Education for schoolgirls at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries would have included needlework as a way to teach lessons in classic literature, art, geography, and nationalism, as well as to train young women in the art of refinement. “Schoolgirl embroidery,” or “schoolgirl academy art,” as the craft was known, would have included canvas work, or needlepoint, or, as the increasingly popular neoclassical style took hold, another form of delicate silk thread embroidery creating pictorial scenes stitched onto silk or satin fabric, often with a background of watercolor paint embellishment. This form of artwork was deemed a socially acceptable artistic outlet for young women as it showed skill and talent and was made with more costly materials. Finished work often decorated the parlors of affluent households.

According to Jane C. Nylander, a specialist in New England domestic arts, “prosperous New England families in small towns and rural areas often sent their daughters to spend some time with relatives or professional teachers in Boston or other urban centers, expecting that they would expand their circle of acquaintances among the higher orders of society as well as study needlework, gain conversational skills, and acquire polished manners and an understanding of taste and fashion” (New England Ancestors, Winter 2006). Susanna Rowson’s Academy in Boston was renowned for this form of embroidery, though the, ”…style and quality of embroideries from her school vary greatly, and heretofore, no unique trait or technique has made the identification of unsigned pieces possible” (Ring, 88).

The Wayside Inn’s collection includes at least one confirmed example of Jerusha Howe’s silk embroidery, “Labor and Wealth” (below). It is identified as Jerusha’s by an inscription on the frame, though it too is unknown where the piece was created. What is also unknown is why Jerusha chose that particular scene and what is the significance of the depiction. Embroidery of this time might include memorial or mourning scenes, coat of arms, stories from The Bible, or other classical antiquities.

Click HERE to read about Jerusha's sampler template, another example of 19th-century needlework.