A Tale of Two Samplers: New Research from MESDA Summer Institute

by Lea C. Lane    

In June 2024, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts welcomed eight fellows to Winston-Salem for the 47th annual Summer Institute program. The Decorative Arts Trust has long been a foundational supporter of this program, and through the generosity of William and Susan Mariner, sponsored one of our fellows.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Jackie Mazzone attended thanks to the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Fellowship for Emerging Museum Professionals sponsored by the Decorative Arts Trust. A native New Englander, Jackie’s work has spanned the realms of both curatorial work and craftsmanship, specifically as a cooper at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Like all Summer Institute scholars, Jackie focused her research on a single object from MESDA’s collection: in her case, a large needlework sampler worked by Lucinda Ish in 1812 (figure 1). Jackie quickly realized that the story was larger than a single expanse of linen and silk. There were, in fact, two surviving samplers by Lucinda. MESDA’s founder, Frank L. Horton, acquired our sampler for the museum in 1967, but the other, slightly earlier textile continues to be treasured by her descendants (figure 2).

Jackie discovered a 1922 article in the Daily Arkansas Gazette, entitled: “Needlework as Relic: Ozark Man Exhibits Work Done by His Grandmother.” William Winfrey Adams, grandson of Lucinda, announced that he would display his “very rare sample of needlework made by his grandmother.” After listing the pedigree of the family, the article says: “She, of course, had no idea that this sampler would be handed down as a very valuable relic to her great great grandchildren…Mr. Adams says he would not take $1000 for it.”

Jackie raised an interesting distinction between the two samplers by Lucinda Ish: one is preserved in the care of a cultural institution and shared with the public; and the other remains in descendants’ hands and is revered as a relic, something still very much embedded in the narrative of a family and their journey. As Jackie writes, “While we still can’t fully know who Lucinda was, the diverging trajectories her two samplers took to make it to the 21st century give a more complete understanding of the importance of memory and ever-changing meanings when studying the life of an object.”

Jackie’s work ensures that we place value in both trajectories. As part of her research, she reconnected with the current generation that stewards Lucinda Ish’s sampler, and they even attended the final presentation virtually. Such connections between objects, memory, and the living are important to recover and foster. The Decorative Arts Trust and the Mariners, through their steadfast support of young scholars, continues to play a key role in this generative research.

Lea C. Lane is the Curator of the MESDA Collection and the Director of MESDA Summer Institute.