Photo courtesy of Rick Epstein, Hunterdon County Democrat

ARTISTS / LECTURERS: Dan and Marty Campanelli

• HUNTERDON'S HISTORIC SAMPLERS
  Enjoy the beautiful display of historic samplers and a lecture Dan and Marty Campanelli.
  May 7, 2014
• HISTORIC QUAKERTOWN WALKING TOUR
  Join us for a tour of historic Quakertown followed by a lecture guides Dan and Marty Campanelli.
  September 20, 2014
• "TOUR" OF HUNTERDON'S RURAL HERITAGE THORUGH THE ART OF DAN CAMPANELLI
  with Dan and Marty Campanelli
  September 20, 2015
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• SIGNS OF THE TIMES
  Hunterdon Taverns & the Placards that Attracted Patrons
  This interesting visual presentation by Hunterdon County artists and historians Dan and Marty Campanelli features a short history on some of Hunterdon's colonial-era taverns, along with Dan Campanelli's artistic interpretations of what the tavern's signs may have looked like.
  November 1, 2016 - 7 pm

Dan Campanelli is a nationally recognized watercolor artist whose subjects include historic scenes of the Delaware Valley, and whose work is published by the New York Graphic Society and Frames Plus, Inc. Marty Campanelli, an art director and graphic designer, worked for colonial-style decorating publications for over twenty years. Since 2002 they have honed their interests to collecting and researching early American needlework, and have given numerous talks and presentations on this fascinating subject.

In 2010, along with their friend and Township Historian Lora W. Jones, the couple authored an images of America Publication, Franklin Township, Huinterdon County. In 2011 the Campanellis took an unpublished manuscript by historian J. Edward Stout (1923-2001), and created a 100-page book, A History of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakertown Monthly Meeting, filled with much new information and 90 vintage images.

Dan and Marty Campanelli have researched and written articles on needlework for national publications. "Who Was Mary E. Putnam?" appeared in the June 2011 issue of Early American Life. It detailed a genealogy sampler of a family that traced its ancestry back to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. A cover article titled "Following the Threads of the Carver Fruit Tree Family Register" in the winter 2012 issue of American Ancestors (a publication of the New England Historic Genealogical Society) uncovered a new line of Mayflower descendants.

Turning their focus to Hunterdon needlework, the Campanellis have documented seventy-four embroderies, researched the makers and their families, and discovered over a dozen previously unknown schools and/or stylistic groups. Thanks to a grant from The Astle-Alpaugh Family Foundation, the Campanellis new book, A Sampling of Hunterdon County Needlework: the motifs, the makers & their stories was published by the Hunterdon County Historical Society in June 2013. The 132-page, full-color book has garnered national attention, including two articles in the New York Times, plus reviews in major antiques publications. The book is available online at www.hunterdonhistory.org or can be purchased on the day of the talk, with all proceeds benefiting the Hunterdon County Historical Society.

For their needlework talk on the occasion of the County's 300th anniversary, Dan and Marty will give a Powerpoint presentation about Hunterdon samplers and encourage the public to bring any Hunterdon samplers stitched before 1850 for documentation and discussion.