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.

Man in fawn-colored fall-front trousers, short blue jacket decorated with faceted gilt beads, and tall dark hat.
Description
Man in fawn-colored fall-front trousers, short blue jacket decorated with faceted gilt beads, and tall dark hat. On his arm, lady wearing long dress with wide white collar and blue bonnet tied with long bonnet-strings; she carries parasol and reticule and wears necklace or chain of gilt beads. To right of couple, blue-domed building (temple?) with tall columns on hill above pond, with two deer and flowering bush; to left of couple large tree and under it, sheep and dog. In each upper corner, bluebird under grapevine; children's names enclosed in panel outlined by wave band. Grapes on vines in upper corners worked by coiling purple thread and tacking down each coil in two or three places. Border on all four sides, straight vine bearing roses and rose buds. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, chain, four-sided, French knot. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 28/in.
Inscriptions:
"FAMILY RECORD
Mr Levi Ingersoll was born Dec 26th 1775
Miss Sarah Hubbard was born Jan 2nd 1779
They were united in marriage Jan 31 1802
THEIR DESCENDANTS
Hannah Ingersoll was born Jan 30th 1803
Eliza Ingersoll was born Oct 30th 1804
Ann Ingersoll was born Nov 1st 1806
Henry H Ingersoll was born Feb 25th 1809
Charles Ingersoll was born Jan 23rd 1811
Jane Ingersoll was born July 1st 1815
Mary Ingersoll was born Sept 27th 1819 [last 2 numbers replaced or filled in later]
Sarah Ingersoll was born Feb 10th 1821 [last number replaced or filled in later]
By Miss Mary Ingersoll in the 9th year of her age New York 1830" [number 9 replaced or filled in later]
Background:
Mary was born on September 27, 1819, to Levi and Sarah Hubbard Ingersoll in Pound Ridge, New York. She died unmarried on April 18, 1889.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1830
associated dates
1990-03-26
maker
Ingersoll, Mary
ID Number
1990.0146.01
catalog number
1990.0146.01
accession number
1990.0146
Map of New York State. Most counties and county seats named; rivers shown but not named; names of neighboring states given (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania); Erie Canal shown, but not named.
Description
Map of New York State. Most counties and county seats named; rivers shown but not named; names of neighboring states given (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania); Erie Canal shown, but not named. Light gray guidelines under all embroidery; water damage prior to arrival at Smithsonian. Silk thread on wool ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, four-sided, Algerian eye, back, chain. THREAD COUNT: warp 44, weft 46/in.
Inscription:
"MAP
of the
STATE
of
NEW YORK"
Background:
Catalina Juliana was born on June 19, 1823, to Sidney and Maria Benito Dorado Mason, in St. Johns (San Juan), Puerto Rico. Catalina's father was American consul in St. Johns from 1829 to 1835. Desiring to educate his children in his native land, Mr. Mason brought his family to the United States in one of his own sailing vessels. After arrival in Baltimore, they were taken to Gloucester, Massachusetts. His wife soon succumbed to the rigors of the climate and died on September 14, 1835. On the death of his wife, Mr. Mason gave up all business interests and set forth on an extended tour of Europe. Before departing, he traveled to Puerto Rico one more time and took Catalina with him. When they returned, he placed Catalina at Miss Emma Willard's boarding school for girls in Troy, New York. Recalled from Europe by the death of his son on Dec 25, 1839, he took up residence in New York, and Catalina finished her school days with the Misses McClennachan. It is not known where she stitched her map sampler. She married Theodorus Bailey Myers in 1847, and they had two children, Theodorus Bailey and Cassie Mason. Catalina and her husband made many trips to Europe, and she is known to have paid a visit to the famous dressmaker, Worth. Her niece admired her hands, saying "They were not ornamental only, for they could sew and embroider beautifully, and do all sorts of fine worsted work." Catalina died on August 27, 1905. See Catalina Mason's other sampler.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1837-1847
maker
Mason, Catalina Juliana
ID Number
TE.H33819.A
catalog number
H33819.A
accession number
70138
Three block alphabets of 26 letters. Numbers to 9. Word "Marcellus" appears at end of one alphabet. Sampler worked in black silk with brown cotton used only for small period at ends of rows.
Description
Three block alphabets of 26 letters. Numbers to 9. Word "Marcellus" appears at end of one alphabet. Sampler worked in black silk with brown cotton used only for small period at ends of rows. Border of single row of long-armed cross at top, single row of herringbone on each side, single row of double cross at bottom. Silk thread on cotton ground. STITCHES: cross, long-armed cross, herringbone, eyelet, four-sided, crosslet, double cross. THREAD COUNT: warp 26, weft 26/in.
Inscriptions:
"With ink and pen.
These marks will give.
The lives of men.
To all that live.
Worked by M Cook.
August 1818."
Background:
Mary was born on February 22, 1806, to Daniel and Rebecca Pomeroy Cook in Skaneateles, New York. Daniel served in the Revolutionary War for three months at Saratoga in 1781, and died on August 3, 1806, in Marcellus, New York. Mary stitched her sampler while her family was living in Marcellus. She did not marry, and died on January 30, 1869. She is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. The sampler descended in the family of her brother, Ira.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1818
maker
Cook, Mary
ID Number
TE.T13201
catalog number
T13201
accession number
250307
This sampler features two block alphabets with a lower case backward “j,” She included the following inscription:“Bestow dear Lord upon our youthThe gift of saving graceAnd let the seed of sacred truthFall in a fruitful placeCaroline Quick 1841”Caroline Quick’s inscription is fro
Description
This sampler features two block alphabets with a lower case backward “j,” She included the following inscription:
“Bestow dear Lord upon our youth
The gift of saving grace
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place
Caroline Quick 1841”
Caroline Quick’s inscription is from a hymn, Prayer for a Blessing by English poet William Cowper (1731-1800). Stitching such a verse on her sampler was a way for Caroline to receive religious instruction. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 22, weft 25/ in. The stitches used are cross, four-sided, double cross, queen, Algerian eye, and crosslet.
Caroline Quick (c.1831) was the daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth Quick and was born in Ulster County, Marlborough, New York. In the 1880 New York census she was living with George and Timna Quick Woolsey. Timna was a sister to Caroline, and George and Timna were the parents of donor Harriet Woolsey Gardner, Mrs. Daniel Gardner.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841
maker
Quick, Caroline
ID Number
TE.H37549
catalog number
H37549
accession number
115031

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