Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - February 26, 1984
By Elizabeth H. Bevington
Vigo County Historical Society

Samplers displayed sewing skills

The assumption can be made that, during a certain era in our country's history, from the time the first colonists arrived until nearly the middle of the 19th century, almost every young girl was expected to make a sampler.

Sampler -- derived from an older word meaning example -- is a piece of needle work showing examples of a variety of stitches.

In fact, samplers may be considered the main basis and training school of American needlework in the early years of the country. Besides, they were pretty. They were also a source of pride to those who made them.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley is fortunate to have an early sampler in its collection. Excluding the frame, the piece is 17 inches by 16 inches. Made on sampler linen, hand spun and hand woven, there are examples of cross stitch, eyelet, chain stitch, satin stitch and French knots. The thread used was vegetable dyed.

The design include a wreath of stylized flowers, plants and leaves, an alphabet, and Arabic numerals, one through nine.

Thee fabric, the variety of stitches and the subject matter are characteristics of samplers in general.

A few lines of poetry, moral, religious, or philosophical in content, were almost always part of the production. This is the poem on the museum's treasure:

"Lord at thy feet I bow
My thoughts no more repine
I call my God no portion now
And all my powers be thine."

In addition, young seamstresses signed their names, gave dates, probably when finished, and sometimes their ages. Here, the name of Susan Earhat (the last name is not clear) appears, at 17 years, February 25, 1838. At the bottom is the name Mrs. R. Parshall & Sem.

The stitching of samplers is an old art. According to one source, the earliest mention of a sampler is in 1502, in England, when Elizabeth of York paid 8d for an ell of linen cloth to make one. This form of needlework gained great popularity in the 16th century in England. Later , Shakespeare referred to samplers in two of his plays, "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Titus Andronicus."

The earliest known sampler in this country bears the date 1610 and was created by the wife of Governor Endecott. It is now in the Essex Institute in Salem, Mass.
In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass., is another, made by the daughter of Captain Myles Standish, thought to have been done about 1643.

It was not unusual for a little girl of only five years to work a sampler. Understandably, the appearance of the finished pieces of stitchery varied according to the artistry and skill of the young needleworkers, regardless of their ages. From the reproductions in a consulted source, the variations are readily perceived. The overall design, its execution and artistry, in many examples, is quite complex, while many others are quite simple.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 Sunday through Friday. For more information, phone 235-9717 during open hours.