Who we are...
Antique Kentucky Samplers (AKS) was founded in 2019 with the goal of documenting antique Kentucky needlework samplers from the eighteenth century to the antebellum period in an organized, academic fashion on a single website. As of July 2023, AKS has located one hundred and twenty five Kentucky samplers. There are an additional thirteen “possible” Kentucky samplers, (not on the website), for which AKS is not yet comfortable with their origin.
AKS is obtaining permissions, images, provenance, genealogical data and descriptions of Kentucky samplers on an ongoing basis from museums, historical societies, dealers, private collectors and websites. After samplers are cataloged into the Collection, editing of the database occurs as new information or research becomes available.
Goals for AKS in 2023 are to continue cataloging known samplers into the database and to begin planning for a series of “Sampler Days” in different regions of Kentucky (similar to other states’ Sampler Days and to endeavors of the Kentucky Quilt Project of the early 1980s). An intermediate AKS goal is further research of the schools and instructresses within the Commonwealth from the late 1790s to the antebellum period.
The focus of AKS is multidimensional. Of equal importance to the embroidery aspects of Kentucky samplers is the historical context of each sampler as it relates to the sampler maker, the region in which she lived, and the Commonwealth as a whole. As the body of knowledge increases about individual samplers or Kentucky samplers in general, either by AKS research or contributions from readers of AKS, the information will be added to the website. Such information can be shared by emailing AKS .
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Scott R. Koch, MD, is a 1981, summa cum laude graduate of Centre College of Kentucky and lifelong Kentuckian. Following medical school, residency, and fellowship, he practiced radiology in Kentucky for twenty-five years. Scott has a long-standing appreciation for American and specifically Kentucky material arts, particularly the inherent beauty and historical significance of needlework samplers. In early 2019, there were no published articles, essays, websites, books, or other academic works regarding Kentucky samplers. As such, with encouragement and support from Janet S. Hasson and Jennifer C. Core of the Tennessee Sampler Survey, and Amy Finkel of M. Finkel & Daughter, Scott launched AntiqueKentuckySamplers.org in late 2019. He is its sole owner as well as the primary researcher and contributor to AKS since its inception.
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Sheryl De Jong, a prior contributor to AKS, resides in Reston, VA and has a B.A. in Education from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI and a M.A. in Education from Loyola College, Baltimore, MD. Sheryl has written articles about the Smithsonian Institution’s Textile Collection for Piecework Magazine, Fine Lines, Needle Arts, Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly, Needle Pointers and “Schools and Teachers that Contributed to the Kentucky Sampler Tradition”, in the Journal of The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. Sheryl did research for Gloria Seaman Allen’s Maryland, District of Columbia, and Delaware texts.
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Enjoy!
SRK