By Chloe Paddack, Exhibits Fellow
What do you think of when you hear the ABC’s? Do you think about the song, blocks or other children’s toys? What about embroidery samplers? Or a quilt?
Sampler created by Elizabeth Gossom Roberts, embroidery floss on linen. KM2016.39.1.
Today’s object story asks you to travel back in time with us to learn about the alphabet’s numerous appearances in textiles, how it evolved, and how important it is to historians today.
But first, what is a sampler?
Historically, a sampler was a work of embroidery created to practice stitches and embroidery techniques. During the 16th to 19th centuries, it was popular as an educational tool for girls, with highly embellished ones featuring complex scenes meant to be displayed in the home. It often had important dates, listed members of the family, and included intricate designs like hearts, flowers, trees, or even outlines of the family home. Because of this, historians have used samplers to better establish genealogical records when traditional records like censuses failed.
Sampler by Mary Calvert, age 12. Embroidery floss on linen. 1951.1.22.
Yet samplers demonstrate more than female domestic skills or genealogy. Throughout the entire design was an incredible display of literacy. Samplers often included the alphabet, full sentences of grammar, and even some of the creator’s favorite poems or psalms.
With many surviving samplers dated to the 18th and 19th centuries, these displays tell us a lot about the evolving world for girls and women. While often not granted formal education, many girls were learning to read and write in the home or community schools. They perfected this skill and memorialized their education in these samplers.
Sampler by Jane Brougham Pattinson, wool thread on linen, 1845. 1944.20.2.
These samplers also served as a teaching tool for future generations in the family. Children could learn the alphabet from these samplers, since samplers were often a permanent fixture in homes. Girls could then create their own embroidery, inspired by that of generations before.
Over the course of the 19th century, samplers persisted and evolved. We have several examples of samplers within our collection that spread across the 18th and 19th century. What’s interesting, though, is the other ways women incorporated elements of samplers into their fiber arts.
Sampler by Lilian Fox, aged 9. Berlin wool on unworked linen. 1980.7.6.
Take the Owens Family Quilt (1995.46.1), created sometime between 1920 and 1940. Missouri “Zourie” Owens intricately recorded her family history with this quilt. While it is pieced and not embroidered, it functions in much the same way as a sampler would, by recording the family names in a tangible form that would be passed down to her children.
Owens Family Quilt in pink and white. Textile contains the names: Joseph and Zourie, Hollie, Liddie, Willie, Elmer Owens on white ground with pink flying geese border.
Or the Alphabet Quilt (KM2023.33.2), which features the entire alphabet and popular quilt blocks for the 1940s: the flag, the goblet, the schoolhouse, and the churn dash. This quilt functioned for daily use, could serve as an educational tool, and presented the incredible skill of the quilter, Vera Bartley Philpott.
Alphabet quilt in a 9 X 9 arrangement by Vera Bartley Philpott. KM2023.33.2.
Creating samplers and quilts like these has fallen out of mainstream practice, though many skilled embroiderers might still create a sampler to practice certain stitches before undertaking a larger work. But textiles containing the alphabet or a family name are still very common on baby blankets or children’s toys. Elementary schools almost always include rugs that display the alphabet and the common words they start with.
Many samplers and quilts persist in museum collections, serving as a testament to women who created, learned, and memorialized the ones they loved.