Blackletter font on a 1932 diploma

Jeff Miller
Jeff Miller Posts: 1
edited January 2016 in History of Typography
Below is an image of a 1932 diploma from the high school where I teach. It's a design that was used by many schools around the country.

Is it possible that GULF HIGH SCHOOL is misspelled, that the "c" after the "S" is really an "r"?  I see that in some Blackletter fonts, lowercase "c" and "r" do look a lot alike, but I can't find that exact font on the Internet.

If you do an image search for 1932 high school diploma, you'll see lots of diplomas with the same design and the same possible error if it is an error. Thank you!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghs1922/24709005845/

Comments

  • George Thomas
    George Thomas Posts: 655
    Jeff, that is spelled correctly. It's also an engraving, not a font. For the record, we don't do type identification here. There are a number of sites that do id's though, with very knowledgeable people wanting to help.
  • Christian Thalmann
    Christian Thalmann Posts: 2,018
    For an /r, it would need an onstroke on the top left like an /n. I agree that the vestigial bottom of the glyph is rather unsightly, but I guess that's admissible in blackletter.

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