The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Edmonds, Mary Jaene                                               

Title:               Samplers and sampler makers research papers

Dates:             1826-circa 2000, bulk: circa 1974-circa 2000

Call No.:         Col. 913         

Acc. No.:        13x9

Quantity:        19 boxes

Location:        10 D 3-5

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Mary Jaene Edmonds was a collector of American needlework, especially school girl samplers, and a scholar on the subject.  She was a California designer, painter, and needleworker who became attracted to samplers because of their color and designs.  She then became interested in the makers of the samplers and in education of American girls in the 18th-19th centuries.

 

When she was a child, Mrs. Edmonds was taught sewing and embroidery by her mother.  Mrs. Edmonds’ father was an artist and sign painter.  From a young age, Mary Jaene drew, painted, sculpted, and sewed.  She was trained in art and design, and as an adult she designed jewelry, clothing, and millinery, in addition to planning and decorating her own homes.  Her interest in needlepoint grew during her convalescence from a heart attack suffered in the late 1960s.  Lying in bed, she had time to study the craft and experiment with yarns and patterns.  In the 1970s, she began her collection of American school girl samplers.  Mrs. Edmonds’ sampler collection was dispersed in an auction held at Sotheby’s in New York in January 2013.

 

Mary Jaene Edmonds has written two books: Geometric Designs in Needlepoint (published 1976) and Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art, 1700-1850 (published 1991).  The latter was published in conjunction with an exhibit of her sampler collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1991-1992.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

This collection contains information about Mary Jaene Edmonds’ collection of American samplers; research notes for her book Samplers and Samplermakers (which is about the samplers in her collection); and her drawings and drafts of the text for her book Geometric Designs in Needlepoint.  Mrs. Edmonds did genealogical research on the girls who made the samplers which she owned, and she also researched several towns, such as Ipswich, Mass., and Norwich, Conn., in her quest to learn who ran the schools which the sampler makers may have attended.  These research notes comprise the bulk of the collection, and a great deal of information was discovered about the families of some of the sampler makers. 

 

The collection also includes some original documents.  These include rewards of merit which had been awarded to Mary Olivia Folsom, a mid-19th century deed for Philadelphia property associated with the family of Mary Hallowell, and several items related to Martha Mulford.  Mulford’s documents include a mathematics exercise book, several poems, specimens of calligraphy, a bill for textile fabrics and clothing items, and an account of a trip from Dayton, Ohio, to Fountain County, Indiana.  These were items which evidently came with the samplers by these girls when they were purchased by Mrs. Edmonds.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

Files about the sampler makers and some teachers are followed by files about samplers by location.  Boxes 12-14 contain drafts and photographs for Mrs. Edmonds’ book on samplers.  Boxes 15-16 contain design drawings and publishing information for her book on needlepoint.  Boxes 17-18 contain note cards about sampler makers, schools, and other sampler information.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Mary Jaene Edmonds.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

Calligraphy – Specimens.

Canvas embroidery - United States.

Collectors and collecting - California.

Deeds - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

Embroidery - United States.

Mathematics – Problems, exercises, etc.

Samplers - Collectors and collecting.

Samplers - United States.

Schoolgirls.

Teachers - United States.       

Voyages and travel.

Rewards of merit.

Poems.

 

            Additional author:

                        Mulford, Martha Meek, 1796-1868.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 10 D 3-5

 

 

Box 1: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Abbot family: Jane and Sally

 

Folder 2:          Abbot, Jane (78-6-4)

 

Folder 3:          Abbot, Sally (78-6-5)

 

Folder 4:          Asbery, Mary Ann (76-8-4)

 

Folder 5:          Avery, Martha (79-9-5)

 

Folder 6:          Babbidge family: teachers

                        [see also Polly Phippen and Nabby Dane]

 

Folders 7-8:     Baner, Barbara (81-1-1)

 

Folder 9:          Bellow, Eliza (92-18-1)

