TALKS & EVENTS
“Maybe to understand women in history, we need to use a different lens... I found that lens in samplers.”
New & Upcoming
Talk at the Sharon Historical Society & Museum
“Were there any women in Colonial America? Why are they absent from the story?”
Sunday, June 14, 4:00 pm at Sharon Historical Society, 18 Main St, Sharon CT
Absence in a record does not mean absence in the world, but our system of recording history was never focused on the lives of women. Historian and sampler collector Alexandra Peters will use her own collection to look at other ways we can rediscover our full history, through the work of girls and women. The thread is there - we just need to know where to find it.
Alexandra’s Samplers Featured in Exhibit at American Folk Art Museum
“Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American Schoolgirl Art”
October 9, 2026 – February 28, 2027, New York, NY
Four samplers from Alexandra’s collection are included in this upcoming exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum.
Northwest Sampler Guild Talk
Quaker Samplers from the Collection of Alexandra Peters
Attend on Zoom
September 26, 2026
Queen City Sampler Guild Talk
"Between Ohio and Connecticut; Samplers From a Pioneer Town in Ohio"
Attend on Zoom
January 16, 2027
Northwest Sampler Guild talk
"Embroidered Maps, the World, and America"
Attend on Zoom
April 24, 2027
Listen to Alexandra’s conversation with Isabella Rosner on the Sew What Podcast
Alexandra recently joined Isabella Rosner to discuss collecting, research, and what continues to surprise her when she looks closely at samplers. She shares why samplers matter and how much they still have to teach us.
Most Recent In-Person/Online Lecture
History Revealed by Schoolgirl Samplers
Lecture by Alexandra Peters, Needlework Historian
at the Norwalk Historical Society
Alexandra Peters discussed the legacy of 19th-century schoolgirl samplers and what they revealed about life before the Industrial Revolution from the “often surprising perspective of young women.” A companion exhibition at the Norwalk Historical Society Museum featured over a dozen samplers and needleworks from the collection.
History Made Visible: The Legacy of Thousands of
Schoolgirl Samplers
presented by the Suffield Historical Society, in collaboration with the Phelps-Hatheway House and Connecticut Landmarks
Where are the women in history? Too often, they were barely visible. In the United States, however, a remarkable record of women’s lives was preserved in an unexpected form: samplers stitched by girls. From early settlement through the Industrial Revolution, these needleworks captured everyday life, reflecting moments of revolution and abolition, references to literature and westward expansion, and intimate records of births, deaths, and family histories.
Alexandra Peters explored how samplers made before 1850 offered a rare view of life before the Industrial Revolution, seen through the eyes of young women. Both inventive and beautiful, these works are now recognized as historical documents, stitched on silk and linen. Because families treasured them, thousands have survived, preserving the education, creativity, and lived experiences of girls whose voices were otherwise left out of the historical record.
Tricia Wilson Nguyen Interviews Alexandra Peters: Birth, Death, and Alphabets
Uncovering Family Histories Through the Samplers of the Salisbury Exhibition
Past Talks & Events
Watch now: Birth, Death, and Alphabets: The Enduring Legacy of Schoolgirl Needleworks Before 1850
Remarkable for their inventiveness and beauty, needlework samplers are historical documents written by girls on silk and linen with needles. Alexandra Peters talks about how these needleworks made before 1850 show us life before the Industrial Revolution from the often surprising perspective of young women.
Presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association Historical Society, Alexandra Peters' talk at the Scoville Library coincided with an exhibit of her samplers at the Salisbury Association's Academy Building in the Spring of April 2025.
The 2025 exhibition at the Salisbury Association was a selection from Alexandra's curated collection, which included over 150 samplers (ever growing!) stitched by girls, mostly aged 5–16, between 1698 and 1850. The collection was primarily American, with several British, as well as a few Dutch and French samplers.
Tricia Wilson Nguyen Interviews Alexandra Peters: With Their Busy Needles
Exploring Girlhood, Storytelling, and Stitching at the Litchfield Historical Society
Know My Name: How Schoolgirl Samplers Created a Remarkable History
To accompany the opening of their newest exhibit, “With Their Busy Needles: Samplers and the Girls Who Made Them”, The Litchfield Historical Society was delighted to welcome guest curator, Alexandra Peters, for a lecture title “Know My Name: How Schoolgirl Samplers Created a Remarkable History” on Sunday, May 5, 2024, at the Litchfield History Museum. The power of the needle wielded by girls in the creation of samplers has often been overlooked in early American history. Revolutions were taking place, abolitionists were fighting slavery, and literate schoolgirls were sewing thousands of samplers that were meant to show off their accomplishments. The samplers they stitched, often strikingly beautiful, give us a surprising way to look into the lives of these girls, their families and the changing world around them.
Read More
Christine Merser Interviews Alexandra Peters: All About Samplers | Dec 22, 2022
Alexandra Peters’ collection of Samplers from the girls who went before us is riveting. The history behind them. The artistic nature of them. Their relevance to what ’she’ was facing in the 1800s will have your head spinning. Do not miss this interview with the brilliant Alexandra, who teaches us so much in the hour she spent with our fearless leader Christine Merser for Ladies Who Launch. You will find yourself heading up to your attic to see if by chance any of your ancestors happened to do a sampler that tells the story of her message to the world and your family's values.
Link to the video
SHARON COLLECTS: Samplers from the Collection of Alexandra Peters
Audio Interview by Robin Hood Radio
Duration: 00:11:57 | Recorded on June 17, 2022
Before adding a sampler to her collection, Sharon, CT resident Alexandra Peters researched the lives of the sampler makers and the world revealed by their needlework. The girls in this collection were touched by abolition, the Underground Railroad, and the anti-slavery movement. A few girls settled the Connecticut Western Reserve, others were educated at the three exceptional academies for girls in northwest Connecticut. Quaker girls created elegant darning samplers, and older girls stitched elaborate tales from classical history and literature. Some girls in England sewed world maps. Other girls in the United States documented their family histories, sisters worked companion samplers, and the women of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s family subtly influenced his storytelling with their needlework. Writing with needles, these sampler creators left us a powerful legacy that opens a window into the early education of girls, who their families were, and how they documented their very existence.
Link to audio