In 1775, Mary Jones of Weston Massachusetts watched her life collapse around her as her family, all supporters of the British Crown, fled their homes and had their immense fortune confiscated during the Revolution. Among what she had left to remember them was a mostly finished needlework sampler displaying the Jones family coat of arms. Years later, she returned to Massachusetts and settled in Concord, where this sampler now resides in the collection of the Concord Museum.

Erica Lome, PhD, Associate Curator at Historic New England, uses this needlework as a starting point to survey the history of embroidered coats of arms worked in Boston in the late eighteenth century. More than an accomplishment of a genteel education, heraldic needlework was created by young women to document their family genealogy, a practice that endured through war, exile, and independence. Join us to hear more stories about needlework, women, family, and legacy in an age of Revolution.

This program is being held in-person at the Concord Museum.  Please register using the form below.

Featured Image: Needlework by Mary Jones, 1760-1770. Concord Museum Collection, Gift of Cummings E. Davis; T900.