Our curator of collections, Lea Lane, continues to highlight incredible pieces in Preservation Virginia’s collection. Mary “Polly” Ambler Marshall, wife of Chief Justice John Marshall, was apparently quite the needlework artist. Check out the video below to see a sampler Mary created in the mid-1770s. Preservation Virginia owns and operates the John Marshall House in Richmond, and once it’s safe to re-open following the COVID crisis, you can tour the house where Polly and John lived.

You, too, can try your hand at creating a sampler! If you’d like to order a sampler needlework kit from The Posy Collection, which specializes in creating kits for historic sites and museums, contact Cheryl Greenday at cgreenday@preservationvirginia.org. Here’s what the finished product looks like: