M. Finkel & Daughter

10/13/2026

Happy National Vermont Day! One day late but better late than never.

An outstanding Vermont sampler from our archives, signed along the bottom, “Wrought by Nancy B. Whitcomb Stockbridge 1823 AE 11.” 

Nancy included the name of her teacher directly on her sampler: “Mary Cooper Instructress,” (read at either end of the white fence) and there are two other very similar samplers known to have been worked in Stockbridge, Vermont and under Mary Cooper’s tutelage.

This sampler is now at Shelburne Museum as part of the exhibition, On Point: Needlework from the Garthwaite Family Collection, helping to tell the story of Vermont’s history.

10/12/2026

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day! Three antique Canadian samplers - from Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario.

The Thanksgiving holiday tradition in Canada dates back to when the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, came upon the land we now know as Canada while searching for a Northern passage to the Orient. He arrived in Canada on his third voyage in 1578 and held a formal ceremony with a dinner of salt beef and peas. He gave thanks for surviving the long journey - one of his ships had been lost on the way. This predates the Pilgrims’ celebration of their first Thanksgiving meal in the American colonies by 43 years.

Samplers are from our archives.

10/12/2026

Celebrating Indigenous Persons Day! This sampler was made in 1828 by an 11-year-old Cherokee girl, Nancy Graves (Ku-To-Yi), at the Cherokee Mission in Dwight, Arkansas. The school was established in 1820 by missionaries to Christianize and educate Cherokee children - often stripping them of their native language, religion and culture. This samplermaker attended the school from 1826 to 1829. Her sampler is now in the collection of the Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas and is the earliest known American sampler made by an Indiginous person.

10/11/2026

Spent time with Sew What podcast, Isabella Rosner’s interview with the co-curators of Locating Girlhood, just opened at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Highly recommend this podcast! And of course the exhibition is a must see.

10/11/2026

Reposted Dr Isabella Rosner Nearing the end of writing a draft of my forthcoming book Fierce is the Needle and I’m doing a lot of going through my camera roll to study all the embroideries I’ve seen over the course of this project. I realised I never shared photos of Ann West’s 1820 coverlet, which I spent time with at V&A Storehouse almost a year ago. I love this intimate, detailed glimpse into daily life in England more than 200 years ago. I spy a stitched town cryer, chimney sweeps, a fisherman and his son, actors, and a double wedding, all mingling with biblical scenes. Ann West’s coverlet is huge, eight feet by seven-and-a-quarter feet, but her details are teeny tiny, minuscule French knot buttons, hand drawn patterned cloaks, and carefully stitched pink cheeks. It is clear Ann West loved needlework and the rich variety of human life, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to see the world through her eyes

Ann West, “Coverlet,” 1820, English, V&A, T.23-2007

10/10/2026

Reposted The Wadsworth On Sunday, October 18 from 1-2pm, join Associate Curator of Costume and Textiles Ned Lazaro for this tour highlighting two textiles on view in the American Decorative Arts galleries: an embroidered needlework sampler and a bed rug.

Bookending the mid-18th and early 20th centuries, these two beautiful and engaging pieces reveal stories about continuity and tradition, aesthetic skill, and a sense of place. 

Free with admission. Meet outside the Museum Shop.

Image: Martha Perkins (American, Norwich, CT, 1761–1826), Sampler, 1773. Polychrome silk embroidery (cross stitch); plain- weave linen ground. Gift of the Reverend Daphne B. Noyes, 2013.16.1.

10/09/2026

Opening last night at the American Folk Art Museum, NYC. Spectacular exhibition!

10/07/2026

10/06/2026

Huzzah! Today is the 303rd anniversary of Ben Franklin’s arrival in Philadelphia. He walked up Market Street, a 17-year-old with a loaf of bread in hand on October 6, 1723.

In celebration of this, here are several outstanding 18th century samplers made in Philadelphia between 1722 and 1793.

All of these are from our archives.

10/05/2026

National Rhode Island Day! World Teachers’ Day! We’re celebrating both with this outstanding 1785 sampler made by Polly Smith in Providence, Rhode Island at the school of Mrs. Mary Balch. From our archives.