Pound Ridge Historical Society
255 Westchester Ave
Pound Ridge, NY 10576
(914) 764-4333
POUND RIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY RECEIVES GRANT TO RESTORE WATERBURY SAMPLER
The Pound Ridge Historical Society has been awarded a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. The grant, amounting to $3,790, covers the majority of the costs for restoring and conserving the Waterbury Family Record Sampler. The needlework sampler is an heirloom of one of the first families of Pound Ridge and one of the oldest families in America, emigrating from England to Massachusetts by 1630. The sampler is roughly 27″ x 23″ and is made of cotton cloth, embroidered with silk threads, beads, and a lock of human hair. It bears the name of the creator Isabella Waterbury and the date of origin, 1861. It chronicles the births, marriages, and deaths of one branch of the Waterbury family starting with the birth of Isabella’s father John, in 1798. The last entry is the death of her sister Julia, in 1912.
The needlework sampler was donated to the Pound Ridge Historical Society prior to 1981 and was uncovered in the PRHS’ archives during a major effort to organize the archives for better preservation. This effort directly led to the creation PRHS’ current exhibit “Our Archival Treasures†which features a selection of items never seen before or items that have not been seen in recent years. The exhibit is open to the public weekends from 2pm – 4pm through December 1, 2013.
Upon restoration the sampler will be on display at the Pound Ridge Museum. The conservation of the Waterbury Family Record relates entirely to the stated purpose of our constitution pledging to preserve and make accessible any historic artifacts in our care to the greater public. Upon display, it will give youth and adults a deeper understanding of our cultural past and pride of place, hopefully arousing a keener interest in history and community. We hope that it will inspire further donations of artifacts to The Pound Ridge Historical Society’s collection allowing us to preserve and disseminate our shared heritage.
The grant was awarded by The Conservation Treatment Program of the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, a re-granting agency which is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
“The mission of the Pound Ridge Historical Society is to discover, collect, preserve and transcribe material about Pound Ridge and its environs; to make such information available to the public; to bring together people of similar interests; and to promote and share the accumulated knowledge through publications, programs, exhibits and the operation of the Pound Ridge Museum.
