A Sample of Newport Samplers, 13-14 August

This weekend the Newport Antiques Show is hosting an exhibit called “Their Manners Pleasing, and Their Education Complete: Newport Samplers 1728-1835.” The exhibit title comes from an advertisement that Frances Townsend ran for her school for Rhode Island girls in 1787.

The eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century samplers in the show come from the collection of the Newport Historical Society, a beneficiary of the event. They show “the evolution of Newport needlework over the course of a century.”

On Saturday, 13 August, at 11:00 A.M., Prof. Margaret Ordonez of the Textiles Department at the University of Rhode Island will discuss what went into these samplers and how time, mounting methods, and use have affected their condition. She’ll offer advice on storing and displaying samplers.

The image above shows an alphabet sampler with the line “Ann Baker her Piece 1754” at the bottom.