Voice & Memory: Oral Histories
American Girlhood: Needlework, Memory, and the Making of a Nation
The scholars, dealers, collectors, and NSCDA-CT Dames gathered here have spent years in close conversation with girls’ needlework — handling it, researching it, building careers and lives around it. Each was also a contributor to American Girlhood, and each brings a distinct vantage point to the objects in this exhibition. Listen to what they noticed, what drew them in, and what these small textile records continue to reveal about the girls who made them — and about American history more broadly.
-Amy Finkel, M. Finkel & Daughter
Join the Conversation
Do you have a story about a sampler passed down from your family, in your own collection, or part of your research? Add your thread to our American legacy—share your story with us on social with #AmericanGirlhoodStories or write to us at rdumouchel@wdsmuseum.org.
