“Eclectic” could well be the term to categorize the DAR Museum exhibition, Telling Their Stories: 19 th Century Samplers and Silk Needlework. Opening April 11, 2008 and on view until August 30, 2008, the exhibition presents American needlework in many guises while turning attention to nineteenth-century events. Within the limits of time and gallery space, the museum features needlework reflective of feminine lives during years of extreme national and familial change. Whether the related stories concern the maker, teacher, family, or contemporary events, each has a bit of information connecting us to our distant past.
Given by her granddaughter, Caroline Newcomb’s silk printwork represents not only an early-nineteenth century ideal of feminine ornamental accomplishments but also the benefits of an expensive education (Fig.1). However, Caroline’s skills do not disguise death’s reality as she memorializes grandparents and six brothers and sisters, all of Dutchess County, New York.
Forty-one years later and a world away in Iowa, Susannah McClure’s sampler does not begin to tell the stories of her family’s migration across the United States, her permanent deafness from scarlet fever, her life as a teacher, wife and mother in “the silent world” described by her son (Fig.2). It is through family histories, census records, church and cemetery records and local, state and national archives that researchers look for answers about Susannah and others.
More than eighty pieces of needlework represent diversity not only in composition and ability, but also in locale and circumstance. The exhibition also illustrates long-lived designs and verses traversing the globe and across America, much as the restless populace moved on. A certain melding of designs was inevitable. Louisa Martha Vanlaw incorporated familiar Quaker motifs with other atypical design elements in her beautiful Ohio sampler, possibly reflecting the New Jersey heritage of older family members (Fig.3).
Lives cannot be condensed into exhibition labels, but whenever possible a connection is made to their own time and place. Telling Their Stories hopefully adds a fragment of information about 19th century needleworkers viewed with a 21 st century perspective.
Olive Blair Graffam
Curator of Collections/Research Associate
DAR Museum
1776 D Street NW
Washington , DC 20006
The DAR Museum is pleased to host a sampler symposium on May 29, 2008 from 8:30 AM until 4:00 PM. It is a pleasure to welcome Amy Finkel, Elisabeth Garrett Widmer, Janet S. Hasson, and Dr. Mary C. Beaudry as the featured speakers. Please contact the DAR Museum at museum@dar.org, 202-879-3240, or 202-879-3237 for information or a registration brochure.
Fig.1
Needlework picture , 1817
Caroline Litchfield Newcomb
Litchfield Female Academy
Silk and watercolor on silk
Gift of Mrs. John H. Bruns in memory 64.129
Of Caroline Newcomb Cheeseman
Granddaughter of Caroline L. Newcomb
Photograph by Mark Gulezian/ Quicksilver
Fig.2
Sampler , 1858
Susannah McClure
Iowa City , Iowa
Wool and silk on linen
Friends of the Museum Purchase 2007.27
Photograph, courtesy M. Finkel & Daughter
Fig.3
Sampler , 1834
Louisa Martha Vanlaw
Belmont County , Ohio
Silk on linen
Friends of the Museum Purchase 2005.48
In honor of Linda B. Wetzel, Curator General
NSDAR, 2004-2007
Photograph by Mark Gulezian/ Quicksilver