Attended the Fraktur Symposium yesterday held at the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. A day long free (!) event featuring speakers who are expert scholars in the field.
Dr. Don Yoder, U of P, spoke in the afternoon—detailing his suggestions for advancing research on Pennsylvania's Fraktur traditions.
Thrilled to hear him suggest that research needs to be done regarding True Lover's Knots, which he termed a "parallel form to Fraktur." I was delighted to introduce myself to him after the program and showed him an image of my TLK, which he pronounced to be an important example of the form.
Looking forward to receiving a copy of his article, written some years back, specifically on the topic of Lover's Knots. I've heard of it, but haven't been fortunate enough to encounter a copy of it to date. Of course, I do hope he follows up and sends it on to me. If not, I met two other attendees who have access to a copy, so I can pursue those avenues if necessary.
This link is to just one of the 5 TLKs in the Free Library's collection, which I saw in person last year, thanks to an aid in the Rare Books Department:
http://tinyurl.com/y9md9vb
Clearly it relates to the piece I own, both in terms of geometric form and the copy included in the labyrinth bands—tho it dates a full 20 years after. All five TLKs in the PFL collection date after mine, and—unlike Hugh Pugh's—all are anonymous (unsigned) and undated.
I highly recommend a visit to the current exhibit of Fraktur in the 3rd Floor Rare Books department galleries. The exhibit is entitled Art and Artifact: Pennsylvania German Fraktur. It's on display until November 10th of this year. This links to the fantastic Digital Collection of 13,000 Fraktur in the PFL's collections:
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/fraktur/index.cfm
