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Embroidered History - Stitched Lives:
Samplers & Needlework from the Historic Deerfield Collection, 1670-1830

Curator’s Passion for “schoolgirl art” Uplifts New Show

September 9, 2005, scheduled to run through 2006
at Historic Deerfield’s Flynt Center of Early New England Life.

Historic Deerfield is a nationally recognized museum, offering tours of 13 period houses and the Flynt Center of Early New England Life.  Now also featuring the exhibition The Canton Connection: Art and Commerce of the China Trade, 1784-1860. 

Edward Maeder, Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Textiles at Historic Deerfield, has a passion for needlework - and American samplers in particular.

The new exhibition
Embroidered History - Stitched Lives: Samplers & Needlework from the Historic Deerfield Collection, 1670-1830
is a testament to his love and devotion for what he calls “these bits of embroidery.”

Opening Saturday, Sept. 10 at Historic Deerfield’s Flynt Center of Early New England Life, this show is the first comprehensive presentation of the Historic Deerfield collection of embroidered samplers and related needlework.
“There is a wealth of personal and historical information embedded in these often modest school-girl exercises,” says Maeder. “The stories they continue to tell us some two centuries after their creation are a testament to the time and energy lavished on them by their makers.”

The show offers visitors an opportunity to view almost 100 artifacts. A chronological presentation of the development of school-girl needlework from 1670 to 1830 serves as an introduction for visitors. The gallery then proceeds to arrange works and artifacts by themes including “Marking Samplers,” “Deerfield Samplers,” “Pictorial Mourning Embroideries,” and “Coats-of-Arms.” Highlights include the works and artifacts of a mother and daughter from Greenfield Mass., and the life-size recreation of a mourning scene incorporating elements from several embroideries.
“Very few American samplers survive from the 1600’s,” said Philip Zea, president of Historic Deerfield.  “Visitors will have an opportunity to view what we believe to be the only surviving 17^th-century Colonial sampler worked in colored worsted wool on linen, stitched by Elizabeth White in Hatfield, Mass.