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A sampler is a piece of textile, cotton or linen, with different sewing stitches. Samplers dating from the 15th and 16th century were used to demonstrate skill, preserving knowledge of the craft by copying existing patterns via hand to hand exchange. Later samplers used templates with standard elements such as the alphabet, numbers, animals, flowers, people and decorative borders, sometimes with the name and date of embroiderer.
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When samplers include the name and date of the embroiderer they can be very useful when studying the social history of an area, or when researching family history. For example Ann Campenot's 1857 work on display in Tolson Memorial Museum could be an important link for a family with a rare surname.
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