 

Folder 10:        Blyden, Elizabeth (77-6-2)

 

Folder 11:        Boxford, Massachusetts, sampler

 

Folder 12:        Boyds, Charlotte Coates (81-3-2)

 

Folder 13:        Boyer, Sarah Ann (81-6-5)

 

Folder 14:        Bradley, Louisa, and Phebe Stoddard

 

 

 

Box 2: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Brown, Elizabeth

 

Folder 2:          Canney, mary

 

Folder 3:          Carswell, Abbie Ann

 

Folder 4:          Carter, Emily (75-3-3)

 

Folder 5:          Cheever, Elizabeth

 

Folder 6:          Coit, Lucy (80-9-7)

 

Folder 7:          Copeland, Bathsheba

 

Folder 8:          Dane, Nabby (82-10-8)

                                    [see also Box 5]

 

Folder 9:          Dickinson, Ann

 

Folder 10:        Dore, Elizabeth (79-11-6)

 

Folder 11:        Drew, Elizabeth

 

Folder 12:        Drowne, Fanny

 

Folder 13:        Elwell, Sarah (88-3-2)

 

Folder 14:        Folsom, Mary Olivia (81-11-9a)

                                    Includes original rewards of merit

 

Folder 15:        Foster, Mehitable (81-10-7)

                                    (folder 1 of 2; continues in next box)

 

 

 

Box 3: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Foster, Mehitable (81-10-7)

                                    (folder 2 of 2; continued from previous box)

 

Folder 2:          Goddard, Ann Elizabeth (80-12-17)

 

Folder 3:          Goss, Nabby

 

Folders 4-5:     Graves, Nancy (82-3-2)

 

Folder 6:          Hall, Elizabeth Day    

 

Folder 7:          Hallowell, Mary

                                    (includes original deed for property in Philadelphia, 1848-1862)

 

Folder 8:          Hanson - Hawkes genealogy

 

Folder 9:          Hildreth, Harriot W. (80-12-16)

 

Folder 10:        Hooton, Ann

 

 

 

Box 4: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Hunsicker, Barbara (80-5-6)

 

Folder 2:          Jefferis, Sidney

 

Folder 3:          Johnson, Annie (76-6-1)

 

Folder 4:          Krouse, Caroline

 

Folder 5:          Lewis, Mary (82-7-5)

 

Folders 6-8:     Likens, Jane (75-1-1) 

 

Folder 9:          Malone, Eleanor (80-12-15)

 

Folder 10:        McCardell, Sarah: school teacher

                                    [see also Sarah Ann Boyer]

 

Folder 11:        Mequire, Leah Galligher: schoolteacher (Pennsylvania)

 

 

 

Box 5: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Mitchell, Mary

 

Folder 2:          Mulford, Martha

 

Folder 3:          Munroe, Lucy (78-4-2)

 

Folder 4:          Murdock, Laura (79-8-3)

 

Folder 5:          Phippen, Polly

 

Folder 6:          Phippen, Dane, and Wellman information

 

Folder 7:          Platt, Martha (78-4-3)

 

Folder 8:          Plympton, Louisa H.

 

Folder 9:          Richards, Mary (80-1-1)

 

Folder 10:        Richardson, Susannah (78-10-7)

 

Folder 11:        Sayre, Phoebe B. (80-12-14)

 

Folder 12:        Slack, Calista: Shaker sampler

 

Folder 13:        Smith, Ann (94-10-3): Westtown School

 

Folder 14:        Stanton, Mary (82-5-3)

 

 

 

Box 6: sampler makers and teachers

 

Folder 1:          Steelman, Hannah (80-5-5) (Squankum, N.J.)

