We are engaged in a program of optical spectroscopy of proto–planetary nebulae (PPN). The objects were initially selected from the IRAS database on the basis of their strong infrared excesses, indicating dust temperature of 150–250 K. Spectra have been obtrained at medium resolution for the purpose of obtaining the spectral type, luminosity class, and to search for chemical peculiarities resulting from the post–AGB nature of the objects. We found our PPN candidates to typically display F–G supergiant spectra.