Vermont Sampler Initiative

Sampler Driving Tour

Peacham Historical Society and Peacham Library are pleased to be part of this Summer’s Sampler Driving Tour.

What: In cooperation with the VT State 250th Commemoration of the start of the American Revolution, the VT Sampler Initiative is producing a statewide driving tour, to view schoolgirl needlework samplers, from the post-Revolutionary War period.

These pieces of 19th century needlework were an essential part of girls’ education during the Revolutionary and federal period of our history. This is how girls learned to read, write, and spell their own names. Families often framed them and hung them on a parlor wall, to announce to visitors that they valued education enough to pay for their daughters to become educated citizens – and marriageable young women, to any aspiring suitors.

Where: Beginning at a sampler exhibit at the Bennington Museum in May 2025, statewide pre-identified sites, such as museums, art galleries, libraries and historical societies will invite Vermont visitors to the State to explore various communities in Vermont, to view these examples of schoolgirl needlework. The Peacham Historical Society and Public Library will be the site of the sample exhibit in Peacham. Many Vermonters are contributing their private samplers to this exhibit, never seen publicly before.

When: The dates of the driving tour are May 2025 – October 2025. These dates mark the beginning of the statewide celebration of our national semi-quincentennial celebration in 2026.

Why: The story of our Revolutionary War generation having fought the war for our independence, and then having relocated to Vermont to live their lives, is one that can be illustrated by studying the lives of their descendants. The values, artistry and degrees of success of these families are often conveyed by the girls who produced these samplers. They are almost always the progeny – daughters and granddaughters – of the Revolutionary War generation.

Please help spread the word to family and friends, who may be visiting Vermont this summer!

For more information about the tour and Vermont samplers, please contact Michele at Mpp1@comcast.net