 

Folder 2:          Stine, Elizabeth (83-1-5)

 

Folder 3:          Stivours, Sarah Fiske: school teacher, Massachusetts

 

Folder 4:          Strong, Jane N.: map (82-7-4)

 

Folder 5:          Thomas, Rebeccah (82-10-7)

 

Folder 6:          Tinkham, Emily (79-8-4): Shaker sampler

 

Folder 7:          Tomlinson, Esther (80-10-11)

 

Folder 8:          Tomlinson, Hannah (80-10-12)

 

Folder 9:          Wadsworth, Lucy (79-8-2)    

 

Folder 10:        Webb, Rebecca (mother of Hannah Baker)

 

Folder 11:        White, Hannah

 

 

 

Box 7: sampler makers and teachers; other files

 

Folder 1:          Wild, Rebecca (78-1-1)

 

Folder 2:          Witmer, L. (80-5-4)

 

Folder 3:          Witmer, M. (80-5-3)

 

Folder 4:          Wolcott, Hannah (82-10-6)    

 

Folder 5:          Yalding, Dolly

 

Folder 6:          Yarnell, Abigail Pasmore (81-5-4)

 

Folder 7:          Zeller, Mary: teacher (Philadelphia)

 

Folder 8:          Articles of interest: needlework and textiles; alphabets; book reviews; painted furniture; prints on silk; Staffordshire china; use of engravings in needlework

 

Folder 9:          Articles of interest: samplers and needlework

 

Folder 10:        Boston-type needlework

 

Folder 11:        Class notes: Betty Ring and “American Schoolgirl Embroideries, 1640-1840”

 

Folder 12:        Coats of arms/hatchments

 

Folder 13:        Connecticut: research notes

                                    [other than Norwich, which see]

 

Folder 14:        Correspondence

 

 

Box 8:

 

Folder 1:          Correspondence about samplers and needlework

 

Folder 2:          Darning and mending samplers, American

 

Folder 3:          Einstein, Susan

 

Folder 4:          Embroideries, silk

 

Folder 5:          Exeter, New Hampshire: research notes

 

Folder 6:          Faked samplers

 

Folder 7:          Family records

 

Folder 8:          “Family tree” samplers of Lexington and Concord, Mass.

                                    [includes L. Plympton]

 

Folder 9:          Foreign samplers: British, Canadian, Dutch, etc.

 

Folder 10:        French, Betty: genealogical research

 

Folder 11:        Garrett, Wendell: tribute to Mary Jaene Edmonds

 

Folder 12:        Guy, Francis: dancing teacher in South Carolina

 

Folder 13:        Ipswich, Massachusetts: research notes

 

Folder 14:        Mennonite samplers

 

Folder 15:        Los Angeles County Museum of Art: samplers exhibit (Edmonds collection)

 

Folder 16:        Maps

 

Folder 17-18: Maryland: research notes on and city directories of Baltimore

 

Folder 19:        Maryland: schools and teachers (chiefly in Baltimore)

 

 

Box 9:

 

Folder 1:          Memorial embroideries, including George Washington memorials

 

Folder 2:          Mourning embroideries

 

Folder 3:          New Hampshire: schools

 

Folders 4-6:     Norwich, Connecticut: research notes           

 

Folders 7-8:     Patrick Griffith & Associates: development of television program   

 

Folder 9:          Pennsylvania schools: Mary Walker, Mrs. Armstrong, Miss Buchanan, Mary Reed, Mrs. Welcher

 

Folder 10:        Plimpton-Smith collection, Berkeley

 

Folder 11:        Publishing companies: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

 

Folder 12:        Publishing companies: Charles Scribner’s Sons

 

Folder 13:        Publishing companies: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.; Random House; Viking-Penguin

 

Folder 14:        Publishing companies: Harper & Row

 

Folder 15:        Publishing companies: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

 

Folder 16:        Publishing companies: Prentice-Hall, Inc.; Simon & Shuster; Arco Publishing

 

 

Box 10:

 

Folder 1:          Quaker samplers

 

Folder 2:          “Reading” marking sampler

 

Folder 3:          Rhode Island: research notes

 

Folder 4:          Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly, winter 2000, fall 2001, summer 2006

