c.1832 Jane Campbell sampler, Knoxville, Knox Co.

The Tennessee Sampler Survey is pleased to announce the opening of a new traveling exhibit, Tennessee Samplers: 19th Century Schoolgirl Embroidery.

The exhibit will be on view at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, TN, from Tues., Aug. 2, 2011 through Sun., Aug. 28, 2011. The exhibit will subsequently tour the state, traveling to the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, the Arts Center of Cannon County, (Woodbury), the McMinn County Living Heritage Museum (Athens), and the Etowah Arts Commission.

Since 2004, the Tennessee Sampler Survey has been documenting 19th century embroidery. Twenty Tennessee samplers were selected for the exhibit, each from a different county. The exhibit presents the samplers on full-sized panels; the actual samplers are not part of this exhibit due to their fragility. Five text panels, explaining the work of the Tennessee Sampler Survey and the regional characteristics of the samplers, are also part of the exhibit.

1851 Francis Elizabeth Hulme sampler,
Sixth District, Williamson Co.

This exhibit is funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission, CBRL Group Foundation, and the LifeWorks Foundation.