Owner : Joseph D. Baumann

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Item Name	Fraktur - Birth Record	Image1
Other Owner(s)	Baumann, Mary (Maria) B.
Category	Documents
Year	Early: 1848 - Late: 1848
Description	A birth certificate made for Maria Bauman, with text and a drawing of a cross-legged angel. Possibly the earliest dated work by Joseph D. Bauman, this piece was made for his first born, Maria (b. 1839), whose name is inscribed near the bottom. Bauman was a capable copier as this spendid drawing indicates. The angel was taken from an earlier Pennsylvania work. The blue text at the top is written in German script. Below the writing is a drawing of an angel with brown, blue and black outstretched wings, a brown halo, a detailed face, and a swathe of brown and yellow cloth around it's mid-section. The arms of the angel are outstretched, and the legs are crossed over one another. There is a leafy blue and brown branch, with brown berries, beneath the angel's right wing. The text beneath the angel reads "Maria Bauman, Avril den 4 ten 1848." The drawing is done within a framework of borders. The top and the bottom borders are a series of blue diamonds with red dots in the centre. The side borders consist of red and blue stripes.
Maker\Attribution	Joseph D. Bauman
Collection	Joseph Schneider Haus Museum Contact : 466 Queen St. S. Kitchener 519-742-7752 www.region.waterloo.on.ca
Accession No.	1984.028.292
Curatorial Comments	Joseph D. Bauman (1815-1889) painted this angel for Maria, his first child. He was probably inspired by a motif much used in Pennsylvania-German baptismal records. The Bauman family roots were in Berks County, Pennsylvania, but he was born near Waterloo and farmed near St. Jacobs. Several bookplates, family records and pictorial drawings are attributed to him, and it appears that he was active during the 1860's. His work is similar to that of Abraham Latschaw and Isaac Z. Hunsicker. He retained some elements from both of these early Fraktur artists, but he also copied motifs from printed forms. Bauman produced many drawings of trees and birds for children and grandchildren, with simple texts, as well as many family records which he lettered and embellished with geometric designs.

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