Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Tunebook, Manuscript |
Object ID # |
2006.6.1 |
Other Name |
Notenbuchlein |
Title |
Elizabeth Fretz's Manuscript Tunebook, 1795 |
Place of Origin |
Bedminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania |
Date |
1795 |
Material |
Paper |
Dimensions |
H-3.75 L-6.5 inches |
Description |
Manuscript hymn-tune booklet, dated 1795, for Elizabeth Fretz, Bedminster Township, Bucks County. The usual fraktur bookplate, if there ever was one, is missing - but there is a German inscription in the front: "Dieses buch gehoret mier Elisabeth Fretz. Erhalten von meinen Schul Lehrer Eyer im jahr 1795". [This book belongs to me Elizabeth Fretz. Received from my Schoolteacher Eyer, in the year 1795]. This must have been either Schoolmaster John Adam Eyer, who taught in Mennonite community schools in central Bucks County, in the 1780s and early 1790s, or his brother Schoolmaster John Frederick Eyer. The first page of eight hand-written hymn tunes and texts is missing. The first surviving page of hymn-tunes begins with hymn #9. The booklet has a totol of 136 manuscript hymn tunes and texts (first-lines only), seemingly written in two different hands. |
Provenance |
Manuscript hymn-tune booklet, dated 1795, made for student Elizabeth Fretz of Bedminster Township, Bucks County, by her schoolteacher (apparently) John Adam Eyer. She was very likely a student in the Deep Run School. She was Elizabeth Fretz (1780-1828), the daughter of Christian & Barbara Oberholtzer Fretz of Bedminster Township, who married Abraham Meyer (1785-1822), perhaps of Franconia Township, Montgomery County. The booklet was passed down in the family to their son Isaac F. Meyer (1812-1896) of Bedminster Township; to his son Abraham K. Meyers (1836-??); to his son Edwin M. Meyers (1873-1958); and finally to his grandson Harvey E. Meyers (the donor). |
Source |
Gift of Harvey E. Meyers |
People |
Meyer, Elizabeth Fretz, 1780-1828 |