Charles Richard Beam (February 15, 1925—January 26, 2018) was a major figure in twentieth-century Pennsylvania German linguistics, folklore studies, and social history who wrote under the pen-name Es Bischli-Gnippli (Little Clodhopper). He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and received his doctorate in German at the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D. 1970).

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Beam wrote newspaper columns in the Pennsylvania German dialect for over fifty years, and also hosted radio broadcasts in Pennsylvania German from 1971 until 2013.

A member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Beam also belonged to the Pennsylvania German Society and a large number of German-American and Pennsylvania local history organizations.

Works

• An Abridged Pennsylvania German Dictionary (1970)
• (with Jennifer Trout) The Comprehensive Pennsylvania German Dictionary (2004-2012)
• William Keel and C. Richard Beam, editors, The Language and Culture of the Pennsylvania Germans: a Festschrift for Earl C. Haag (2010)

Further reading

• Simon J. Bronner, Joshua R. Brown, Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (2017) ISBN 9781421421384
• Earl C. Haag, A Pennsylvania German Anthology (1988) ISBN 9780941664295

See also

• Preston Barba
• Pennsylvania German Society

References

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