Rare Needlework Sampler, Harriot W. Hildreth (b. 1796), Haverhill, Massachusetts, Dated 1807

Worked in silk threads and crinkled silk floss on line in outline, satin, tent, eyelet and cross-stitches with hem-stitching. Inscribed: Tis education forms the tender mind/Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclin'd HARRIOT W. HILDRETH wrought this in the 12 year/of her age 1807 HAVERHILL COUNTY ESSEX. 12 5/8 x 11 3/4 inches. (26 threads to the inch).

Estelle Horowitz from Connie Bergendoff, Old Lyme, New Hampshire
Theodore H. Kapnek, a sale at Sotheby's, January 31, 1981, sale 4531 Y, lot 169

Somewhat darkened and with some fading.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Exhibited and Literature: LACMA, pp. 57-58, fig. 16

 In 1782, Reverend John Eliot of Boston wrote Reverend Jeremy Belknap in Dover, New Hampshire, expressing concern over the quality of education for the young women of Massachusetts: 

 

We don't pretend to teach ye female part of ye town anything more than dancing, or a little music perhaps, (and these accomplisht must necessarily be confined to a very few), except ye private schools for writing, which enables them to write a copy, sign their name, &, which they might not be able to do without such a priviledge, & with it I will venture to say that a lady is a rarity among us who can write a page of commonplace sentiment, the words being well spelt, & ye style & language kept up with purity & elegance.¹ 

 

The attitude of Haverhill, Massachusetts, residents toward education was more enlightened, for as early as 1707 the dame school, a semi-public institution, was functioning as the first step in the education of young boys and girls. Traditionally, the dame schoolmistress would begin a simple stitching project, such as a small, uncomplicated alphabet sampler, for both sexes under her supervision.² For at least seven years, between 1801 and 1808 (the dates inscribed on samplers belonging to the group represented by Harriot Hildreth's sampler), an anonymous embroidery mistress made use of a stunningly effective lozenge-shaped, geometric pattern that came to be identified with the most fashionable schools for girls in Haverhill.³ The design, appearing on samplers worked in the area as early as the 1780s, was stitched in bands along the edges and often across the top of the alphabets, forming an inner border of vibrant color.⁴ The base of these samplers displays a pastoral frieze that can be traced to Boston-area needlework dating from the middle of the eighteenth century. These mounded gardens, with their petaled flowers neatly embedded within green silk folds, had for decades been favored by needlework teachers in the nearby towns that border the bays and important waterways of the north shore. The clue to the identification of this unknown academy for girls lies in the inscription that appears on each sampler in the group: "Haverhill County Essex." Other samplers with a similar format but lacking this distinctive arrangement of words were probably worked under another teacher's instruction.⁵ One of seven children, Harriot Warren Hildreth, born June 22, 1796, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Hildreth and Abigail Bodwell, who had married in 1776.⁶ Bradford Academy, conveniently located in Bradford Township across the Merrimack River from Haverhill, was established in 1803 as a co-educational boarding and day school. The Hildreth children all attended; Harriot registered in 1810. A painting on satin fabric worked at the school by Harriot's older sister Nancy survives in the Bradford College collection, as does a profile of the sister done at the same time. Harriot, however, worked her sampler three years before becoming a student there.⁷ The Bradford College archives reveal worthwhile information regarding the education of young women in northeastern Massachusetts during the first years of the nineteenth century. Finding that the village schools offered only two hours of daily instruction for girls, the Haverhill Observer, April 27, 1803, announced that at Bradford young women would be "taught Reading, Writing, English Grammar, Arithmetic, Embroidery, and all other forms of Needlework together with Drawing and Painting. "⁸ The first person hired to teach Bradford's female students was eighteen-year-old Hannah Swan of Charlestown. The trustees had been seeking "a reputable person well versed in the Science of Belles lettres, Embroidery, and all kinds of fine needle work," and clearly the young Hannah Swan was a wise appointment, for in November of 1803, when the first quarterly examination was held, the local paper reported: "The young ladies, under the care of Miss Swan, gave flattering proof of susceptible minds and refined taste. They exhibited such evidences of improvement in chirography, grammar, rhetoric, geography, composition painting, & embroidery as reflected the highest honor on their governess and themselves."⁹ Harriot Hildreth married Captain John Day of Danvers on May 27, 1821. It is possible they made their home in New York City, for evidence reveals that a Captain Day sailed from that port for many years. ¹⁰

 

 

1. Jean Sarah Pond, Bradford, A New England School (Bradford, A New England Academy), ed. Dale Mitchell (rev. ed., Bradford, MA, 1954), 13. Original quote from George Lyman Kittredge, The Old Farmer and His Almanack (Cambridge, MA, 1904), 229; by permission of the Harvard University Press. I am grateful to Sheila Rideout and Ann F. Powell, acting vice-president for college relations, Bradford College, for bringing this information to my attention. 

2. Woody, History of Women's Education, vol. 1: 138. 

3. Samplers related to this important group of embroideries include work done by Hannah Gale, 1801 (collection, Essex Institute, Salem, MA; see Marguerite Fawdry and Deborah Brown, The Book of Samplers, New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1980: 102); Mary Swett, 1808 (private collection); Mary Bradey, 1807 (private collection; see Maine Antiques Digest, August 1979: 29-C), and Harriot W. Hildreth, 1807 (illustrated here). 

4. Ring, American Needlework Treasures, 12. 

5. A strikingly similar sampler was worked by Mary Graves Kimball, 1808, aged ten (ex-Kapnek collection; see Krueger, Gallery of American Samplers, 45). It is inscribed with the name of her instructress, "E. Plummers School." Mary's sampler shows a subtle change of format such as the inclusion of an urn as the central motif. In addition, the geometric border is measurably different in design, as is the outermost border of wavy flowers and vines. The absence of the words "County Essex" and the general style of this sampler suggest Elizabeth White Plummer accepted the format of Harriot Hildreth's embroidery as a regional style common to the town of Haverhill, but altered the patterns, and added variations of her own. Born August 2, 1789, Plummer kept a school in Haverhill in 1808 (see Krueger, New England Samplers, 172). 

6. Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth, Genealogical and Biographical Sketches of the Hildreth Family (Marietta, OH, 1840),302. Samuel Prescott Hildreth was Harriot Hildreth's brother. 

7. The list of early students of Bradford Academy was printed on the occasion of the school's fiftieth anniversary in 1853. Harriot's name appears under the year 1810 on page 44. Much of this information came to me from Sheila Rideout in a letter addressed to her from the college by Ann F. Powell, September 11, 1985. The date of Charles's registration was sent to me by Ann Powell, October 8, 1985. I am grateful for their kind assistance. 

8. Letter from Powell, October 1985. 

9. Ibid. 

10. Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, vol. 2 (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1911), 166. See also John Lyman Porter, ed., Second Publication of the Hildreth Family Association (Hildreth Family Association, 1922), 28, 29.