Needlepoint Sampler Elizabeth Beard (Baird) 1816 Village Scene Kate Reed Collection. Large and very elaborate framed needlepoint samplers done in 1816, showing a village scene with church, country house and animals with decorative floral border, showing name Elizabeth Eliza Beard February 14th 1816 aged 8 years and 8 months, with religious based original poem, set in wood frame. Frame measures 25.5 x 23.5 inches. Provenance according to journal of original owner purchased in Chester, England around mid-1910s, framed in Montreal as per framer label on back. Property of the late Kate Reed nee Armour, born 1856, Ontario, died 1928, Montreal, Quebec. By descent to current owner. Kate Reed was considered Canadas first designer and career woman. Originally married to New Yorker Grosvenor P. Lowrey and lived as part of New York high society, after his death she returned to Canada and married Major Hayter Reed. While living in Ottawa, Lady Aberdeen, the wife of the then Canadian Governor General Lord Aberdeen, made Kate Reed one of the first governors of the Victorian Order of Nurses in Canada. In 1900 Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, made Major Hayter Reed manager of the Chateau Frontenac hotel in Quebec City and this started Kate's career as the decorator of the Canadian Pacific Hotel chain across Canada, including the hotel at Lake Louise, Alberta and The Empress in Victoria, British Columbia. Lord Shaughnessy asked Kate to decorate the train for the future King George V and his consort, the future Queen Mary for their trip to Canada in 1901. In 1911, The Toronto Star Weekly called Kate the arbiter of elegance and comfort. Kate Reed was also a passionate collector and kept a detailed journal of her collections. Kate states that she started to collect samplers when she lived at the Chateau Frontenac. On a buying trip with a friend she spotted a sampler on the wall of an antique shop near Quebec City and when she inquired about it the shop owner stated that she had planned to throw it out as no one was interested in samplers anymore and sold it to Kate for 50 cents. The collection grew to over 60 samplers and parts were exhibited by The Canadian Handicrafts Guild in 1922. Kate's journal gives the provenance of many of her samplers.

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