African Girls' Samplers from Mission Schools in Sierra Leone (1820s to 1840s)

I

In an article in this journal almost fifteen years ago, Colleen Kriger discussed the reluctance of historians of Africa to use objects as sources in their research. She pointed to the rich reservoir of objects "made by African hands" in museum collections around the world, which lies virtually untapped by historians. However, she also noted that while objects are "unusually eloquent remnants from the past," they are problematic sources, presenting "special difficulties in evaluation and interpretation."²

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the existence of a number of embroidery samplers that were stitched by African girls in mission schools in the British colony of Sierra Leone in the period from the 1820s to the 1840s. So far, I have found thirteen of these samplers, which are preserved in a number of archival, private and museum collections in Europe and the USA. To historians, these pieces of needlework are of interest because they were generated by a group of people for whom we do not usually have first-hand documentary material. Moreover, they represent the direct material traces of the activity of the girls who made them, and thus appear to offer the possibility of an emphatic insight into their experience.

However, these "textile documents" present serious problems of interpretation.³ What exactly can they be expected to tell the modern historian? In particular, how far, in fact, do they express the perspectives of the African girls who made them, as distinct from the European missionaries who directed their work? Careful source criticism and an examination of the purpose for which they were produced will help to clarify these issues.

II

School samplers are small pieces of needlework that until the second half of the nineteenth century formed an indispensable part of girls' education in Europe and North America.⁴ They were executed at school or at home, under the supervision of a schoolmistress, governess or female relative. They come in various styles and designs, but embroidery samplers usually consisted of a rectangular piece of canvas, mostly linen or cotton, that had been decorated (or "marked") with alphabets, numerals, ornamental border patterns, motifs and/or a verse. They often include an inscription giving the name of the girl who worked it and the date and place of its production. It was usually the teacher who designed and drew the sampler, using a pattern book or a traditional store of patterns, while the pupil stitched it. The alphabets, numbers and some of the motifs, such as crowns, had a practical value because the initialling or "marking" of clothes would be part of many girls' future work in service or in the family.⁵ However, by working samplers, girls not only learned stitches and patterns, but also basic literacy and numeracy, geography (by means of map samplers), religious knowledge and moral values.⁶ Samplers, and needlework more generally, were closely associated with "feminine" virtues such as perseverance, industry and obedience. ⁷ The term "sampler" derives from the Old French "essamplaire," meaning a kind of work to be copied, and hinting at the original concept behind these pieces.⁸ They served as repositories of stitches and patterns that were to be kept for the embroiderers' future reference and use. However, with the appearance of pattern books in the sixteenth century, samplers gradually lost this practical function. Patterns and stitches became secondary. Instead, the emphasis shifted to verses, which usually were moral or pious inscriptions, and decorative motifs. By the mid-eighteenth century they had become purely decorative—tokens of girls' accomplishments that were brought back home from school, often to be framed and displayed by the proud parents. They were valued family possessions, not commercial items to be sold or bought. The hierarchical relationship between the schoolmistress and the pupil, and the discipline involved in samplermaking meant that there was little room for creativity and selfexpression on the pupil's part. However, from eighteenth century samplers also document national events, moral issues, family histories and personal experiences. This makes them a potentially rich source offering...