Nabby Martin

Made with painstaking attention to detail, an embroidered sampler demonstrated a young girl’s talent in needleworking and was regarded as a commendable accomplishment in 18th-century America. Beginning around 1785, students could hone their stitching skills at the Mary Balch School in Providence, Rhode Island, where a recognizable local style developed.

This richly rendered sampler by 11-year-old Nabby Martin exemplifies the school’s characteristic composition of verses, the alphabet, floral motifs, animals, and fashionable figures amidst idealistic settings. It also depicts important buildings in Providence, including the Old State House and the College Edifice, Brown University’s first and oldest building, now known as University Hall.

This unusually complex sampler was stitched by an eleven year old girl while she was a student at Mary Balch's school in Providence. Among the verses and overall floral design, the young student included images of two Providence buildings important during the American Revolution. At the top, the College Edifice (now University Hall) at Brown University served as a barracks and a hospital for American and French troops, while the Old State House, shown below, was the site of Rhode Island's declaration of independence from England.