THE GLEE KRUEGER COLLECTION
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December 2018

Wadsworth Atheneum
Design in the American Home, 1650 to 1850

"The desire to surround ourselves with beauty is universal and timeless. We have an innate tendency to transform the shape and decoration of even mundane items in an effort to satisfy our aesthetic aspirations. As cultural values, trends, and technologies shift from one era to the next, so do the objects that we create for everyday use and enjoyment at home. Focusing on objects from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries—from costly furnishings and paintings to inexpensive household necessities—this exhibition shows how the quest for color, texture, and splendor propels artful design."

Susan E. Conklin
, of Kingston, NY, under the guidance of "Precpt'rs" S.F. Stewart, embroidered this large sampler of the New Haven residence of Ithiel Town, Esq., at the age of 10 years old in 1840.

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Ithiel's house located at Hillhouse Ave, New Haven, CT
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Susan E. Conklin, 1840 - Embroidery of the residence of architect Ithiel Town, designer of Wadsworth Atheneum

September 2018 
Adam & Eve, 1727, and Sarah Lowell, 1750, acquired by
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of the David and Roberta Logie Department of Textile and Fashion Arts

Embroidered depiction of Adam and Eve,  attributed to Susanna Condy's school in the North End of Boston. 

Similar to Mehetabel Done's "Adam & Eve", 1724, pp 64-68, 130 in Women's Work, Embroidery in Colonial Boston, by Pamela Parmal.

Linen plain weave with silk embroidery: cross, back, detached buttonhole, French knot, eyelet, stem, outline and running stitches.

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Adam & Eve, Boston, 1727

Daughter of a wealthy textile and import merchant on the South End of Boston, Sarah Lowell (10 Apr 1738 -24 Aug 1792)  was born to Ebenezer Lowell (1701 - ) and Mary Reed (1713 - ).  Sarah was a descendant of Judge John Lowell, Newburyport, MA.

Sarah married Edward Blanchard (1733-1792) on 6 Dec 1759.  Edward was also an affluent merchant, importing goods from London and Bristol.

Her mother, Mary Lowell, died 19 Apr 1799 in Boston, MA, and her funeral was held at the "house of her son-in-law, Ebenezer Hancock, Esq.  John Hancock administered her estate. This is the family of the signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Mary was the daughter of Samuel Reed, mariner of Marblehead.

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Sarah Lowell, Boston, 1750

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An embroidered family register recording the marriage in Norwich, CT of West Indian born William M. Harris and Sally M. Prentice.
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November 2017 
Sarah Anne Major Harris, acquired by
Winterthur Museum as part of their extensive collection of American Samplers

Although unsigned, the family register is attributed to Sarah Ann Major Harris (1812-1878).  Sarah approached Quaker teacher Prudence Crandall in 1832 with the request to acquire "a little more learning" so that she could teach black children in Norwich, CT.  She said she would not be a school boarder but would walk to school daily from her father's farm. 

After hesitating, Prudence agreed.  But the consequences of her decision were far-reaching.  Prudence Crandall had opened her private academy in 1831 for the daughters of the white families of Canterbury and neighboring communities. "Sarah Harris  was accepted as the first black woman as a student at the Academy. In 1833, Crandall decided to close the school and re-open it as one exclusively for 'young Ladies and Little misses of color'.

Between 20 and 25 black women and girls, ranging from ages 9 to 22, attended the Academy. They came from Philadelphia, New York City, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. During the Academy’s 17 months of operation, Crandall and her students endured court trials, harassment, and increasing violence. After an angry mob attacked the school building on the night of September 9, 1834, Crandall decided that she must close the Academy for the safety of her students. Although only open for a brief time, the Canterbury Female
Academy was the first private educational opportunity for African-American women in New England."
~ Prudence Crandall Museum


Saco Museum
Industry and Virtue Joined: Schoolgirl Needlework of Northern New England
May 8 - Oct 4, 2015

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Canterbury, NH sampler worked by Harriet Peverly, 1826
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Canterbury, NH sampler worked by Mary Davis, 1826
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Pembroke, NH sampler worked by Polly Cochran Adams, 1809
"After the Saco Museum's successful 2013 sampler exhibit, "I My Needle Ply With Skill," the museum has been recognized as an important repository for and center of scholarship on northern New England samplers and silk embroideries. This spring and summer the museum offers a second exhibit on schoolgirl needlework, with extensively researched and documented samplers and silk embroideries from Maine and New Hampshire."

Morven Museum & Garden
Hail Specimen of Female Art!  New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860
October 3, 2014 - March 29, 2015

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Catharine Larason
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Catharine Larason
This exhibition focuses on the important contribution of New Jersey in the creation of schoolgirl needlework in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

"Organized geographically, the exhibition will feature works from every region of the state. Although many elaborate and important examples of New Jersey needlework will be featured in the exhibition, the curators have also included more modest examples that highlight other aspects of the educational environment, social class and familial situation experienced by young girls in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In some cases, the exhibit will reunite, for the first time, needlework created by the same girl; sisters; cousins; schoolmates and other close relations."


