The Advisory Council is comprised of experts in the field of sampler scholarship, conservation, curation, and community building. The position of Advisor honors individuals who have contributed in significant ways to our understanding of girlhood needlework and/or to the work of the Sampler Consortium International. Advisors may be asked to serve on SCI committees and attend Board meetings when their expertise would contribute to the Board’s deliberations. Advisors are invited to serve on the Advisory Council by the SCI Board of Directors.

Below is an annotated list the Advisory Council as of September 21, 2026. Advisors are listed in alphabetical order by surname.

Leslie B. Durst: Sampler collector, researcher, and owner of AntiqueSamplers.org, a website sharing historical information and images of samplers from her extensive and diverse collection. Vancouver, Washington, USA.

Amy Finkel: Sampler dealer and owner of M. Finkel and Daughter, specializing in early schoolgirl needlework and related girlhood embroideries. Also, author and publisher of 50 catalogs on antique samplers under the title Samplings. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Jenny Garwood: Assistant Collections Manager & Adjunct Curator of Textiles at the Museum of Early Southern and Decorative Arts (MESDA). Author of “To all Classes of the Community”: John McLeod’s Schools and the Washington Navy Yard and Capitol Hill Samplers (2024). Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Emily Gevalt: Historian, folk art scholar, and curator at the American Folk Art Museum where she is Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial & Program Officer. Author of Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American “Schoolgirl” Art (2026). New York City, New York, USA.

Stephen and Carol Huber: Sampler dealers and owners of Hubers Antiques, specializing in early schoolgirl needlework and related girlhood embroideries. Also, exhibition co-curators and co-authors of With Needle and Brush: Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley, 1740-1849 (2011). Lyme, Connecticut, USA.

Vickie LoPiccolo Jennett: Sampler collector, needlework designer, teacher, publisher, and owner of NeedleWorkPress. Also, author of Sonoran Borders: Threads of Friendship (2019). Sedona, Arizona, USA.

Joanne Lukacher: Sampler collector, scholar, and author of Imitation and Improvement: The Norfolk Sampler Tradition (2013). Co-director of the Dutchess County Sampler Initiative and collections consultant for the samplers at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. Poughkeepsie, New York, USA.

Lorraine Mootz: Sampler collector, scholar, and co-author of Mustertücher: Stickmuster aus drei Jahrhunderten (2010) and Samplers and Designs: Three Centuries of European Samplers. Also, director of the now-closed German Sampler Museum from 1991 to 2013. Celle, Germany.

Patricia Wilson Nguyen: Sampler collector, needlework scholar and teacher, owner of Thistle Threads and star of “Travels with Tricia” YouTube channel. Author of Scandal and Imprisonment: Gold Spinners of 17th Century England (2020) and On Female Education: Projects of Mastery in Seventeenth-Century English Boarding Schools (2025). Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.

Amelia Peck: Former Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Consulting Curator at the Antonio Ratti Textile Center, specializing in American textiles and period rooms. Co-author of multiple publications including Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800 (2013). New York City, New York, USA.

Newbie Richardson: Textile conservator and owner of Costume and Textile Specialists, where she specializes in the conservation of historic textiles and antique needlework. Conducts appraisals of historic needlework and antique textiles, and is a frequent speaker on textile conservation.  Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

Isabella Rosner: Scholar of early women’s material culture, specializing in historic embroidery. Creator of the Sew What? podcast on historic needlework. Curator of Textiles at the Royal School of Needlework. Author of Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration (2024). Co-author of ‘Choice And Precious Work ‘Treasures From The Schoolroom 1650 – 1750, Volumes I and II. London, England.

Daniel Scheid: Sampler collector, lecturer, and historian of schoolgirl needlework. Co-curator and co-author of the exhibition catalog Hail Specimen of Female Art! New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860 (2014) at the Morven Museum and Garden. Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

Rebecca Scott: Sampler dealer and owner of Witney Antiques, specializing in British samplers and early English embroideries. Curator and author of multiple exhibition catalogs including ‘Tis Education Forms The Common Mind:’ Schools, Scholars and Seminaries; ‘For Pleasure and Ornament:’ Art Treasures of English Domestic Embroidery 1580 – 1835; and ‘Choice And Precious Work:’ Treasures From The Schoolroom 1650 – 1750, Volumes I and II.  Witney, Oxfordshire, England.

Cynthia Steinhoff: Sampler collector, researcher, and genealogist specializing in samplers from the mid-Atlantic states. An active member of the Delaware Sampler Initiative and contributor to Wrought with Careful Hand: Ties of Kinship on Delaware Samplers (2014). Co-author of Delaware Discoveries: Girlhood Embroidery, 1750-1850 (2019) with Gloria Seaman Allen. Severna Park, Maryland, USA.

Lianne Van Leyen: Sampler collector and “reproductionist,” cross stitcher, and owner of 1897 Schoolhouse Samplers. Also, public historian and historic cook, interpreting women’s domestic history at Upper Canada Village. Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada.

Virginia Whelan: Textile conservator in private practice and sole proprietor of Filaments Conservation Studio, specializing in historic needlework and fine textiles. Also, Chair of the NSCDA Sampler Survey and author of Marvelous Maps: Five Schoolgirl Embroideries of the Plan of the City of Washington, c. 1800 (2023). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Stacy Whittaker: Sampler collector, scholar, and lecturer, specializing in female education and schoolgirl needlework of eastern New York. Co-director of the Dutchess County Sampler Initiative and co-author of Mapping America, One Stitch at a Time (2026). Poughkeepsie, New York, USA.