Remarkable for their inventiveness and beauty, needlework samplers are historical documents written by girls on silk and linen with needles. Alexandra Peters will talk about how these needleworks made before 1850 show us life before the Industrial Revolution from the often surprising perspective of young women.

This presentation will be offered in a hybrid format, simultaneously in person and online. In-person attendance is encouraged for full participation in the Q&A following the talk. A video recording of the presentation will be posted on the Scoville Library YouTube channel.

Registration is required for this event. Please use the button below to register.

Presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association Historical Society, Alexandra Peters' talk at the Scoville Library coincides with an exhibit of her samplers at the Salisbury Association's Academy Building, 24 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, from February 15th to April 30th, 2025. Visitors are welcome during the Salisbury Association's open hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, and Saturday, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM. 

Alexandra Lally Peters is a sampler collector and historian who first encountered a schoolgirl sampler that she could buy forty years ago and was so startled to be holding history in her hands that she hasn’t stopped buying them since. Alexandra researches every sampler she buys – sometimes, she will admit, a little obsessively. She loves turning up intriguing information about the lives of the real girls who sat down in school to pierce their linen and silks with needles, two to three hundred years ago. She lives in New York City and in Sharon, CT, with a lot of samplers that explain so much about the lives of women in the past. 

The 2025 exhibition at the Salisbury Association is a selection from Alexandra's curated collection, which includes over 150 samplers (ever growing!) stitched by girls, mostly aged 5-16, between 1698 and 1850. The collection is primarily American, with several British, as well as a few Dutch and French samplers.

For more information about the Alexandra Peters Collection, please visit alexandralallypeters.com/the-collection.