New Discoveries in Pennsylvania German and Germanic Folk Art was presented May 28, 2014. Organized by Suzanne de Vegh, manager of adult public programming.

The American Folk Art Museum collection is especially rich with examples of Pennsylvania German and Germanic folk art. Building on recent new discoveries, Lisa Minardi, who is assistant curator at Winterthur Museum, author, and specialist in Pennsylvania German art and culture, used objects featured in Self-Taught Genius to explore the relationship between fraktur and painted furniture. She also presented new research on fraktur artist David Cordier and discussed how the technical study of fraktur in collaboration with scientists and conservators is enabling new insights to emerge.

Image: BIRTH RECORD FOR HANA OBERHOLTZER (detail), David Cordier (active c. 1805–1820), Miami River Valley, Southwestern Ohio, 1816, watercolor and ink on paper, 73/4 x 121/4″, gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2005.8.34. Photo © John Bigelow Taylor, New York.