Section I: The Three Languages of the Broadside

Historically the Pennsylvania Dutch people have used three languages – High German, their original culture language; English for marketing and legal matters; and Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylfawnisch for everyday communication. Today, High German, formerly used in church services, read in newspapers, and written in personal letters, is gone except for its last lingering presence among Old Order sects like the Amish. The Dutch dialect, with the High German buffer against English gone, has now graduated into a language of its own. People can now write letters in Pennsylfawnisch and churches occasionally hold complete services in it. But English is now used by everyone, although many Dutchmen still use Pennsylfawnisch at home and with their community of neighbors. Broadsides were published in all three of the Pennsylvania Dutchman's historic languages.








THE THREE LANGUAGES OF THE BROADSIDE Historically the Pennsylvania Dutch people have used three languages – High German, their original culture language; English for marketing and legal matters; and Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylfawnisch for everyday communication. Today, High German, formerly used in church services, read in newspapers, and written in personal letters, is gone except for its last lingering presence among Old Order sects like the Amish. The Dutch dialect, with the High German buffer against English gone, has now graduated into a language of its own. People can now write letters in Pennsylfawnisch and churches occasionally hold complete services in it. But English is now used by everyone, although many Dutchmen still use Pennsylfawnisch at home and with their community of neighbors. Broadsides were published in all three of the Pennsylvania Dutchman's historic languages.

GREAT BARGAINS IN WARES! This 1840s going-out-of-business advertisement, from Lehigh County, was written in High German but incorporated English words into the text.

THE GREAT PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH PICNIC of 1934. In the 1930s Jefferson County, in Northwestern Pennsylvania, was still a dialect area. This picnic, announced in fluent Pennsylvania Dutch, took place a few miles away from Punxsutawney, today's "Groundhog Day" capital.

HEAVEN LETTER. "Heaven letters," or Himmelsbriefe, promised to protect from all sorts of physical harm those who carried them on their person or kept them in their houses. This English version was printed in Reading at the Eagle print shop; other examples can be found in the section of the exhibit on house-blessings.

KING & BAIRD ADVERTISEMENT. Many 19th-century Pennsylvania printers offered bilingual services in English and German. King and Baird, in Philadelphia, ran the largest German print shop in America.

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