November 2013  
Loretta Dunham sampler acquired by Dunham Tavern Museum

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Finally returning home after almost 180 years, young Loretta Dunham's sampler is joining her sister Caroline's sampler at their original home, the oldest historic building in Cleveland.
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October 2013  
Rebecca Marietta Butler sampler acquired by CT Historical Society

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CT needlework sampler worked by Rebecca Marietta Butler, aged 9 yrs, 1798.
Depicting trees and green hills below alphabet and numeric series with pious verse within a floral vinery border. Silk threads on linen, Framed: 16 ¼ x 14 ½. 

An 1805 sampler by Rebecca M. Butler, completed at Mrs. Lydia B. Royce's school in Hartford, is listed in Glee's New England Samplers to 1840, pp. 141-42.

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Saco Museum
I My Needle Ply With Skill: Maine Schoolgirl Needlework of the Federal Era
January 12 - March 2, 2013


Featuring the museum's outstanding collection of period needlework and loans from institutions and private collections.  Three samplers from my collection were included in the exhibit.
I My Needle Ply With Skill will be an in-depth look at the complex and lovely needlework created in Maine by schoolgirls of the late 18th and 19th centuries.  At a time when advanced academic opportunities for young women were limited, private academies - often run by women - offered training not only in academic subjects, but also in the fancy sewing skills that were still of critical importance to future homemakers of the Federal era.  While many of these schools were well established in southern New England states by the late 18th century, Maine developed private academies a bit later.  As these local academies grew and flourished, new styles of samplers and needlework evolved that were unique to Maine.  

This exhibit both explores that evolution and offers a glimpse of a period of blossoming female creativity and accomplishment that transcended the societal limitations on women of the era.  The exhibition will include about 80 works and will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an essay by Dyer Library/Saco Museum Executive Director Leslie Rounds.


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Rosetta Stoddard, 1832
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Sarah Moody
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Dorothy Landcaster, 1791

Connecticut Historical Society Museum - October 2010
Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840

Glee with Susan Schoelwer, Curator, Washington’s Mt. Vernon
Glee with Elizabeth Abbe, Director of Public Outreach for C.H.S.
Glee with Karen DePauw, Research & Collections Associate for C.H.S.

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Connecticut Historical Society Museum - October 2010
Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840

"Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740–1840" presents more than 70 samplers, silk embroideries and decorated clothing, bedding and accessories made by Connecticut women and girls.  A final gallery is devoted to the needlework of one remarkable family and its best known member, Prudence Punderson.

eMuseum Catalog:  Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740-1840 


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Florence Griswold Museum - October 2010
With Needle And Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery From The Connecticut River Valley


Dubbed "Textile Summit 2010," some of the most respected textile curators in the country gathered to tour the exhibtion with guest curators Carol and Steve Huber.

Of With Needle and Brush, Ameila Peck, Curator of Textiles at the Metropoltian Museum, stated, "What an exceptional exhibition. So happy to see these wonderful works of art." Pam Parmal, Curator of Textiles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston called the exhibition, "a tremendous body of work."

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Uncommon African-American Child's Sampler ~ Sarah Anne Major Harris (b. 1812) ~ 21" x 20"

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Lecture At Mattauck Museum Sampler Symposium - October 2008
PRESS RELEASE for the Symposium

A symposium organized in collaboration with the Litchfield Historical Society, and sponsored, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Featured were lectures by Glee Krueger, author and renowned folk art and needlework scholar, and Kate Barker, field service director at the Textile Conservation Workshop. The purpose of the symposium was to increase awareness among those responsible for similar collections in the region about the importance and care of these fragile textiles and to develop a wider understanding of their significance as records of important events in our community heritage. Representatives from area museums and historical societies, as well as private collectors were invited to bring samplers from their collections. The day-long event showcased examples created between 1784 and 1840 by young girls aged 9 to 20 who lived in nearby towns and cities before the Civil War. Information about each sampler was recorded and digital files were created. These samplers are now searchable in a database online. 


Common Threads, Uncommon Beauty - September 2004
Lake Michigan Sampler Guild

A day long gathering during which Glee presented two lectures. The first entitled "Pleasure of Their Company", a slide show of her personal collection including both miniature and large samplers. The second part of the afternoon included a slide presentation of the sampler collection from Vassar College where she had been researching regional sampler schools and the identity of the makers. The title of the lecture was "Common threads, Uncommon Beauty: The Martha Clawson Reed and Mrs. James W. Packard Collections".

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