A new exhibition at Winterthur Museum & Country Estate introduces a collection of the brightly decorated birth and baptismal certificates, bookmarks and other items known as fraktur. On view from September 10 to January 8, the exhibition also explores fraktur by examining the techniques and materials used to make them.

“Making Fancy: Materials and Methods in Pennsylvania German Fraktur” focuses on these objects, which commemorated important life events, including births, baptisms, New Year’s greetings, prayers and records of educational achievements. The American term derives from the German word Fraktur, the name of a popular typeface characterized by “fractured,” or broken, letter shapes. The “golden age” of fraktur took place in southeastern Pennsylvania during the late 1700s and early 1800s.

“Fraktur range from the serious, such as those that emphasize fundamental religious beliefs, to the whimsical, like the examples showing simply drawn flowers,” said John Krill, senior paper conservator at Winterthur and curator of the exhibition. “Many fraktur were personal family documents. Their images became a blend of text and decoration, so much so that some letters seem to sprout with imagination.”

Birth certificates, or Taufschein, were a popular form of fraktur. Fraktur, made by Joseph Lochbaum, Pennsylvania, 1810, watercolor and ink on paper. Museum purchase.

Pennsylvania schoolmasters made many fraktur. Travelingartists called scriveners, who were trained in penmanship andcopied documents, also made them.

The exhibition also focuses on the papers, colors and techniques used in the creation of the fraktur. Winterthur’s paper conservators, museum scientists and curators have worked together for more than 30 years using scientific and historical analysis to better understand fraktur.

“Through the use of various noninvasive techniques we have learned much about the fraktur,” continued Krill. “Museum scientists have studied and identified the colors on fraktur using state-of-the-art equipment in the Winterthur science laboratories, among the best museum research facilities in the United States.” Fraktur were first analyzed in the late 1970s using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to identify the chemical elements present in the colors. In recent years, the study of fraktur has expanded to include techniques that identify chemical compounds. The resulting knowledge has been valuable in gaining a better understanding of the history and preservation needs of these often delicate paper artworks.

Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont began collecting Pennsylvania German materials, including fraktur, in the 1920s. Today, visitors can see more of Winterthur’s fraktur collection on guided tours of the period rooms, and learn more about the arts and crafts of the German immigrants to Pennsylvania.

Winterthur Museum & Country Estate is on Route 52, six miles northwest of Wilmington, and five miles south of US Route 1, For information, 800-448-3883, 302-888-4600 or winterthur.org.