Sampler
Maker
Annie J. Hendrickson
Period1868
MediumPlied wool thread on waste canvas
Dimensions7 × 15.75 in. (17.8 × 40 cm)
SignedThe sampler is signed "Annie J. Hendrickson / Age 8, 1868."
ClassificationsNeedlework
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards Rullman, 2004
Object number2004.2.8
DescriptionAn elongated rectangular sampler done on off-white cotton waste canvas in thick plied wool thread in red, medium green, grass green, purple, lilac, dark blue, sky blue, and off white. Two types of stitches are used, including cross and tent. Along the top row runs a 3/4 inch upper case alphabet from A to Q, worked in heavy bright red wool yarn. On the second line, the alphabet continues from R to Z and is centered, flanked on either side by an abbreviated strawberry vine. On the third line runs a 3/4 inch lower case alphabet, from a through z, in medium green wool, with a short vertical "striped" band on either side, in red and green wool. On the lower portion of the sampler runs the signature line "Annie J. Hendrickson / Age 8, 1868." On either side of the age and date inscription appears small lengths of strawberry vining, slightly longer on the left side than the right. Narrow single cross stich horizontal bands separate each line. A wider band borders the bottom, worked in light blue, green, and dark blue wool. A single cross stitch band forms a border along the left, top, and right sides.Curatorial RemarksThis simple sampler, by eight-year-old Monmouth County resident Annie J. Hendrickson, is one of the latest traditionally worked samplers in the Association's collection. Annie was born in 1860 in Red Bank and presumably attended a local school. By that time, the tradition of teaching sewing and needlework skills in the form of samplermaking under the tutelage of professional instructresses at boarding schools or local academies had become outmoded. Annie most likely produced her sampler under the guiding hand and watchful eye of a female family member. Her mother, Mary Ellen Borden (1833 - 1916), may have taught her daughter how to sew and embroider. It is also possible that Annie's maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Morris Borden (1806 - 1881), or her paternal grandmother, Margaret Perrine Hendrickson (1802 - 1888) helped the little girl with her needlework panel. Both Annie's mother and her grandmothers would have been trained in such needlework skills and may well have made samplers of their own. During the Colonial Revival in the very late 19th and early 20th centuries, the traditional needlework skills of the preivous century experienced a resurgence in interest, resulting in a number of sampler reproductions and interpretations.The Association also owns portraits of Annie Hendrickson's parents, James Holmes Hendrickson (accession number 2008.12.2) and Mary Ellen Borden (accession number 2008.12.3), plus her maternal grandmother Mary Ann Morris Borden (accession number 2008.12.1) by Monmouth County artist Harvey Jenkins (1822 - 1908). NotesAnnie J. Hendrickson was born in Red Bank, Monmouth County, in 1860, a daughter of James Holmes Hendrickson (1828 - 1900) and Mary Ellen Borden (1833 - 1916). Her father was the successful owner of the Globe Hotel on East Front Street. On 6 October 1881, Annie married Harry Edwards (1858 - 1901). They became the parents of two daughters who survived them. A life long resident of Red Bank, Annie Edwards died on 9 January 1940 at the age of seventy-nine. She was interred in the family plot at Fair View Cemetery in Middletown.
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