In partial fulfillment of my internship at Museum Textile Services, I recently cleaned, repaired, mounted, and framed three lace objects that were donated to the study collection from a single family. I was fortunate to be able to spend an afternoon learning about the history of lace, manufacturing techniques, and how to identify various forms of lace.
The first of the three objects I conserved was worn by the ancestor of the donor, who lived in Oberlin, OH, in the late 18th and early 20th centuries. The hand-made cotton collar and its matching cuffs were salvaged from a garment, which indicates its value to the owner. Known as Irish Crochet, this technique of lace was first produced in the 1840s using an extremely thin steel crochet hook. After MTS conservator Morgan Carbone wetcleaned the collar with Sodium Borohydride, I mounted it with hand stitching to a fabric-covered archival board. A vintage grain-painted frame was found in an appropriate size, which I cleaned and toned to hide a flaw. The lace was framed with acrylic spacers behind UV-filtering glass. The second of the three objects I conserved is an example of Teneriffe lace that was likely picked up in South America during the donor’s travels in the 1960’s. According to Heather Toomer, Teneriffe or “Sol work,” is a Spanish craft with known examples from as early as the 17th century. We learned about Teneriffe lace in 2016 when a customer brought three pieces for us to conserve, which gave us the idea to mount and frame the piece in the MTS study collection. Again, Morgan Carbone wetcleaned the lace and I mounted and framed it in another vintage grain-painted frame. The third lace object I worked on is was from the donor’s childhood, which was spent in India during the 1950’s. It came to us sewn to a piece of blue paper with a card reading “Rajahmundry Lutheran Lace Industry E. Godavari Dist., India pattern no. 33 L.M. 484.” After doing a bit of research on this label, I learned that Rajahmundry is a center of textile production on the Godavari river in the eastern Indian province of Andhra Pradesh. A 1922 bulletin found online tells us that Lutheran missionaries trained women who had converted to Christianity in the art of lace making. The hand-made lace included needle lace, pin lace, and crochet, like the example I worked on, and the profits of the industry were used to support a “home for unprotected women.” The Indian lace was wetcleaned and soon it will be mounted to a fabric-covered board like the previous examples. In order to frame the card along with the lace, an acid-free mat will be placed around the lace with a cut-out for the card to sit in. The card will be mounted with small dots of archival adhesive. This piece of lace will be framed behind UV-filtering glass in a newly purchased frame and will be displayed in the Museum Textile Services studio.
0 Comments
On April 19th, 2017, Museum Textile Services staff made the trip to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, for the opening of "Threads of Change: Clothing and Identity in the North" at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. Included in the exhibit are twelve of our Andover Figures® manikins, which were skillfully padded out and arranged by the museum's collections staff. ![]() Left to right: Pencil skirt by Peter Kawogaelg Williams, Sitka, Alaska, 2015. Amaut flare dress by Becky Qilvvaq, Nunavut, Canada. Beaded Amauti by Lucy Ittinuar, Nunavut, Canada, c 1970. Labrador Amauti by Nancy Pamack, Labrador, Canada, c 1980. Embroidered wool parka by Gladys Mesher, Goose Bay, Labrador, 1985.
On March 29th and 30th, 2017, Museum Textile Services Director Camille Myers Breeze and Conservator Morgan Carbone indulged in every textile specialist's favorite activity--surveying costume from one of the finest collections in New England. Old Sturbridge Village, a c 1830 living history museum in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, received a generous Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for Humanities, which covered our fees. The goal of this survey was to photograph as many items as possible and record their condition issues, any treatment needed prior to exhibition, and whether they should no longer be stored hanging. In order to do this as efficiently as possible, MTS Administrator Kathy McKenna created a spreadsheet based on catalog data provided by OSV. Fields containing possible condition issues, such as abrasion, discoloration, insect damage, and fading, were added for us to quickly check off when present. Using this system, Camille and Morgan were able to assess 352 garments in a mere 14 hours!
Once we returned to Andover, the entire MTS team spent an additional two days compiling the data and generating individual worksheets for each item surveyed. Our report includes recommendations for future volunteer projects, such as constructing garment bags for some items, moving the most fragile garments to boxed storage, and basic surface cleaning. We now look forward to organizing volunteer training sessions both on site and in our Andover Studio.
If your institution needs a collections survey like this NEH funded project with Old Sturbridge Village, please contact MTS Director Camille Myers Breeze.
Hailing from New Hampshire, Major General Fitz-John Porter served in the American Civil War in the Union army. Throughout 1862, it was the mission of the Union army to take the Confederate capital of Richmond. President Abraham Lincoln created the Army of Virginia, led by General Pope, to protect Washington and intimidate the nearby Confederate troops. General Porter, with the Fifth Corps of the Army of Potomac, had made disparaging remarks in telegraphs that would later be seen by General Pope on his way to joining Pope’s troops.
