Appendix F: Art Materials Purchased for the Bethlehem Female Seminary, 1803–1867

The following lists of art materials are taken from various account books, day books, inventories, and bills. The source for each section preceeds it in bold uppercase letters. All of these documents are in the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Although these are all hand-written records made by a number of different people over a 64-year period, most of the formats and abbreviations should be self-explanatory. A bit of German slips in, particularly in earlier entries: Haus (house), Papier (paper), Pinsel (paintbrush). There’s frequent use of the double-quote (“) to represent a repeated word from the preceding line. As was the custom in the nineteenth century, sometimes “do” for ditto is used instead of the double-quote. Units of measure include sh (sheet), qu (quire—most likely 24 sheets at this time), and rm (ream—most likely 480 sheets rather than the current 500 sheets). If I was not sure of a particular word, it is followed by [?]. If I could not make a reasonable guess at a written word, it is represented by a short blank line ___ followed by [?]. Spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, and monetary symbols have been preserved as closely as practical from the original.

Despite a few unclear entries, this appendix as a whole gives additional insight into the sorts of arts and crafts activities practiced at the Bethlehem Female Seminary for the better part of the nineteenth century. Any teacher who has ever placed an art supply order will find many familiar items despite the passing of two centuries.