Kentucky Sampler & Education Research
There is a paucity of published articles or scholarship regarding Kentucky samplers, sampler makers, or the sampler makers’ teachers, and schools. As information or articles become available, AKS will provide the data in this space.
Currently, the below entries on AKS include:
Kathy Staples’ “A Reconsidered Role: The Life and Needlework of Nancy Western Lotspeich”
“Mary Beck and the Female Mind”, by Edna Talbott Whitley
“Schools and Teachers that Contributed to the Kentucky Sampler Tradition”, by Sheryl De Jong in the Journal of The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (February, 2022).
___
“A Reconsidered Role: The Life and Needlework of Nancy Western Lotspeich”
The conference program for Kathy Staples’ talk entitled “A Reconsidered Role: The Life and Needlework of Nancy Western Lotspeich”, at the 2014 MESDA Conference on Southern Material Culture, gave a brief synopsis of which is shown below. AKS is actively seeking the full text of what was said to be an extremely informative session. (Nancy Western Lotspeich was the teacher for the Margaretta Waller Gant, Virginia “Jane Ellen” Gant, Mary Magdalene Lotspeich and the Elizabeth Ann White samplers in the AKS Collection.)
__________________________________________
2. The following is an excellent article: “Mary Beck and the Female Mind”, by Edna Talbott Whitley, graciously supplied by The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, [Vol. 77, No.1 (Winter 1979), pp. 15-24 (10 pages), Published By: Kentucky Historical Society]. Please see Elizabeth Minor Carr in the Collection as AKS raises the possibility that Mary Beck may have been her teacher.
__________________________________________
3. “Schools and Teachers that Contributed to the Kentucky Sampler Tradition”, by Sheryl De Jong in the Journal of The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (February, 2022).
AKS has focused its attention on longstanding plans for primary research of late 18th century to antebellum period Kentucky schools and teachers catering to female education. Robust, interactive references and articles are anticipated on a completely revamped KY Sampler Research page. In addition to primary research, scholarly articles published elsewhere and related to female education in Kentucky will be posted at KY Sampler Research.
Please return often!
Enjoy!