American Samplers

The earliest known American sampler was made by Loara Standish of the Plymouth Colony about 1645. By the 1700s, samplers depicting alphabets and numerals were worked by young women to learn the basic needlework skills needed to operate the family household. By the late 1700s and early 1800s, schools or academies for well-to-do young women flourished, and more elaborate pieces with decorative motifs such as verses, flowers, houses, religious, pastoral, and/or mourning scenes were being stitched. The parents of these young women proudly displayed their embroideries as showpieces of their work, talent, and status.

In recent years, samplers have become important in museum collections as representations of early American female education. Many are signed, and some are inscribed with locations and the names of teachers and schools. The emergence of large numbers of these samplers has resulted in much research in diaries, account books, letters, newspaper ads, local histories, and published commentary that is helping to illuminate the lives of women in early America.

Many early samplers do not have the letters “J” and “U” in their alphabets because they were not part of the early Latin alphabet and so the letter “I” was used for “J” and the “V” for “U.” The letter “s” is often replaced with the printers “s” which looks like the modern f.

There are 137 American samplers in the Textile Collection. The first was donated in 1886, the Margaret Dinsmoor sampler. In the 1890s the Copp Collection was received and it contained two samplers—one by Esther Copp and the other by her great niece Phebe Esther Copp. (The Copp Collection is an extensive collection of 18th-and 19th- century household textiles, costume items, furniture, and other pieces belonging to the Copps, a prosperous but frugal Connecticut family.) The earliest dated sampler in the collection was made in 1735 by Lydia Dickman of Boston, Massachusetts.

