Object Number 1957.0552 A

Object Name

Sampler (Map Sampler)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont

Creator (Role)

Mary M. Franklin (Maker)
Further research would be required to learn more about Mary M. Franklin.

Pleasant Valley Boarding School (School)
There are two recognizable groups of map samplers made in America in during the late 18th century and the early 19th century. The first group is the maps come from Maryland schools, and the second group comes out of the Pleasant Valley Boarding School in Dutchess County, Pleasant Valley, New York. This second group closely resembles the worked maps from British girl's schools, and is easily recognizable. The map samplers of Pleasant Valley show continents and countries outlined with chenille, all lettering is worked in fine black silk threads, and the shorelines are painted blue. A banner or shield would identify the subject, maker's name, her hometown or school, and the date. Known examples date from 1803 to 1824. The Pleasant Valley Boarding School was founded in 1803 by Ann Shipley (1760-1854), Agnes Abbatt Dean (Ann's niece), and Phebe Shipley (Ann's daughter-in-law), who were members of the Religious Society of Friends, well educated, and were acquainted with influential Quakers in both England and in America. These women were well qualified to teach and run a boarding school, and at least one of them was experience with working maps on silk. The school changed hands a few times after 1805 and it is not known what happened to it after the departure of its founders, although there are two samplers that suggest that it continued through part of the 1820's.(RGW, 12/29/2014)(Ring, Betty. Girlhood Embroidery, Vol. II, pp. 312-317.)

Place of Origin

Pleasant Valley, New York, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Date

1808

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; on sampler; "Mary M. Franklin / Pleasant Valley / 1808" (embroidered thread)

Materials

Silk; Watercolor; Ink; Chenille

Techniques

Embroidered, Woven (plain), Painted

Construction Description

Hand-painted, Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

20.37 (L) , 23.75 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

51.74 (L) , 60.325 (W)

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Ring, Betty. 1993 Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850. II.
• Published: p. 317, fig. 337
[Electronic] Zundo, Mary Peterson. 2014 Stitching Empire: Cecilia Lewis's Map of the United States, 1809. http://www.common-place.org/vol-14/no-03/lessons/#.U8QIBv58Pct
• Published in Spring 2014 e-journal, www.common-place.org
[Book] Davis, Charles W. Early American Embroidery Designs.
• Published: p. 149