The Rural We: Alexandra Peters
“This is very important in the history of women,” says Alexandra Peters. The Sharon, Connecticut resident is talking about the antique sampler collection she’s accumulated over more than 25 years. Samplers reflect American history before and after the American Revolution through the work of girls. The Sharon Historical Society and Museum will be exhibiting a part of her trove in “Sharon Collects: Samplers from the Collection of Alexandra Peters.” The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Saturday, June 18 from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit will run through October 15.
I moved here from NYC in 2005. I was an English child — came to this country when I was 10. The countryside here reminds me of England. But now I feel very American, so I’m interested in life and history here. I was trained as a psychologist and was a teacher for a long time, and I’ve always loved anything about the history of girls in the U.S. There really wasn’t any information out there that I could find…until I started finding samplers. I started buying them about 25 or 30 years ago, wherever I saw them. I didn’t know much about their history, but I started researching, looking at what dealers had, and researching the girl who made each one. This was before you could really look into things on the internet. Then it became possible to buy them online, and now all the auction houses are online. If I see a sampler I’m interested in, I research as much as I can to decide if I want to buy it.
The fact that sampler history is about girls has become a big topic: the Smithsonian has an exhibit on the history of girlhood, “Girlhood (It’s Complicated”) at the National Museum of American History. Girls who sewed samplers were recognized at the time as being skilled and their work was really valued. Parents hung onto their daughters’ samplers with pride. That’s why we still have them; people were proud of them and took such good care of them. They weren’t hobbies, they were something really important that said “My daughter is educated. She is literate.”
I don’t buy the idea, as some do, that this was submission for women. Embroidery is profoundly relaxing. It was the only time in these girls’ lives when you could shut the world out. Sewing isn’t recognized as a skill now because we don’t sew anymore.
My star piece is a genealogy sampler, almost three feet long and made by a free Black girl, whose parents, Mehitable and Francis Heuston, are acknowledged to have been conductors in the Underground Railroad. It will be part of 55 of my samplers on exhibit, focused in groups: a wall of genealogies, a wall of samplers made by sisters, a wall of similar samplers stiched by different girls. I even have a selection of samplers that belonged to women in Nathanial Hawthorne’s family. These are samplers that would have been in the author’s home when he was growing up!
I buy them for the stories they tell; I didn’t start this with the intent to show. I have about 110 samplers, many framed, and they’re hung or stacked all over my house. I’m so excited about the opportunity to have people see this collection. It’s already generated so many conversations about women’s work and what girls were doing. I’m also hoping it’s of interest to girls now.
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