Sampler
Apphia Amanda Young, American, 1822 - 1910
1838
Linen embroidered with silk thread
Overall: 17 3/8 × 17 3/8 in. (44.1 × 44.1 cm)
Frame: 19 7/8 × 19 7/8 in. (50.5 × 50.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Julia L. Whittier Fund, the Guernsey Center Moore 1904 Memorial Fund, and the Phyllis and Bertram Geller 1937 Memorial Fund
2006.77
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Textile: Sampler
Research Area
Decorative Arts
On view
Label
Stitched in her “seventeenth year” (age sixteen) in Canterbury, New Hampshire, this sampler showcased Apphia Young’s abilities in embroidery, penmanship, and poetry. Flowers sprouting from the central urn trail along the ground to decorate the lower register, while baskets of flowers in blues, pinks, greens, and white climb either side. Looking closely, can you see the variety of her stitches and patterns?
Samplers showcased middle- and upper-class women’s needlework skills and literacy. Proudly signed at the center, Young’s sampler also included a poem that championed her moral virtues. The text would remind her family and descendants of her long after her death:
Apphia let virtues charms be thine
Charms that will increase and shine
They will cheer they winter’s gloom
They will last beyond the tomb
From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
HIST 27, WGST 23, Gender and Power in American History from the Colonial Period to the Civil War, Leslie Butler, Spring 2012
HIST 9.01, America: From Invasion to Independence, Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2019
HIST 5.14, Americas: Invasion to Independence, Paul Musselwhite and Ernesto Mercadeo-Montero, Fall 2022
History 5.14, Americas: From Invasion to Independence, Ernesto Mercado-Montero and Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2023
Exhibition History
American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.
American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 31, 2019-January 20, 2020.
American Folk Art at the Hood Museum of Art (a thematic partial permanent gallery installation); Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, July 16, 2015.
Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 12, 2025 - late 2025.
Publication History
Barbara J. MacAdam, The Collections: New Acquisitions, Hood Museum of Art Quarterly, Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College, Spring 2007, p.14, ill.
Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 214-215, no. 188.
Barbara J. MacAdam, Building on Dartmouth's Historic American Collections: Hood Museum of Art Acquisitions since 1985, The Magazine Antiques, November 2007, New York: Brant Publications, color ill. p. 150.
Provenance
Stephen and Carol Huber, Old Saybrook, Connecticut; sold to present collection, 2006.
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