 

Folder 5:          Samplers: miniatures and small ones

 

Folder 6:          Samplers: Native American

 

Folder 7:          Samplers by location: American: state unknown or more than one state

 

Folder 8:          Samplers by location: Connecticut

 

Folder 9:          Samplers by location: Delaware, Delaware Valley, mid-Atlantic states

 

Folder 10:        Samplers by location: District of Columbia

 

Folder 11:        Samplers by location: Maine

 

Folder 12:        Samplers by location: Maryland

 

Folder 13:        Samplers by location: Maryland, by name of maker

                                    (Mary Ann Armstrong; Margaret Boyd; Martha Ann Cooper; Mary Ann Craft; Mary Davis; Groverman; Mary Ann Kennedy; Krebs/Kreps; Margaret Jane McGuire; Eliza Picket/Pickett; Martha Jane Smith; Sarah Ann Wigart; Ann Woodward)

 

Folders 14-15: Samplers by location: Massachusetts

 

Folder 16:        Samplers by location: New Hampshire

 

Folder 17:        Samplers by location: New Hampshire: Canterbury, Sanbornton, Northfield

 

 

 

Box 11:

 

Folder 1:          Samplers by location: New Jersey

 

Folder 2:          Samplers by location: New York

 

Folder 3:          Samplers by location: Ohio

 

Folder 4:          Samplers by location: Pennsylvania

 

Folder 5:          Samplers by location: Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German and Schwenkfelder

 

Folder 6:          Samplers by location: Pennsylvania: Philadelphia area

 

Folder 7:          Samplers by location: Rhode Island

 

Folder 8:          Samplers by location: southern states: Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia

 

Folder 9:          Samplers by location: unknown origin

 

Folder 10:        Samplers by location: Vermont

 

Folder 11:        Samplers by school: Fallsington Boarding School (Pennsylvania or New Jersey)

 

Folder 12:        Samplers by school: Lititz Academy (Linden Hall) (Lititz, Pennsylvania)

 

Folder 13:        Samplers by school: Mrs. Damon’s school (Boston, Mass.)

 

Folder 14:        Samplers by school: Mrs. Hoff (Pennsylvania, Lebanon?)

 

Folder 15:        Samplers by school: Mrs. Reed’s school (Pennsylvania)

 

Folder 16:        Samplers by school: Samuel Folwell school (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

 

Folder 17:        Samplers by school: Westtown School (Chester County, Pennsylvania)

 

Folder 18:        Samplers by school: Pennsylvania: various

 

Folder 19:        Shaker samplers

 

Folder 20:        Show towels

 

Folder 21:        Slide sets: Cooper-Hewitt and DAR Museum (lists of sldies)

 

 

 

Box 12: Samplers and Samplermakers: typescript

 

Folder 1:          caption headings

 

Folder 2:          preface; map by Jane Strong

 

Folder 3:          introduction,

with samplers by Winnifrid Kennersley (English), Sarah Ogden (English), Dutch darning samplers, P. Fryer (English), Margaret Bett (Scottish), Mary Roberst (English), Berlin wool work

 

Folder 4:          18th century: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island

                                    [see folder or book for names]

 

Folder 5:          18th century: Pennsylvania: Elizabeth Stine

 

Folder 6:          19th century: Massachusetts

                                    [see folder or book for names]

 

Folder 7:          19th century: New Hampshire

                                    [see book for names]

 

Folder 8:          19th century: Maine: Hanson genealogy, Portland

 

Folder 9:          19th century: Connecticut: Louisa Bradley, Mary Ann Goodrich, Martha Platt

 

Folder 10:        19th century: Rhode Island: Mary Stanton

 

Folder 11:        19th century: Pennsylvania

                                    [see folder or book for names]

 

Folder 12:        19th century: Quaker: introduction

                                    [see folder or book for names]

 

Folder 13:        19th century: New Jersey: Phebe Sayre and Ann W. Dickinson

 

