Carl Friederich Egelmann (1782-1860) of Reading, Berks County, was the foremost astronomical calculator of nineteenth-century America. For over 40 years, Egelmann’s tables and engravings of the movements of the heavenly bodies were featured in annual farmer’s almanacs throughout Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic. A first-generation immigrant, Egelmann was born in Osnabrück, Germany, and arrived in Baltimore in 1802, where he was initially employed as a coachmaker. By 1810, he relocated to Berks County, where he established himself as an accomplished printmaker, poet, calligrapher, publisher, furniture maker, organist, and teacher of the German language. Today, Egelman Park and Reservoir on Mount Penn is named for the springs that issue forth from Egelmann’s former property, which provided water to the city of Reading beginning in 1838.
This cultural exhibition, entitled Carl Friederich Egelmann: Astronomer, Printmaker, and Polymath of Mount Penn, Reading, Berks County was featured 2024-2025 in the M.L.E. Foundation Exhibition Gallery, in the DeLight E. Breidegam Building, Headquarters of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center.
This online exhibition was produced by Devin Looney (’27), with assistance from Abigail Cosgrove (’23), Colin Gilbert (’24), Emma Ketterer (’24), Emma Swartz (’25).