The Ornamental Branches

LANCASTER, PENN. -- The first exhibit to explore the needlework and arts of the Moravian girls' school of Lititz continues through December 28 at the Heritage Center Museum of Lancsaster County.

"`The Ornamental Branches': Needlework and Arts from the Lititz Moravian Girls' School between 1800 and 1865" celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of the institution, now known as Linden Hall School for Girls. The term "ornamental branches" refers to a descriptive phrase used by a parent requesting that his daughter receive instruction in such subjects as music, fine needlework and drawing described in the school handbill advertisements as "extra branches."

Included 36 examples of needlework, among them samplers, silk embroideries, purses, work bags, and Berlin and bead work. Also on view are paintings on velvet, drawings, watercolors, diaries, copy books, music, and musical instruments created and used by the students at the boarding school during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. Supporting the display are furniture, photographs, portraits of students and other printed and manuscript materials. The majority of objects are from private collections and the Linden Hall School for Girls. They have not previously been available to the public. The exhibit was organized by Patricia T. Herr, guest curator and chairman of the Heritage Center Museum Committee.

The distinctive, delicately wrought, colorful silk embroideries are displayed in chronological order so the viewer can appreciate the evolution of this significant artform which is associated with Moravian schools in America. Examples from the Moravian school in Bethlehem are included to point out the similarities and differences among Moravian schools.

Portraits, photographs, copy books, letters and other personal belongings of the young students provide a better understanding of student life in this historic school which drew its enrollment from a wide area of the mid-Atlantic states during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.

The school was founded in 1746 to provide education for the children of the residents of the newly settled Moravian community of Litiz (the German spelling) in Warwick Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Moravians, who had their beginnings in the central European areas of Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic) are recognized as the oldest organized Protestant denomination in the world. Historically a well-educated people, the Moravians understood the importance of schooling for young children of both sexes.

Leaders like the Czech educator John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) and Count Nicholaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-60) were known throughout Europe, England and North America. Because of their efforts, the communal settlements of Lititz, Nazareth and Bethlehem, Penn., and Salem, N.C., were established.

Within these wholly Moravian communities, unmarried men and women lived in communal dwellings called the Brothers' and Sisters' Houses. It became the responsibility of the sisters to teach and care for the boarding students under the administration of a Moravian minister as principal.

By 1794 the Litiz Boarding School, also known as the Boarding School for Female Education and the Seminary for Young Ladies at Litiz, took in its first non-Moravian boarding student, eight-year-old Margaret (Peggy) Marvel of Baltimore. The school grew rapidly as the reputation of the Moravian system of education spread. Teaching sisters frequently traveled and taught among the three major Moravian communities that had girls' boarding schools: Lititz, Bethlehem and Salem. It is understandable that the lovely silk embroideries made in the Moravian schools share common attributes.

The Moravians schools were the only American schools teaching crepe and ribbon work techniques. The exhibit includes many colorful and well-preserved examples of this finely executed work. The typical patterns adapted from prints of the period are represented in pictorial silk embroideries, as well as a variety of mourning pictures so commonly associated with girls' school work of the early Nineteenth Century.

Detailed labels instruct the viewer on how to identify Moravian and, specifically, Lititz school pieces. Many of the needleworks retain their original frames and reverse-painted glass. Portraits of the makers accompany some works. Engraved, lithographic and photographic views of the school rendered at various times throughout the 1800-1865 time period are on view.

Background music featuring the Linden Hall Choir, singing songs discovered in student copy books and printed music of the period from Linden Hall collections, accompanies the exhibit. Harp, piano and guitar music, other "extra branches" taught in the school in the Nineteenth Century, can also be heard.

The exhibit was designed by Joan Fleckenstein, an architect, and background scenery was created by Daniel F. Gluibizzi.

"Sunshine and Shadows: Shedding Light on Lancaster County," curated by Peter S. Seibert, Heritage Center director and Wendell R. Zercher, curator of collections, may also be seen at the Heritage Center.

The Heritage Center Museum in on Penn Square at the intersection of King and Queen Streets in Lancaster. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. Telephone 717/299-6440.