Preston Albert Barba (April 7, 1883 – April 11, 1971) was a major figure in 20th-century

Pennsylvania German The Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spea ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

folklore studies Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

, and

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

. He was born in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, and received degrees at Muhlenberg College ( B.A. 1906),

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

( M.A. 1907), and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

(

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

1911). Barba taught at the University of Pennsylvania,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, and, from 1921 to 1951 as professor and head of the Department of German Language and Literature at Muhlenberg. Barba married Eleanor Martin (March 29, 1893 – July 14, 1966), a professional artist who collaborated with him on many projects and publications. Barba wrote a popular section of ''

The Morning Call ''The Morning Call'' is a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1883, it is the second longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley, after ''The Express-Times''. In 2020, the newspaper permanently closed its Al ...

'' newspaper (S Pennsylvaanisch Deitsch Eck'', "The Pennsylvania German Corner") in the

dialect from 1935 to 1969, and developed with Albert F. Buffington a standardized German-based orthography known as Buffington-Barba or Buffington-Barba-Beam in a later version. Its first major codification was in Buffington and Barba's 1954 ''A Pennsylvania German Grammar'' (rev. ed. 1965). A member of the German Reformed Church and later

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

, Barba also belonged to the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

, the National Society of Sons of the American Revolution, and the

Goethe Society The (Goethe Society), not to be confused with the Goethe-Institut, is a literary and scientific organisation to explore the literary work of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was founded in Weimar, where he lived, in 1885 ...

of America. He was a board member of the Pennsylvania German Society and the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society.

Works

The Life and Works of Friedrich Armand Strubberg
(1913)
Balduin Möllhausen: The German Cooper
(1914) *German Lyrics and Ballads from Klopstock to Modern Times (1925, 1937) *Lewis Miller: Pennsylvania German Folk Artist (1939) *Frederick Valentine Melsheimer, Father of American Entomology (1945) *Humorous Tales Told by Contemporary Pennsylvania Germans (1950) *(with Ann Hark) Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery (1950) *A Pennsylvania German Grammar (1954) *Pennsylvania German Tombstones: A Study in Folk Art (1954) *They Came to Emmaus (1959) *The Reichard Collection of Early Pennsylvania German Dialogues and Plays (1962) *(editor) Snow Hill Cloister (1968) *Four Pennsylvania German Studies (1970)

References

Sources

*Simon J. Bronner, Joshua R. Brown, ''Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia'' (2017) *Earl C. Haag, ''A Pennsylvania German Anthology'' (1988)

External links

Grave
at Christ Union Cemetery, Hellertown, Pennsylvania
‘S Pennsylvaanisch Deitsch Eck online
digitization by Richard Mammana in 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Barba, Preston A. 1883 births 1971 deaths American writers in Pennsylvania Dutch University of Pennsylvania alumni Yale University alumni Muhlenberg College alumni Pennsylvania lawyers American lexicographers Pennsylvania Dutch language German language in the United States 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century lexicographers

Works

See also

References

Sources

External links