Delaware Sampler ID Days
The Sampler Archive Project has been funded by the Delaware Humanities Forum to locate, document, and photograph antique American samplers and related schoolgirl embroideries in Delaware's public and private collections. The public has been invited to bring their antique American samplers to one of its upcoming "Sampler ID Days" so they can be registered, documented, and photographed. Three Sampler Identification and Documentation (ID) Days are scheduled: June 8 at the Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington, June 15 at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, and July 18 at the Lewes Historical Society in Lewes. People living in Delaware and neighboring communities are encouraged to participate in this new statewide initiative. Hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Appointments required for three or more samplers. Flyer
In the News
The Sampler Archive Project is in the news! Ready for download is an article in the University of Delaware's Research magazine about the Sampler Archive Project, recently funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to create an online searchable database of information and images for all known American samplers. The article highlights the role needlework samplers played in the education of girls and young women in America in the 17th to 19th centuries, and the importance of an online database for enhancing future scholarship in the field. Quoted in the article are Dr. Ritchie Garrison, PI; Dr. Lynne Anderson, Project Director, Dr. Patricia Keller, Curator of Digital Collections, and Linda Eaton, Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum, one of the project's collaborating museums. Read the UD Research article.
Full citation is: Bryant, T. 2011. "Stitches in Time Go Online." University of Delaware Research 3, no. 1: 36-38.
About the project
The University of Delaware, the University of Oregon, and the Sampler Consortium launched the Sampler Archive Project in 2011. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the mission of the Sampler Archive Project is to create an online searchable database of information and images for all known American samplers and related girlhood embroideries.
Collaborating partners include dozens of museums, historical societies, and historic homes, as well as individual owners, collectors, and dealers from across the country. In this first round of funding the project is working closely with three repositories of historic samplers: the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, and the DAR Museum in Washington, DC. Phase 1 efforts focus on:
- Developing nationally accepted standards for describing and documenting samplers; Designing and programming a dynamic and flexible database that enables easy online browsing as well as focused searches;
- Populating the online database with information and images from samplers in the collections of our Phase 1 collaborating partners;
- Designing and developing web-based training and support materials to ensure that procedures for sampler documentation are reliable and accurate;
- Creating a user-friendly and customizable website that meets the needs of multiple audiences - providing users with relevant historical information, links to online resources, and tools for sharing, studying, and commenting.
We anticipate that the Sampler Archive Project will greatly expand and improve the study of American samplers by providing centralized access to high quality information and images of historic samplers in geographically dispersed collections, presented to the public in an online environment that facilitates exploration, examination, comparison, notation, and sharing.