Elizabeth Parker’s Sampler/Diary: The Autobiographical Needle

Relying on an unusual stitched text made by a young servant in the 1830s, this essay sets out to explore the Victorian sampler as a didactic tool designed to inculcate desirable behaviour as well as literacy and numeracy in young girls. Often viewed as repetitive exercises designed to enforce social...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Róisín Quinn-Lautrefin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2023-03-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/13800
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Summary:Relying on an unusual stitched text made by a young servant in the 1830s, this essay sets out to explore the Victorian sampler as a didactic tool designed to inculcate desirable behaviour as well as literacy and numeracy in young girls. Often viewed as repetitive exercises designed to enforce social norms of femininity, however, samplers could paradoxically prove to be spaces for girls to express their individualities and subjectivities.
ISSN:0220-5610
2271-6149