Kathleen Staples, a scholar who has written and lectured about European and American needlework for 20 years, will provide a new look at needlework samplers in a presentation beginning at 3 p.m. in the museum auditorium. Staples’ talk will address immigration, settlement patterns and the transference of aesthetic preference by culture over time and space.

Historic samplers are typically made from fine linen fabric that was embroidered with decorative borders, figures, motifs, the alphabet or the name of the person who embroidered it.

Staples has served as curator for exhibitions at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., the DeWitt Wallace Gallery at Colonial Williamsburg, and the Charleston Museum in South Carolina. She has written numerous magazine articles and is the author of two books.

Her three-day visit to WCU is being co-sponsored by the university’s Women’s Center, Office of the Provost, and the Mountain Heritage Center. While on campus, she also will meet with students in “Colonial History” and “Museums Exhibitions” classes, review the textile collection at the Mountain Heritage Center, and participate in a Women’s Center program.

The “Nature’s Tracks” program about weather will be held 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Participants will learn about cloud formations, precipitation types, and how to make a weather station for home use. The program is free, but reservations are required.

WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center is located on the ground floor of H.F. Robinson Administration Building. For more information about either program, or to reserve space in “What’s With the Weather?,” call the Mountain Heritage Center at (828) 227-7129.