Needlework Picture by Elizabeth Frances Stamps
Date1825-1826
Maker
Elizabeth Frances Stamps (September 15th, 1813-July 21st, 1896)
School of
Salem Female Academy
MediumSilk and silk chenille embridery threads, silk crepe, silk ribbon, and paint on a silk ground; wooden stretcher
DimensionsUnframed: OH: 15" x OW: 13 3/4"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2005.601.1
DescriptionThis is a silk needlework picture featuring silk embroidery threads, chenille, ribbon, and paint on a silk ground. The picture consists of a young female figure framed by a ring of flowers and trees. The flowers are stitched, as well as made out of crepe and ribbon. The girl wears a tan stitched dress with a scoop neck and short sleeves. She holds a light tan cat and sits on a rock or mound. Her arm, neck, face, and hair, which is short, dark, and curly, are all painted. The background is also painted, with a blue sky and dark green-gray trees. Stitches: couched, satin, tent
Label TextElizabeth Frances Stamps made this sampler when she was 12 or 13 years old at North Carolina's Salem Female Academy, a Moravian school that is the oldest Protestant institution for female education in continuous operation in the United States. The school was modeled after the Moravian Girl's Schools in Bethlehem and Lititz, Pennsylvania. The oval format and embroidery techniques in Elizabeth's embroidery are typical of work from Moravian schools in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The use of crepe and ribbon in silk embroideries seems to have been taught exclusively by Moravians, although we do see the use of ribbons as borders on Pennsylvania samplers, as well as occasionally New Jersey and Virginia examples. Elizabeth's composition of a figure seated upon a mount was a known motif in Moravian pictures and is similar to others documented from Salem.
ProvenanceThe picture descended in the family of Elizabeth Frances Stamps. Elizabeth gave the picture to her son, John Lewis Watkins, who gave it to his daughter, Mary Rice Watkins Davie. Mary gave it to her daughter, Mary Whitney Davie Tally, who gave it to her daughter, Mary Watkins Tally Singer. It was subsequently sold to a private owner, and then acquired by Colonial Williamsburg.
HISTORY OF MAKER:
Elizabeth Frances Stamps was born on September 15th, 1813 in Halifax County, Virginia to Thomas Stamps (March 15th, 1781-before July 18th, 1834) and Anna Beaufort Ragland (1777-January 9th, 1834). Thomas and Anna married on January 2nd, 1809 in Halifax County. According to the 1820 census, the Stamps family owned 52 enslaved individuals. Thomas and Anna had four children -- Mary Ragland (October 1809-unknown), Elizabeth Frances, William Lipscomb "Buck" (February 1816-1896), and Thomas Stamps (September 15th, 1818-March 11th, 1855). Thomas and Anna both died in 1834 and were buried on their plantation, "Oakley," in Halifax County.
Elizabeth attended the Salem Female Academy in North Carolina from February 16th, 1825 to May 20th, 1826. In Elizabeth's itemized student account, the August 1825 quarterly fees include $3.00 for instruction in "ornamental needlework. The next quarterly fees include the same cost. After leaving the Salem Female Academy, she married Samuel Watkins (September 10th, 1800-September 22nd, 1868) in Halifax County. In 1830, Watkins signed a petition asking that Aquilla Wilson, a free woman of color and wife of Thomas Day, be allowed to migrate to North Carolina without paying fines usually associated with free persons of color.
Elizabeth died on July 21st, 1896. Both she and Samuel are buried in a cemetery outside of Old Milton, North Carolina.
HISTORY OF SCHOOL:
The Salem Female Academy opened to boarders in 1804 and was the first exclusive female seminary to be established in the 19th century. Between 1804 and 1856, 3,470 students from 17 states attended the school. The school is the oldest Protestant institution for female education in continuous operation in the United States. The school was modeled after the Moravian Girl's Schools in Bethlehem and Lititz, Pennsylvania. Because there was a constant interchange of teachers amongst these Moravian schools, it is difficult to distinguish works from the different institutions.
Even though the academy was in a remote location, the needlework teachers were aware of current fashions in ornamental handwork and ordered supplies from commercial centers further north, sometimes as far away as Boston. Music, painting, and needlework were all considered special courses and required an extra fee per course each quarter. Hand-colored watch papers, small boxes, memory books, needlcases, purses, samplers, valentines, and mourning pictures are examples of the needleworked objects made at the academy.
1660-1680