Fitz-John Porter was charged with five counts of disobeying orders and four counts for shameful conduct before the enemy, charges that could result in the death penalty. Porter hoped that McClellan would be able to help, but McClellan was dismissed from the army before the trial. In 1863, Porter was found guilty of these crimes and dismissed from the army in this so-called “trial of the century.” He was exonerated in 1886 and had his rank restored to colonel, but would never work in the military again. General Porter was honored with a statue in his hometown of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1904. A WWII American Steam Merchant ship was named after him, and now his bicorn worn during the time of this great battle has been conserved at MTS. After gentle surface cleaning and polishing of the metallic elements, MTS Director Camille Myers Breeze repaired a tear to the silk lining of the cap. One of the two bullion tassels was reattached, and a custom mount was made of fabric-covered Ethafoam. The hat is now enlosed in a custom-made polypropylene box. The pieces of the original hat box were treated by paper conservator, Bryan Owen, and are now stable enough for display.
To see the entire collection of Major Fitz-John Porter holdings at the New Hampshire Historical Society, visit their online catalog. We are honored to contribute to the enduring history of this New Englander, and hope that others will be inspired to learn more about him. This month at Museum Textile Services we were excited to conserve a set of four concealed garments: a shoe, a shoe sole, a boot, and a bonnet. The objects were found during renovations to a 1725 Ledyard, CT, house, and were located in the floorboards of an attic above the birthing room. The boot and bonnet are 19th century, while the shoe could be even older. The bonnet closely resembles silk crepe spoon caps from the Civil War era. When items such as these are hidden in secular or religious buildings, they are often placed close to doors and fireplaces, or under floorboards. These areas were considered the weakest parts of the house, where malevolent spirits might enter. Concealed garments are often interpreted as protective symbols. As Dinah Eastop and Charlotte Dew explain in their article Secret Garments: Deliberately Concealed Garments as Symbolic Textiles:
Deliberately concealed garments are often heavily worn and bear the imprint of the wearer. The objects we conserved show many indicators of heavy use including separating layers of leather and abrasion to the fabric at the interior of the shoe, holes, heavily caked on mud and dirt, and evidence of re-soling on multiple occasions. The bonnet was generally deformed and was missing layers of fabric at its interior. The shoes and bonnet were carefully surface cleaned with a micro-vacuum attachment, toothbrushes, and vulcanized rubber sponges. During the process, we found different types of beans in the toe of the boot. While they easily could have been transported into the shoe by way of rodents, it is also possible that the beans were put there by the people who originally concealed the garments. Beans, seeds, and corn cobs symbolize fertility, and are often found in historic homes along with concealed objects. After cleaning, the garments were humidified in a Gore-Tex chamber to facilitate reshaping. We were concerned with the leather hardening, or crosslinking, in the presence of water, so the objects were very carefully monitored. When dry, the leather was treated with renaissance wax, a micro-crystalline wax conditioner and cleaner. This did not change their appearance greatly, but will help to coat the leather and aid in its preservation. Support mounts were made for the two shoes and the bonnet from pieces of Ethafoam covered with knit jersey. A custom box protects them all and allows the owner to easily show them to friends. We are excited that the concealed objects will be returning to the house in which they were found, and continue to tell the history of the home. For more information about deliberately concealed objects, see the the website developed by Dinah Eastop and Charlotte Dew.
The crazy quilt we conserved from the Dudley Farm Museum, which we discussed in the blog Crazy for Crazy Quilts, contained many printed patches that were inspired by East Asia. The fabric seen below has white clouds outlined in black intersected by red curvilinear shapes. Clouds are a lucky symbol in Chinese iconography because they bring rain for crops, and the pronunciation of the word is very similar to the words "luck," "fortune," and "fate." This pattern can be frequently seen in the swirling shapes of robes of the Qing dynasty, like the example below from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Another, very simple patch is white with stylized black writing. Chinese characters are both symbolic and decorative, expressing important concepts such as happiness and longevity. A ceremonial umbrella we conserved in 2015 for Wheaton College had writing on several ribbons, believed to be the names of donors who supported the gift of the umbrella to a retiring government official. These umbrellas can be seen throughout the 1987 movie The Last Emperor. The Dudley Farm Museum quilt also contains several patches printed with blue lattice work intersected by ethereal light pink peonies. Peonies are extremely important design elements in Chinese textiles, and are sometimes called the "King of Flowers." They are indicative of the spring season and symbolize royalty and virtue. The ladder, or ladder of heaven, is used to symbolize longevity. Another crazy quilt that came to MTS from a private collection contains patchwork fans, which were a very popular Victorian element. The word for fan in Chinese sounds much like the word for "kindness" or "good," making fans a symbol of good luck and generosity. Quilts are often illustrative of the fashion of an era, because of the myriad of fabrics they contain. Crazy quilts go one step further by shining a light on how interconnected the globe was becoming at the height of the Victorian era.
