Know My Name: How Schoolgirl Samplers Created a Remarkable History
To accompany the opening of their newest exhibit, “With Their Busy Needles: Samplers and the Girls Who Made Them”, The Litchfield Historical Society was delighted to welcome guest curator, Alexandra Peters, for a lecture title “Know My Name: How Schoolgirl Samplers Created a Remarkable History” on Sunday, May 5, 2024, at the Litchfield History Museum. The power of the needle wielded by girls in the creation of samplers has often been overlooked in early American history. Revolutions were taking place, abolitionists were fighting slavery, and literate schoolgirls were sewing thousands of samplers that were meant to show off their accomplishments. The samplers they stitched, often strikingly beautiful, give us a surprising way to look into the lives of these girls, their families and the changing world around them.
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Christine Merser Interviews Alexandra Peters: All About Samplers | Dec 22, 2022

Alexandra Peters’ collection of Samplers from the girls who went before us is riveting. The history behind them. The artistic nature of them. Their relevance to what ’she’ was facing in the 1800s will have your head spinning. Do not miss this interview with the brilliant Alexandra, who teaches us so much in the hour she spent with our fearless leader Christine Merser for Ladies Who Launch. You will find yourself heading up to your attic to see if by chance any of your ancestors happened to do a sampler that tells the story of her message to the world and your family's values.
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SHARON COLLECTS: Samplers from the Collection of Alexandra Peters

Audio Interview by Robin Hood Radio
Duration: 00:11:57 | Recorded on June 17, 2022

Before adding a sampler to her collection, Sharon, CT resident Alexandra Peters researched the lives of the sampler makers and the world revealed by their needlework. The girls in this collection were touched by abolition, the Underground Railroad, and the anti-slavery movement. A few girls settled the Connecticut Western Reserve, others were educated at the three exceptional academies for girls in northwest Connecticut. Quaker girls created elegant darning samplers, and older girls stitched elaborate tales from classical history and literature. Some girls in England sewed world maps. Other girls in the United States documented their family histories, sisters worked companion samplers, and the women of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s family subtly influenced his storytelling with their needlework. Writing with needles, these sampler creators left us a powerful legacy that opens a window into the early education of girls, who their families were, and how they documented their very existence. 
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