042

  • A, B, C...Sampler

  • 1789
  • Zerviah Crocker (American, born ca. 1781)
  • Embroidered, hand-woven linen sampler
  • 32.0 x 23.5 cm., 12-5/8 x 9-1/4"
  • Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts Purchase, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2000.3

Essay by Deborah Bracke, Associate Professor of Education

Zervia Crocker's A, B, C...Sampler is a charming piece of needlework that gathers together the various details of a world that is far distant from us today. Like the pages of an old manuscript, Zervia's stitches provide us with a glimpse into history-and the educational practices of the late 1700s. At first glance, the virtue of this particular sampler is characterized by an ornamental band of letters and numbers, three houses with French pane windows, and a lovely, undulating hand-stitched border. A more purposeful examination of the needlework reveals the stitcher's name, age, town, and date. An even richer analysis brings us back to eighteenth-century colonial America when education for young women was limited to skills that would make them good wives and mothers.

This enchanting peek into the past was completed by Zerviah Wednesday Crocker. Zerviah was born circa June 26, 1781 to Alvan Friday Crocker and Sylvia Thatcher Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts (Cifelli). The Crockers, a very prominent family in the early 1600s, were one of six founding families located on the cape of Massachusetts. Zervia was the youngest of their seven children (Ring). Her cross-stitched sampler displays remarkable skill for a young child. The fancy letter "A," the gabled doorway, the latticed fence, and the intricate chain stitches and flowers around the houses show meticulous artistry. After completed, a superior sampler such as hers might have been hung in the home to impress prospective suitors when they came to call (Cleaveland). Darning, mending, and marking fine linens were extremely important tasks in the home and girls were not considered marriageable until they had mastered the art of stitchery (Ulrich).

Samplers were more than an elegant pastime or means of self-expression. They are also enduring examples of what the school experience looked like in the late 1700s. The embroidered display of letters and numbers was used as a teaching tool and memory aid-to assist Zerviah and other young girls with the alphabet and numbers (Hlebowitsh and Tellez). This curriculum was considered a most fit and proper form of education for women during the late 1700s. Later (since Zervia's future dominion would be the home), these skills could be used for marking fine linens and clothing, since it was important that any homemaker keep track of her most valuable household goods.

As the nation entered the 19th century, educational reforms diminished the importance of the domestic curriculum. The country began to develop as a national entity and the public school was conceived as an agent that could provide social and economic opportunities to all (Hlebowitsch and Tellez). This common national experience (which has evolved into a push towards high-stakes testing, state-mandated directives, and federally imposed sanctions—aka No Child Left Behind) will call for new forms of female expression. One can only hope that the memories stitched into the samplers of tomorrow commemorate quality, equity, and community.