genealogical, biographical, and cultural information. It even details Henkel’s death, funeral, and burial. In short, it provides a window into life in the German-speaking community of New Market, Virginia.

The original woodblocks for this printed fraktur design are in the collection of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

History

Dr. Silon A. Henkel (1813-1844) studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He trained as a young man in the Henkel Press, and later accompanied members of his family on Lutheran circuit riding trips, when he honed his artistic skills by creating charcoal profile portraits across a broadly dispersed area. MESDA owns a charcoal portrait attributed to Henkel of the Henry County, Virginia, planter, Edmund Burwell Redd (Acc. 5163).

Credit Line

MESDA Purchase Fund