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.

Family genealogy is centered above pair of weeping willow trees. At sides of sampler, vines with roses and buds twist around columns and continue upward forming an arch at top. One death record and worker's name at bottom, below weeping willow trees.
Description
Family genealogy is centered above pair of weeping willow trees. At sides of sampler, vines with roses and buds twist around columns and continue upward forming an arch at top. One death record and worker's name at bottom, below weeping willow trees. Brown guidelines under all free embroidery. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: four-sided, crosslet, cross, satin, straight, chain, stem. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 31/in.
Inscriptions:
"GENEALOGY
Simeon Skillin born Cape Elizabeth, Me May 31 1787.
Nancy Adams born Castine, Me Aug 26, 1789.
Married Aug 16 1812.
OFFSPRING
Edward P Skillin born Portland Me April. 28 1813.
Charles P Skillin born Portland Me Aug 18 1814.
George W Skillin born Portland Me Dec 18 1816.
Simeon Skillin born Portland Me May 12 1818.
Robert Skillin born Portland Me Oct 31 1819.
Sarah A Skillin born Portland Me Jun 29 1821.
Silas B Skillin born Portland Me Oct 29 1822.
Oliver P Skillin born Portland Me May 19 1824.
Eliza M Skillin born Portland Me Dec 25 1826.
Nancy P Skillin born Portland Me Feb 25 1829.
Silas B Skillin born Portland Me Aug 26 1830.
Mary Skillin born Portland Me July 17 1831.
Deaths
Silas B Skillin died
APr. 25, 1826.
By Sarah A Skillin
1835."
Background:
Sarah Adams was born on June 29, 1821, to Simeon and Nancy Adams Skillin in Portland, Maine. Sarah married Smith C. Hadlock, a fisherman, on July 14, 1843, and died in Maine on January 8, 1889. They had eight children—Harriet A., Emma C., Nancy A., Samuel, Oliver E., Cyrena A., Henry B., and Sarah G.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1835
associated dates
1982-12-02
maker
Skillin, Sarah A.
ID Number
1983.0617.03
catalog number
1983.0617.03
accession number
1983.0617
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
Large cornucopia of flowers and leaves above verse, with geometric carnation border. Flowers include morning glory, moss rose, sweet peas, and lily. Brown guidelines under cornucopia and flowers. Maker's age and date written in ink, probably added later.
Description
Large cornucopia of flowers and leaves above verse, with geometric carnation border. Flowers include morning glory, moss rose, sweet peas, and lily. Brown guidelines under cornucopia and flowers. Maker's age and date written in ink, probably added later. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: Cross, crosslet, herringbone. THREAD COUNT: warp 30, weft 28/in.
Inscription:
"The star of Bethlehem
Brighter than the rising day
When the sun of glory shines;
Brighter than the diamond's ray
Sparkling in Golonda's [sic] mines
Beaming through the clouds of wo
Smiles in Mercy's diadem
On the guilty world below
The Star that rose in Bethlehem
Elizabeth Orme
Novr 9th"
written in ink after the inscription is "1833 Age 9"
Background:
Elizabeth was born about 1825 to Sarah and Thomas Orme in Washington, D.C. She married James Hizer on September 6, 1854, but by the 1860 census, she was widowed and living with her mother and sister Anna, who was also a widow. Elizabeth died in 1892 of tuberculosis. See her mother's (Sarah Kurtz) sampler. Anna's daughter Mary donated her grandmother's and aunt's samplers.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1833
associated dates
1933 06 22
maker
Orme, Elizabeth
ID Number
TE.T07319
accession number
124663
catalog number
T07319
Three block alphabets; one double of 26 letters and one script alphabet of 26 letters. Numbers to 21. All rows separated by simple geometric crossbands.
Description
Three block alphabets; one double of 26 letters and one script alphabet of 26 letters. Numbers to 21. All rows separated by simple geometric crossbands. In lower half of sampler two-story brick house with two chimneys and double door on stepped terrace, flanked by two pairs of flower baskets. Border of single row of cross-stitch on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, rice, Algerian eye, four-sided, crosslet, stem, outline, French knot. THREAD COUNT: warp 27, weft 31/in.
Inscriptions:
"The rof[s]e, The Sweetly Blooming rof[s]e
Ere from the Tree itf[s] torn
Itf[s] Like the charmf[s] which Beauty Show
In Livef[s] exulting Morn.
Auguf[s]ta Ann PhilliPs June
The 18 1794"
Background:
Nothing is known about the life of Augusta Ann Phillips.
Date made
1794
maker
Phillips, Augusta Ann
ID Number
TE.E309069
catalog number
E309069
E 309069
accession number
63668
Verse and two wide floral crossbands, both arcaded, one with roses and one with strawberries and forget-me-nots. Two eight-pointed stars. Black guidelines under flowers in rose crossband. Center section framed in band of sawtooth.
Description
Verse and two wide floral crossbands, both arcaded, one with roses and one with strawberries and forget-me-nots. Two eight-pointed stars. Black guidelines under flowers in rose crossband. Center section framed in band of sawtooth. Border of geometric flowering vine with strawberries and pinks, and an outer row of dentil pattern on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, straight, Algerian eye, satin, surface satin, encroaching satin, stem, queen, outline. THREAD COUNT: warp 40, weft 38/in.
Inscriptions:
"Here In This Garden Here Below
Water Me That I May Grow
And When All Grace To Me Is Given
Then Transplant Me Into Heaven
Elizabeth Marx Her Work 1802"
Background:
This is probably the Elizabeth born on March 20, 1790, to George and Elizabeth Marx in Reading, Pennsylvania. According to the records from the Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, she married Christian Brobst on September 6, 1812. She died June 20, 1847 and is buried at the Union/West End Cemetery in Allentown, Lehigh, PA.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1802
maker
Marx, Elizabeth
ID Number
TE.T11651
catalog number
T11651.000
accession number
222389

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