Exhibits Experience Education with A Laurel School Room and Samplers Now Open At The Laurel Museum Beginning March 4, 2001 visitors to the Laurel Museum will take a step back in time to experience formal education as students from the turn of the century knew it. Within the Museum a space evoking a schoolroom from Laurel Elementary School #3 has been recreated. The school room is part of A Laurel School House Sampler, a new exhibition examining the history of education and the methods of learning and primary education curriculum of the 19th - early 20th century in Laurel. In addition to the school room, eight original samplers - needlepoint works which girls made to learn their ABC's - will also be on display. The oldest sampler dates to 1804. Those interested in needlework should also be sure to check out the "courting towel" of Margaret Sadler McCeney, who embroidered each of her beaus' signatures onto a towel. Augmenting a display of early exercise books and photographs, the exhibition also includes materials from the Rockland School for Girls, a school attended by the daughters of prosperous Laurel residents. These items are on loan from the Sandy Spring Museum. There is also a recreation of a late 19th C parlor, complete with pump organ. "For women during the 19th Century, the educational emphasis was often on domestic arts. Samplers such as these played a dual role. Not only did they teach a woman her letters, but they enhanced her sewing skills," stated Museum Director Alexandra Roosa, who curated the exhibition. Laurel in many ways was at the forefront of the movement to extend education beyond the very wealthy in Prince George's County. The earliest known school in the community, established by Horace Capron and the owners of the Patuxent Manufacturing Company in the 1840's, provided free education to the children of mill workers. Private academies attended by prosperous families and girls finishing schools also thrived. The state established free public education after the Civil War, and records show that in 1868 Prince George's County's largest public school was in Laurel. By the late 19th Century, Laurel, with strong community support that overcame county resistance, became the site of the county's first public high school, the only one in Prince George's County before the turn of the century. The exhibition also addresses the issue of African-American education in the community, with special emphasis on Laurel Elementary #2, the community's public school for African American students during segregation. The Laurel Museum is located at 817 Main Street, Laurel, MD. It is open Wednesdays 10 a.m.-2p.m and Sundays 1 p.m - 4 p.m. Admission is free and there is a gift shop on the premises. This exhibit is supported by an $8,000 grant from the Maryland Historical Trust and will only run for a limited time. For more information on the exhibit, or to learn about volunteer opportunities at the Laurel Museum or with the Laurel Historical Society, call 301-725-7975 Group Tours are available by appointment. Previous exhibits: George Nye & His Diaries Laurel School Room and Samplers Return to current Exhibits