Juniata College

Juniata college, Beeghly library: 1700 Moore Street, Huntingdon, PA 16652.

Henry W. Shoemaker, in the Altoona Tribune (February 29, 1940. Page 6) writes: “One of the [Ephrata] presses was made by Christ Sower in Germantown … During the precentorship of Obed Snowberger at Snow Hill, Franklin County, a branch of Ephrata established in 1764, the Somer press was moved there and turned out musical scores and religious printing. … The press, instead of being wrecked, was loaded on bobsleds drawn by six horses and taken across the mountains to Salemville, Bedford County where, in the hands of the brothers there, it turned to catechisms, hymnals, sermons and tracts for many years. When the Salemville monastery was closed in 1902, the old press was turned over to Rev. King, a printer at New Enterprise.”

The Everett Press (August 23, 1957. Page 11) states: “Dr. Alfred L. Shoemaker of the Dutch Folklore Dept, Franklin & Marshal College, visited in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank King to acquire information concerning the Ephrata Printing Press which is in Mr. King’s posession. Especially was he interested in the life of Obed Snoberger from whom the said press was procured.”

Website: “The historic Ephrata Press comes to the college due to the great generosity of the Frank R. King Family Trust of New Enterprise, Pa. This old press was thought to have been set up by the German Seventh Day Baptists – a group strongly related to Juniata’s Brethren founders – in Ephrata, Pa, in 1728.”