1986.0164.001 Sampler and Frame
  • 1986.0164.001 Sampler and Frame
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Sampler (Fancy sampler)

  • Category:

    Textiles (Needlework)

  • Creator (Role):

    Ruthey Putnam (Maker)

    Sarah Stivours (School mistress)

  • Place of Origin:

    Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

  • Secondary Place of Origin:

    Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

  • Materials:

    Canvas; Silk; Linen

  • Techniques:

    Embroidered, Woven (plain)

  • Museum Object Number:

    1986.0164.001


  • Complete Details



Object Number

1986.0164.001

Object Name

Sampler (Fancy sampler)

Category

Textiles (Needlework)

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of LaBelle Tenenbaum, Karen Tenenbaum and Samuel Tenenbaum in memory of Meyer Warren Tenebaum

Creator (Role)

Ruthey Putnam (Maker)
June 27, 1768-June 24, 1790
Ruthey Putnam was born on June 27, 1768, the daughter of Captain Bartholomew Putnam and Sarah Hodges (married May 13, 1760) of Salem, Massachusetts. She worked this fancy sampler with silk threads on linen in 1778 while attending Sarah Stivours' School in Salem. Ruthey married Michael Webb (d. November 17, 1839) on March 2, 1789. Her husband was a grocer and her father-in-law, Jonathan Webb, kept an inn at the Sign of the Ship near the courthouse on Washington Street in Salem. Ruthey died of consumption at 22 years of age on June 24, 1790, at the age of twenty-two. On June 26, 1790, William Bentley wrote in his diary, "The funeral of Mrs. Webb, was the best formed procession in testimony of respect to a private character which I have seen in Salem." She is buried at Burying Point Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. (See Garrett, Elisabeth Donaghy. "The Theodore H. Kapnek collection of American Samplers," The Magazine Antiques. September, 1978, pp. 540-559; Plate III, p. 541.)

Sarah Stivours (School mistress)
1689-1770
Sarah (Fiske) Stivours was a teacher in Salem, Massachuasetts. She was the first American schoolmistress to have her name worked on a distinctive group of samplers. She was born in Salem to Samuel Fiske (1689-1770), who became a schoolmaster and a minister in Salem. Sarah Fiske married Jacob Stivours on December 19, 1771. No reference to her actual teaching career has been found, with the exception of her name appearing on several samplers. These samplers date between 1778 and 1794, giving us a basic range that she was teaching, presumably in Salem, which is also named on most of those samplers. This treatment of the sky and hills (in long kinky satin stitches) is very similar to earlier pieces from Salem, Massachusetts. The use of long satin stitches with kinky silk is usually not found as early as the date on Ruthey Putnam's sampler. Perhaps Sarah attended Blythe's school and adopted this technique for teaching. (See 1953.0137, with the signature on the backboard of S. Blythe, 1959.1884, 1959.1883, 1966,0761A, B and 1964.1221 A, B).

Place of Origin

Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

Secondary Place of Origin

Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, New England, United States, North America

Secondary Origin Notes

Ruthey worked this sampler while attending Sarah Stivours' School in Salem, Massachusetts.

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; on sampler; "RUTHEY PUTNAM HER / SAMPLER WROUGhT NOV / EMBER ThE 27 1778 IN / ThE 10 YEAR OF HER AGE / SARAh STIVOURS SCHOOL MAM" (embroidered thread)

Materials

Canvas; Silk; Linen

Techniques

Embroidered, Woven (plain)

Construction Description

Hand-embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

16.93 (L) , 14.5 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

43.002 (L) , 36.83 (W)

Measurement Notes

Dimensions refer to area of needlework visible within frame.

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Swan, Susan Burrows. 1995 Plain and Fancy: American Women and their Needlework, 1650-1850.
Published: p. 66, fig. 32
[Book] Ring, Betty. 1993 Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850. I.
Similar samplers from Sarah Stivours' School: pp. 105-109
[Article] Garrett, Elisabeth Donaghy. 09//1978 The Theodore H. Kapnek Collection of American Samplers. Antiques. 540-559.
Published: p. 541, plate III