ABSTRACT
As They Are Fashioned So They Grow: Samplery and
Quebec Samplers
Jennifer E. Salahub
1989
The embroidered sampler is perhaps the most common form of
domestic needlework to have survived, however this survival does not ensure its
recognition by historians of art. Although samplers were signed, dated, and displayed they
have consistently been relegated to a lower position within the hierarchy of the arts -
and to a surprising extent a lesser role within the history of embroidery. The qualities
associated with domestic needlework have often served to disenfranchise it from mainstream
art, for it is seen as the work of amateurs--usually women--and it was executed outside of
the professional sphere. In Britain samplery formed an integral part of a young woman's
education from the eighteenth century and this has led to the misconception that samplers
are solely the work of young school girls.
This thesis locates and identifies Quebec samplers within
the history of the genre and distinguishes characteristics that are peculiar to these
works. The Quebec samplers that form the nucleus of this research have been found within
private and public collections and were embroidered prior to the twentieth century. Given
the fact that Quebec boasts of the oldest school for young women in North America (1635)
and that needlework was an integral part of the curriculum it was at first surprising to
discover that there were no samplers worked before the last quarter of the eighteenth
century. However, contemporary political, economic, and social conditions serve to explain
the paucity of samplers. Samplery is shown to be an English tradition that appeared only
with the arrival of English-speaking settlers. The eventual, albeit belated, appearance of
samplery within the curriculum of the Ursuline Convent at Quebec, the limited role that
samplery played, and its final popularity are examined. Quebec samplers are shown to be an
interesting juxtaposition of English and French traditions.
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