Five Colleges & Historic Deerfield Samplers On-Line

Historic Deerfield, together with the five colleges: Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith and UMASS Amherst have their collections on line for you to enjoy. The sampler above is by Sarah Bradstreet and was worked in 1754. Sarah Bradstreet (b.1741) was the daughter of Samuel Bradstreet (1711-1755) and Sarah Foster (1718-1802) of Charleston, Massachusetts, who married in 1738; and the great granddaughter of Simon Bradstreet (1603-1697), the first Governor of the Colony in 1679, appointed by Charles II. A related embroidery survives in the Old South Meeting House in Boston, stitched by Dorothy Lynde in 1757.

Mary Anne Cockells worked this sampler in 1790 and it is very interesting because there are at least 5 other known samplers worked in this format. One is in the Micheál and Elizabeth Feller Collection.

Rebecca Reed worked this sampler in 1784 aged 11. To see the collection click here and enter Sampler in the search box.