The University of Delaware, the University of Oregon, and the Sampler Consortium are pleased to announce the 2011 launch of the Sampler Archive Project. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the mission of the Sampler Archive Project is to create an online searchable database of information and images for all known American samplers and related girlhood embroideries.

Collaborating partners already include dozens of museums, historical societies, and historic homes, as well as individual owners, collectors, and dealers from across the country. In this first round of funding the project will be working closely with three repositories of historic samplers: the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, and the DAR Museum in Washington, DC. Phase 1 efforts will focus on:

1. Developing nationally accepted standards for describing and documenting samplers;
2. Designing and programming a dynamic and flexible database that enables easy online browsing as well as focused searches;
3. Populating the online database with information and images from samplers in the collections of our Phase 1 collaborating partners;
4. Designing and developing web-based training and support materials to ensure that procedures for sampler documentation are reliable and accurate;
5. Creating a user-friendly and customizable website that meets the needs of multiple audiences – providing users with relevant historical information, links to online resources, and tools for sharing, studying, and commenting.

We anticipate that the Sampler Archive Project will greatly expand and improve the study of American samplers by providing centralized access to high quality information and images of historic samplers in geographically dispersed collections, presented to the public in an online environment that facilitates exploration, examination, comparison, notation, and sharing.

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