By today’s academic standards, the schoolwork stitched onto the 151 samplers that comprise the “Hail Specimen of Female Art! New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860” exhibition at Morven Museum and Garden here might not be A-plus-worthy.

“One girl spelled Hanover ‘Hanovah,’ with an ‘ah’ on the end, like she had a New England accent,” said Elizabeth Allan, the museum’s curator of collections and exhibitions, during a recent tour. “There’s another girl named Joanna who spelled her name with three ‘n’s.”