Textile Collection
The Schwenkfelder Sampler Collection
The Schwenkfelder sample collection developed from donations of needlework from Schwenkfelder families, and some local families given our "other hat" as the local historical society. The collection is quite old with the majority of the donations occurring prior to 1950. This is very significant. It creates a sampler record of the Schwenkfelder girls in the 18th and 19th century that is hard to match in any other Pennsylvania German cultural institution. Secondly, as the collection is not based on connoisseurship, we have a wide range of work- from the great pieces to the also-rans- but it reflects a wide range of talent, ability and influences, all of which is important in understanding Schwenkfelder, and to a larger degree, Pennsylvania German, needlework heritage.
Roll over thumbnails below for description.
One of the most interesting pairs of samplers in the collection are Elizabeth Bechtel's and Regina Schultz's, dating from 1833 and 1838 respectively. Elizabeth Bechtel was not Schwenkfelder, and hailed from Bechtelsville, Berks County, which is approximately 10 minutes' drive from the northwestern reachers of Schwenkfelder settlement in Berks and Montgomery Counties. Elizabeth made her sampler under the tutelage of Sarah Boone in the Oley school, as her grandmother lived in Oley.
A few years later she married a young Schwenkfelder man named George Krauss and must have bought her lovely sampler with her as it was copied (somewhat less skillfully) by her soon-to-be sister-in law, Regina Schultz. These band samplers are markedly out of step with their Schwenkfelder cousins, as they show the influence of Miss Boone's Quaker/English heritage, with just a dash of Elizabeth's and Regina's Pennsylvania German roots
Elizabeth Bechtel, 1833
Bechtelsville, Berks County
Susanna Kriebel (1825-1882) made a sampler and a decorated hand towel in the same year, 1841. The hand towel was often a more utilitarian application of the collected sampler motifs of the Pennsylvania German girls; for example, Susanna repeats the drooping tulip motif she used in her sampler on her towel. The towel would be added to the "Aussteier", the things a young girl would need to set up a household when she married. Sadly, Susanna's marriage to George Kriebel would end tragically when he was one of the very few Schwenkfelders to be killed in the Civil War.
Susanna Kriebel, 1841
Hereford Township, Berks County
The earliest sampler in the collection is certainly not early in terms of American samplers in general, the Schwenkfelder's is dated 1794- and is not the earliest embroidery in the collection, but seems to point to a decade when Schwenkfelder girls began to produce samplers as a matter of course. Regina Heebner, who lived with the Melchior Schultz family in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, made the 1794 sampler.
Pennsylvania German girls produced one sampler in their girlhoods, but the Schwenkfelders, ever the exception to the rule, sometimes made two, or a traditional sampler and other pieces of needlework. Charming domestic scenes and a fancy alphabet point to Germanic roots in Regina's sampler. The stag on the lower left side and the chairs and key hint to Dutch origins. The traditional floral motifs might be found on samplers with any birthright, but the fanciful flowers that grace this sampler never grew in any garden. A pair of dogs, another of chickens, and a team of horses taking a couple on a journey declare this to be a uniquely American sampler!
Regina Heebner, 1794
Worcester Township, Montgomery County
Rosina Schultz (1798-1872) was the youngest of the Schultz sisters who lived at what is now known as the Peter Wentz Farmstead. Her sampler is a tour de force of collected motifs, vibrant color and her initials, scattered throughout numerous times. Of particular note is the extraordinary and large central tulip motif, with checkering in the bloom itself, numerous birds and interesting heraldic cross crosslet motifs in its branches.
Note the capital letter "M" on the edge of the top right hand third of the sampler; most definately this would have signified Rosina's intended, Melchior Kriebel, whom she would marry in 1820.
Rosina Schulltz, 1817
Worcester Township, Montgomery County
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