Manuscript liederbuch with three taufbriefe kept by South Bend immigrant Gottfried Poehlman

A satisfyingly chunky manuscript songbook with 3 taufbriefe laid in, emphasizing its role as a treasured keepsake from an immigrant's homeland. Approx. 200 pages of manuscript lyrics and 70 unused leaves, with 5-page song list (and some doodling) at rear. 1 page of music and occasional flourishes. Songs are numbered 1-65, with a few unnumbered extras at the ends we speculate may have been added later by the second custodian—but Kurrentschrift is beyond our scope of graphoanalysis.

The last page is signed Johann Schönnel, Lorenzreuth 1852; the front pastedown signed Gottfried Poehlman, Jan 28 1856, South Bend, Indiana. The exact relationship between them is unknown, but Poehlman immigrated from Lorenzreuth, Bavaria, to Indiana in the 1850s. He worked as a shop clerk, trained as a tinsmith, and briefly went to Colorado before establishing a hardware and tinsmith business with Godfrey Meyer in South Bend in 1864. They did architectural work, especially for roofing and cornices for many prominent buildings in the city. The firm dissolved when Poehlman retired in 1893; but he remained active in personal business pursuits and was an Odd Fellow. See: South Bend and the men who have made it (South Bend, Tribune Printing Co., 1901, 193-194. Source of the last photo in this listing.)

Sammlung auserlesener Lieder pro Johann Schönnel. Oblong 12mo, 4.5 x 7 x 1.75 inches, bound in half sheepskin with marbled boards and mounted manuscript paper label. Fair condition, lacking backstrip but binding intact (if wobbly). A few pencil scribbles and sketches to last pages. The leaves for songs 24 and 29 have been excised but are present and laid in place. Two leaves excised at song 39 do not lose any content, but are where two taufbriefe were laid in. There is a halo of soot where the earliest was laid in (and soil to the item where it peeked out of the closed volume).

     [with]

3 taufbriefe, or baptismal certificates: one traditional design, approx. 6.25” square, dated 1804. Fair to Good with a small loss at the top edge and areas worn through around the folds, though still intact. Two printed envelope-style versions, approx. 3 x 3.75 inches; one dated 1849, the other unidentified. Near Fine with original contents.