Embroidered sampler

Mary Austin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mary Austin attended one of the many schools that flourished in Salem in the late eighteenth century. At one time, all samplers stitched with long stitches in unraveled silk thread were considered the work of girls who had studied at Mrs. Sarah Stivour's School (1778-88), since that was the only Salem school ever named in samplers. Recent research, however, has proven that the affluent families of Salem supported many schools that helped teach their daughters the arts of refinement.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art