History as stitched by schoolgirls

A new exhibit at the Florence Griswold Museum will give us a glimpse of American history through the stitcheries of its children. With Needle and Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley will feature about 60 embroideries, watercolor sketches, and portraits, drawing extensively on works from private collections, many never before shown publicly. The museum site says,

The Connecticut River Valley was one of the most important centers in America for the teaching and production of embroidered pictures by girls and young women in private academies during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As the first exhibition to examine the subject of Connecticut River Valley needlework in depth, With Needle and Brush contributes to the understanding of the traditions of needlework and provides insight into the nature of women’s schooling before the advent of widespread public education.

The exhibition will be available October 2, 2010, through January 30, 2011, at the museum located in Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA. If you aren’t able to attend in person, you can enjoy images and text through the exhibition web site. And a book of images and essays will be published in 2011 in conjunction with Wesleyan University Press