Folder 14:        19th century: Maryland: Charlotte Coates Boyd, Elizabeth Blyden, Eliza Picket

 

Folder 15:        19th century: Virginia: Jane Likens and Mary Ann Asbery

 

 

 

 

Box 13: Samplers and Samplermakers: typescript and other files

 

Folder 1:          19th century: Ohio: Martha Mulford

 

Folder 2:          19th century: Arkansas: Nancy Graves

 

Folder 3:          19th century: California: Abbie Ann Carswell

 

Folder 4:          19th century: Shakers: Emily Tinkham and Calista Stack

 

Folder 5:          not in book: Sally Doolittle (New Hampshire) and Eliza Wilson (New England)

 

Folder 6:          royalty statements, contract, copyright form

 

Folders 7-8:     Rizzoli: correspondence

 

Folder 9:          articles about book, exhibit, symposium at LACMA

 

Folder 10:        symposium at LACMA and correspondence

 

 

 

Box 14: Samplers and Samplermakers: photographs

 

Folder 1:          color transparencies and slides

 

Folder 2:          black and white photographs

 

 

 

Box 15: Geometric Designs in Needlepoint

 

Folder 1:          Designs 1-4

 

Folder 2:          Designs 5-15

 

Folder 3:          Designs 16-20

 

Folder 4:          Geometric Designs in Needlepoint: draft one

 

Folder 5:          Geometric Designs in Needlepoint: draft two

 

Folder 6:          Letters, 1974-1976

 

Folders 7-8:     Photographs

 

 

Box 16: Edmonds collection inventory; slides        

 

Folder 1:          Edmonds collection inventory: 1975-1979

 

Folder 2:          Edmonds collection inventory: 1980-1981

 

Folder 3:          Edmonds collection inventory: 1982-1985

 

Folder 4:          Edmonds collection inventory: 1986-2000

 

Folder 5:          Slides: samplers by name of maker [unknown names at end]

 

Folder 6:          Slides: Baltimore, etc.

 

Folder 7:          Slides: Cooper-Hewitt Museum

 

Folder 8:          Slides: DAR Museum

 

 

 

Box 17: note cards

 

“My Sampler Girls”: notes about sampler makers and some teachers

Group of note cards which were not labeled

 

 

Box 18: note cards

 

“Samplers by location”

Schools and teachers

Education

 

 

Box 19: 19th century documents (acc. 13x9.1-.8)

 

These documents were separated from the rest of the collection for a time, and their history is unknown.  Some of the material clearly belonged to Martha Meek Mulford Cory (see Boxes 5 and 13), and it is possible all the materials came from her.

 

Folder 1:          Mulford, Martha.  Mathematics book, Clark County, Ohio, 1823-1824.

                        Other names found in the volume: Euphemi Meek, Cynthiam Meek.

                        [see chapter on Ohio samplers in Samplers and Samplermakers: An American Schoolgirl Art, 1700-1850 for information on Martha Meek Mulford Cory]

 

Folder 2:          Reynolds, Jane.  Poem: “Oh! Who has loved with devotion and zeal,” June 21, 1826, with name Martha Mulford written on back.

 

Folder 3:          Cory, Martha.  Poem, beginning “God hath chosen a male for me.”

 

Folder 4:          Poetry and calligraphy

 

Folder 5:          Poetry.  One side: “Young people now attention give.”  Other side: “The Swiftness of Time.”

 

Folder 6:          Brief account of a trip from Dayton, Ohio, to Shawnee township, Fountain County, Indiana.  Mentions names of people with whom the traveler stayed, creeks and rivers crossed, miles traveled.

 

Folder 7:          “Bill of goods bot from Isaac Whetham[?],” including handkerchiefs, various textile fabrics, shawls, and mantillas.

 

Folder 8:          Print: “Res. of Hon. N. K. Green, Maple Street, Medina tp., Mich.”