Ellen Miller

Ellen Miller (1854-1929) was one of the founders of the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, with Margaret C. Whiting. She was a painter, designer, author, and needleworker. She was particularly skilled with dyeing, a talent she developed and practiced in her work for the Deerfield Society.

Life prior to the founding of the Deerfield Society

With her parents and sister Margaret, Ellen Miller moved to Deerfield from Hatfield, Massachusetts in 1893. The Millers moved into a 1710 house built on the site of a house that had been destroyed by fire in the 1704 Deerfield Massacre. Ellen Miller and Margaret C. Whiting both studied at the National Academy of Design, and were pupils of Robert Crannell Minor in the summer of 1884. In 1895, Miller and Whiting together wrote and illustrated Wild Flowers of the Northeastern States.

Life from the founding of the Deerfield Society

Miller and Margaret C. Whiting became fascinated by the old embroidery they found at Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, spending time to learn the stitches they were unfamiliar with. They rode around the area via horse and carriage in order to find scenes for sketching, and were able to ask people they came to know about old embroidery they owned. They were occasionally able to buy pieces, but otherwise might pay for the privilege of tracing the design. As they worked on pieces based on the old samples, their skills increased and others expressed interest in buying their work. This inspired them to turn the work into a village industry using the model John Ruskin promoted. This became the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, which was founded in 1898. As the Society became more organized, a small room in the front of the Miller house was made into a showroom for the group's products.