Samplers & Samplermakers

Samplers & Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art 1700 - 1850 by Mary Jaene Edmonds

The history of samplermaking in this country is inextricably tied to the history of women's education, for samplers were made in classrooms and were often the first--and sometimes only--step in a young woman's education. There is a story behind each of the nearly eighty samplers illustrated in this book. Working with clues provided by a particular style of stitching, an embroidered motif, an unusual array of color or a sampler inscription, Mary Jaene Edmonds has diligently searched through dusty town records, poured over state censuses and tracked down descendants to locate nearly every stitcher whose work is shown here, revealing her story. In the process, she has also uncovered many of the samplermakers' schools and teachers. Together, these many tales create a compelling and vivid portrait of the lives of young women in colonial and post-Revolutionary America.

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