Glencairn Museum News | Number 11, 2019
Folk artist Jennie Trein created her first Christmas putz (Nativity scene) in 1908, and for the next six decades she built a new one each year—complete with lights, sound effects, and narration. The Trein putz was part of the Advent season for generations of visitors who were invited into her living room to view the display.
The Moravian Historical Society is excited to share our historic Jennie Trein Christmas putz with visitors to Glencairn Museum’s World Nativities exhibition. An elaborate miniature display that tells the Christmas story, the putz is a Moravian tradition that reaches back into the eighteenth century. The word putz comes from the German word putzen, which means to decorate or clean. A putz can be a simple manger scene or an elaborate display that fills an entire room.
The practice of the Moravian putz can be traced back to Europe when German and Alpine craftsmen began to carve figures of the Holy family from local native woods. Soon the finely carved Joseph and Mary were seen in churches, homes, and marketplaces. Moravians, immigrating to America in the eighteenth century, brought along some of the figures from their homelands. Early Moravians in America would prepare these displays and then go “putzing” to view fellow Moravians’ displays in one another’s homes.
The manger is always the center of any putz. Unlike a crèche, which depicts only a Nativity scene, a putz also includes some of the events prior to and following the birth of Jesus Christ—from Isaiah’s prophecy and Mary’s Annunciation, to the visit of the wise men and the flight into Egypt. Another distinctive feature is the inclusion of narration and lights in a Moravian putz to help tell the story.
Figure 1: The stable scene in the Jennie Trein putz, now on exhibit in Glencairn Museum.
Figure 2: The Annunciation to Mary scene in the Jennie Trein putz, now on exhibit in Glencairn Museum.
The putz on loan to Glencairn Museum is from the historic collection made by Trein, and is composed of mostly handmade pieces from the very first Trein putz in 1908 and running through six decades of putz making. The collection includes nearly 500 pieces in total.
Figure 3: Jennie Trein in her living room beside one of her annual putz displays. Over the years she welcomed into her home an estimated 50,000 visitors.
Jennie Caroline Achenbach was born on February 18, 1879 near Nazareth, Pennsylvania and married Eugene Trein on October 25, 1902. The Treins had three surviving children—a son, and twin daughters Martha and Marie. It was her children who inspired Jennie to put up her first putz in their house on East Center Street in Nazareth. Jennie died in 1977 at the age of 98. She outlived her husband by nearly forty years, her son, and one of her daughters.
The Treins’ living room became the location for a new and unique putz each year, complete with lights, sound effects, and narration. Throughout the decades the putz grew until it took a visitor about 40 minutes to view the entire Nativity display, which extended beyond the living room. Trein created 63 putzes in her lifetime and welcomed an estimated 50,000 visitors to her home over the years. This helped her to become a local legend. At the age of 85 she handed the putz-making over to her daughter, Martha. Nazareth residents still remember the tradition of visiting her home during the holidays, and some recall helping to collect moss for her display.
Never formally trained in any one medium, Jennie Trein can be placed in the art world as a naive artist or folk artist. Her putzes are certainly primitive in style, utilizing common, everyday objects to create spectacular buildings and backgrounds. Visitors often enjoy finding the “hidden treasures” in Trein’s creations.
Figure 4: Jerusalem was created using various found items, including a juicer, which provides the dome for one of the buildings.
Figure 5: The Annunciation to the Shepherds in the Jennie Trein putz on display at Glencairn Museum.
Maintaining a putz as large as the Treins’ required creativity, energy, and frugality. As a self-trained artist who experienced both World Wars and the Great Depression first hand, with all the hardships associated on the home front, Trein chose to create and repair her own putz pieces. Using artistic license, if a figurine did not suit her vision of the moment she would simply alter the piece to make it work.
Trein was also interested in art, quilting, music, missionary work, and the Moravian church. She painted, crocheted, braided rugs, played piano, and sang in Moravian Church choirs for many years. She was also an avid painter and quiltmaker. She made her first quilt at the age of 10, and made more than 100 of them, including Sunday School Picnic (1932), now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In her younger years she traveled throughout Europe and to the Holy Land many times, collecting pieces for her putzes. At the age of 44 she learned to play the cornet and was a member of a brass quartet at the Schoeneck Moravian Church. She was a Sunday school teacher, biblical scholar, and was the recording secretary for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union for 30 years.
The oldest of the Protestant denominations, Moravians originally came from ancient Bohemia and Moravia in what is now called the Czech Republic. The Moravian Church, or Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), as it has been officially known since 1457, arose as followers of Jan Hus gathered in eastern Bohemia and organized the church. This was 60 years before Martin Luther began his reformation, and 100 years before the establishment of the Anglican Church. In 1740 Moravian immigrants from Saxony, Germany, made their first permanent settlement in America in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The Moravian Church continues to be active in Nazareth, Bethlehem, Lititz, and other locations in Pennsylvania, with approximately one million members worldwide.
Figure 6: The Whitefield House (1740-1743) is the headquarters for the Moravian Historical Society in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Figure 7: Gray Cottage, the oldest Moravian structure in North America, sits adjacent to the Whitefield House in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Since 1857 the Moravian Historical Society (MHS) has preserved the story of Moravian history, architecture, art, music, and culture. Through educational programs for students, guided tours, engaging museum exhibits, and public activities, MHS shares over 500 years of fascinating Moravian contributions to worldwide culture. Located on the historic Ephrata Tract in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, we maintain the 1740-1743 Whitefield House and the 1740 Gray Cottage—the oldest Moravian structure in North America. The Whitefield House Museum, open every day from 1–4 p.m., offers permanent and changing exhibitions. The Moravian Historical Society, an independent not-for-profit organization, is the third oldest historical society in Pennsylvania.
Susan Ellis
Executive Director, Moravian Historical Society
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