At center, an inscribed monument with stepped top surmounted by sphere.
Description
At center, an inscribed monument with stepped top surmounted by sphere. Behind monument, weeping willow tree with crooked trunk; above monument and tree are five sprays of flowers, including roses, rosebuds, tulips, carnations, and star-flowers, with leaves; two sprays are tied with blue bows. At lower corners, two weeping willow trees that, like the monument, stand on ground of French knots. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: satin, straight, split, French knot, stem, cross, crosslet. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 26/in.
Inscriptions:
"To the memory of
Guni Goodale who
was born March 9th
1780
and departed this life
Jan 27th 1832 aged 52.
There remaineth there-
fore a rest to the peo-
ple of God.
Amanda F. Goodale 1832."
Background:
Amanda F. Goodale was born ca. 1818 to Guni (1780-1832) and Ann (1776-1864) Goodale in Glastonbury, Connecticut. On July 11, 1848, she was married to Henry Magill (1809-1892), by Rev. Charles R. Fisher. Henry was a farmer. Ann Goodale is living with Henry and Amanda in the 1850 census. Amanda died February 4, 1892 in Windsor, Connecticut.
Her sampler was probably worked at Miss Cornwall’s school in Glastonbury, Connecticut. All the motifs on her sampler can be found on other samplers worked at Miss Cornwall’s school.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1832
associated dates
1982-12-02
maker
Goodale, Amanda F.
ID Number
1983.0617.04
catalog number
1983.0617.04
accession number
1983.0617
Two block alphabets, no "J," with "V" and "U" reversed. Numbers to 10. Alphabets and numbers colored in groups. These rows separated by simple geometric crossbands. Crown and several simple geometric motifs fill out alphabet lines.
Description
Two block alphabets, no "J," with "V" and "U" reversed. Numbers to 10. Alphabets and numbers colored in groups. These rows separated by simple geometric crossbands. Crown and several simple geometric motifs fill out alphabet lines. At base of sampler, rose, tulip, strawberry plants, and tree climbing one edge. Brown guidelines under tree and flowers. Border of single row of marking cross on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: two-sided cross, marking cross, satin, Algerian eye, stem, outline, queen, straight, tent, crosslet, herringbone, chain, hem. THREAD COUNT: warp 26, weft 31/in.
Inscription:
"Sarah Prince Fenn Aged
12 Year 7 months
1775"
Background:
Sarah was born on February 21, 1763, to Benjamin and Mary Peck Fenn in Milford, Connecticut. She married Theophilus Miles, and they had three children—Mary, Samuel, and Sarah Fenn. Mrs. Miles died in Milford on May 15, 1790, about five months after the birth of their daughter Sarah Fenn Miles. Theophilus married Martha Clark on September 15, 1791.
Date made
1775
maker
Fenn, Sarah Prince
ID Number
TE.T16945
catalog number
T16945
accession number
311079
One script alphabet, two block alphabets. 26 letters with two or three styles of some capital letters. Numbers 1 to 0 and to 8. These rows separated by rows of cross-stitch. Border of single row of cross-stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground.
Description
One script alphabet, two block alphabets. 26 letters with two or three styles of some capital letters. Numbers 1 to 0 and to 8. These rows separated by rows of cross-stitch. Border of single row of cross-stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, four-sided, crosslet. THREAD COUNT: warp 23, weft 24/in.
Inscription:
"Zealously pursue the course
That leads young minds to god
For faith and love & holy hope
Point to the blest abode
S Hall"
Background:
Sylvia was born on April 18, 1805, to Andrews and Sylvia Blakeslee Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, and she died there in 1859. See her mother's (Sylvia Blakeslee) sampler.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1810-1820
maker
Hall, Sylvia
ID Number
TE.T16942
catalog number
T16942
accession number
310734
Two long narrow strips of cloth joined with all four edges turned and whipped. One block alphabet with two of some letters; no "J." One crown. Same simple outline often used as spacer in alphabets. No border. Initials "SB." Linen thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross.
Description
Two long narrow strips of cloth joined with all four edges turned and whipped. One block alphabet with two of some letters; no "J." One crown. Same simple outline often used as spacer in alphabets. No border. Initials "SB." Linen thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross. THREAD COUNT: longer strip warp 38, weft 48/in.
; shorter strip warp 36, weft 40/in.
Background:
Sylvia was born on September 28, 1770, to Zophar and Eunice Ives Blakeslee in New Haven, Connecticut. She married Andrews Hall on December 3, 1800, and they had four children—William, Sylvia, Abigail, and Mary. She died on July 19, 1851, in Wallingford, Connecticut. Sylvia's simple sampler was treasured and passed down in her family. Her daughter Sylvia Hall made a more traditional sampler. See Sylvia Hall's sampler.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1750-1775
maker
Blakeslee, Sylvia
ID Number
TE.T16941
catalog number
T16941
accession number
310734
Three block alphabets of 26 letters and numbers to 13; simple geometric crossbands separate these rows. Below verse, centered tree flanked by rose bushes and two framed texts.
Description
Three block alphabets of 26 letters and numbers to 13; simple geometric crossbands separate these rows. Below verse, centered tree flanked by rose bushes and two framed texts. In verse, words colored alternately with name and date worked in black; in two framed texts, all lettering worked in black. Width of sampler full fabric width, selvedge to selvedge. Border of geometric strawberry-vine and cross-stitched zig-zag, with single rows of cross-stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, Algerian eye, long-armed cross, petit point, rice. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 30/in.
Inscriptions:
"Let the f[s]weet work of prayer and praif[s]e employ my
Youngef[s]t breath Thuf[s] im prepared for longer dayf[s] or
Fit for earlier death Phebe Ef[s]ther Copp aged 8 1822
Better it is to be
of an humble Spirit
with the lowly
than to divide the
Spoil with the proud
This work I did
To let you See
What care my
Parents took of me"
Background:
Phebe Esther was born on November 9, 1813, to Samuel and Phoebe Haight Theall Copp in Stonington, Connecticut. The design of this sampler, made in 1822, when Phebe Esther was eight years old, is obviously based on a similar sampler made fifty-seven years earlier by her great-aunt Esther Copp. Phebe never married and died on February 3, 1837, in New York City. See Esther Copp's sampler.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1822
maker
Copp, Phebe Esther
ID Number
TE.H06591
catalog number
H06591
accession number
28810
Three block alphabets; two alphabets colored in pairs, one all black; no "J"; numbers 1 through 0. Simple geometric crossbands framed by flowering vine and rose bushes. At base of sampler, centered tree flanked by two framed inscriptions, with tulips and strawberries.
Description
Three block alphabets; two alphabets colored in pairs, one all black; no "J"; numbers 1 through 0. Simple geometric crossbands framed by flowering vine and rose bushes. At base of sampler, centered tree flanked by two framed inscriptions, with tulips and strawberries. Single row of cross stitch forms border on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, petit point, Algerian eye, rice, queen. THREAD COUNT: warp 34, weft 38/in.
Inscriptions:
"Better it is to be
of an humble Spi
rit with the low
ly than to divide
the Spoil with
the proud"
"Esther Copp her
Sampler made in
the eleventh
year of her age
august AD 1765"
Background:
Jonathan Copp was born on June 12, 1694, and married Mrs. Sarah (Dennis) Hobart as his second wife on June 30, 1742, in Stonington, Connecticut. Their daughter Esther was born on October 23, 1754, in New London, Connecticut, and she never married. She died September 21, 1829. (See sampler by Phebe Esther Copp, her grandniece. A tree, rose bush, and one text are the same on both samplers.) Esther's sampler is part of an extensive collection of 18th- and 19th- century household textiles, costume items, furniture, and other pieces belonging to the Copps, a prosperous but frugal Connecticut family. The collection was donated to the United State National Museum in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp, offering the nation the opportunity to preserve and study the everyday possessions of a New England family.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1765
maker
Copp, Esther
ID Number
TE.H06590
catalog number
H06590
accession number
28810

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