Mary Harris

We have long admired a certain outstanding sampler depicting Old Brick Row, the historic buildings at Yale College, published in Glee Krueger’s book, New England Samplers to 1840. That sampler, in the collection of New Haven Museum, was made in 1832 by Emily Clark while a student at Mary Curtis Spencer’s school. We are delighted to have acquired the only other known sampler made at the same school, also portraying Old Brick Row, similarly shaded by tall elm trees. Made the same year at the same school, this is signed, “Mary Harris Sampler wrought in the 11th year of her age” and “This work was achieved under the tuition of M. Spencer 1832.” The samplers made by Emily Clark and Mary Harris are both mentioned by Susan P. Schoelwer in Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family 1740-1840 (The Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut, 2010). 

Mary Harris was quite a talented needleworker as evidenced throughout her sampler, especially in her handling of the large center basket bursting with flowers and formed by very tight and fine stitches. The butterfly and bird flanking the basket are similarly worked. 

Born on March 4, 1822, Mary was the daughter of John and Harriet (Stevens) Harris of New Haven. A publication entitled Family Records Collected in Commemoration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of Connecticut (1935) recorded her birth as well as her death, in 1846. She is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Naugatuck. 

The sampler was worked in silk on linen and is in excellent condition. It has been conservation mounted and is in a beveled, figured maple frame.