Map of the State of New York
Elizabeth Ann Goldin, American1829
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
New York, United States
Map of the state of New York, outlining and naming the counties and showing Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. A ten-line text reads: Lake Erie is the celebrated scene of Perry's victory Over a British fleet, September 10 1818Lake Champlain is celebrated for the victory gained by Macdonough over a British fleet of far superior force, Sept. 11, 1814Long Island is the most important island belonging to the State of New York. 140 miles in length and from 10 to 15 broad; contains three counties and numerous flourishing towns, population 67,000Population of the State of New York in 1820 was 1,372,812. Albany is the Capital.
- Title: Map of the State of New York
- Creator: Elizabeth Ann Goldin, American
- Creator Lifespan: 1814/1896
- Date Created: 1829
- Physical Dimensions: w590 x h515 cm
- Type: Map sampler
- Rights: Bequest of Mrs. Henry E. Coe
- Medium: Medium: silk embroidery, wool foundation, pencil Technique: embroidered in cross, stem, chain, back, and four-sided stitches on plain weave foundation
- Viewing Notes: Elizabeth Ann Goldin was fourteen when she embroidered this map of the State of New York. Such map samplers would have provided an excellent opportunity for schoolgirls to display their knowledge of geography as well as their needlework skills. In addition to outlining and naming each New York county, Elizabeth depicts Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, a portion of Long Island, and the borders of the neighboring states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She also includes text celebrating American naval victories against the British on Lakes Champlain and Erie, as well as statistics about New York State and Long Island. A possible print source for Elizabeth's sampler is an 1824 New York State map published by Anthony Finley. The two maps are not only visually similar, but Finley's map lists the population of New York in the year 1820, a statistic also included on Elizabeth's sampler.Elizabeth was born on September 12, 1814. She married James H. MacDonald (1816-1879) in 1836, and the couple lived in Watkins Glen, NY. They had no children of their own, but adopted a daughter, Mary (1843-1927). Elizabeth died in 1896 at the age of 82. She, James, and Mary are buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Watkins Glen.
- Provenance: By 1941, Mrs. Henry E. Coe (Eva Johnston Coe)1941, Museum for the Arts of Decoration of the Cooper Union
- Inscribed: Worked by Elizabeth Ann Goldin New York May 21st 1829
- Dimensions: H x W: 51.5 x 59 cm (20 1/4 x 23 1/4 in.)
- Bibliography: Hilda Kassell, Stitches in Time: The Art and History of Embroidery (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1966) 41.Ethel Stanwood Bolton and Eva Johnston Coe, American Samplers (Boston: The Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1921) 163.
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