An influx of crazy quilts helped to keep Museum Textile Services warm over the recent holiday season. Crazy quilts consist of irregularly shaped patches of many different fibers and weave structures that are pieced together like a jig-saw puzzle. Many makers cut patches from worn out garments. The pieces ware frequently sewn together into squares before the completed sections were sewn together. Many crazy quilts have rich velvet boarders and printed cotton backing fabric. They came to fashion during the aesthetic period of the late 19th-century and continued into the early 20th century. ![]() After working on so many crazy quilts, we have become curious about the individuals who made them. The Dudley Farm crazy quilt, now housed in Guilford, Connecticut, is predominantly wool patches including numerous plaids. At least three women contributed to its construction. Like many of their contemporaries, the makers included dated ribbons, or embroidering names and dates on blocks. One square has patches that read, “Anna,” “Waterbury,” “February 20,” “1893,” and “Blizzard.” Another block is signed "Wolcott Feb. 13 1893." A third reads “Fair Haven Feb. 25 Leila Wade.” How did these three women know each other? We concocted a romantic story of three friends or cousins stitching the quilt during the hard winter of 1892 to 1893. MTS conservators also had the opportunity to treat a pair of crazy quilts brought to us by a private collector. The two quilts were likely made around the same time and perhaps by the same woman or group of women. Although the same finished size, one quilt consists of just twelve blocks of the same vintage as the other, plus eight blocks made at a later date or by a less skilled quilter. Both quilts had some identical patches, including miniature silk appliqué American flags, printed cigarette silks, and memorandum ribbons commemorating the death of Ulysses S. Grant on July 23, 1885. The maker or makers of these quilts was an accomplished embroider and painter on fabric. Crazy quilts often are brought to us for conservation in very bad condition due to the interaction of the varied fibers and weave structures, the presence of weighted silks, and the practice of re-purposing fabrics that were already worn. The three crazy quilts mentioned in this blog were all stabilized to prevent additional loss of textile fragments and allow safe display. The Dudley Farm quilt was completely encapsulated in sheer nylon net in order to protect the deteriorating fabrics on both the front and back. The private collector chose a different approach for her two quilts. Instead of a full nylon net overlay, we covered only the most deteriorated patches with different shades of sheer nylon net. The pair of quilts will be display in the future, so we also installed twill-tape sleeves to accommodate a magnetic hanging system. During a recent search through Director Camille Myers Breeze's family textiles, we came across the identical American flag ribbon found in one of the recently-conserved crazy quilts. The label accompanying the ribbon tells us that they were worn by Camille's grandmother and great aunt on "Decoration Day," more commonly known now as Memorial Day. Another way to see crazy quilts, therefore, is as fabric scrap books containing memories of clothing worn, and historical and personal events.
This past year was a year of achievements for the Museum Textile Services staff. Three of the staff completed their Master's Degrees in 2016, with research in three very different areas of museum studies.
As a conservator at Museum Textile Services, I have had the opportunity to work on many Chinese and East Asian object, including a Qing dynasty ceremonial umbrella cover belonging to Wheaton College and a embroidered panel from Wesleyan College.
feasible for the Museum to keep its doors open. Now that I have finished graduate school, I continue to contract for Museum Textile Services while looking for a full-time museum position. Through my thesis, I made an argument for a deeper understanding among conservators and museums about how choice of informatics software can impact the free and open access of data that is crucial to the future intellectual growth of the conservation field. I am currently pursuing a master's degree in Textile Conservation with the Centre for Textile Conservation at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
In Part I of this blog we told the remarkable story of the Bacheler coat, which was given to the City of Gloucester by Albert Bacheler. The former high school principal received the life-saving garment from an African American after escaping from the notorious Libby Prison in Richmond, VA, during the Civil War.
After eighty years folded sideways and pressed into a narrow frame, the coat needed multiple rounds of humidification to relax creases and folds, and correct long-ingrained distortions. Realigning the torn fabrics then allowed us to determine which tears and holes posed a threat to the overall stability of the coat, and which could be left to bear testimony to the arduous journey Bacheler took to reunite with his battalion. Hand stitching and a minimum of cotton support patches were employed before the coat was deemed fit for display.
The coat will be installed at Gloucester High School in 2017, and the legacy of principal Bacheler will live on. Museum Textile Services wishes to thank the Gloucester Committee for the Arts, the City of Gloucester, Charles and George King, and the many donors who made this preservation project possible.
Since 1934, generations of students, faculty, and staff of Gloucester high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts, passed by a frame holding the tattered remains of a coat. A photo inside the frame is of former principal Albert William Bacheler, who brought the coat back from the Civil War. His story reads like a novel and is made all the more poignant by the survival of this fragile garment. Bacheler was born in Balasore, India, in 1844 to missionary parents. He enlisted as a teenager in Company E of the 12th Regiment, New Hampshire volunteers and was promoted from private to corporal, sergeant, and finally first lieutenant. Bacheler fought in every battle the regiment engaged in except for Cold Harbor. He received injuries at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was captured by Confederate forces on November 17th, 1864. Bacheler was held as a prisoner of war at the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia where he and another soldier were able to dig to their freedom. During the three weeks between escaping and reuniting with the US Army, he was sheltered by African-Americans. One of them gave Bacheler this coat. ![]() Returning to New Hampshire after the war, Bacheler earned his degree from Dartmouth College. The coat went with him when he became a teacher at Gloucester high school. After his retirement it was given to Roger W. Babson, Gloucester high class of 1894. Babson gave the coat to the school in 1934, at which point it was framed. The following year, a photograph of Albert W. Bacheler along with his heroic story, were printed in the 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition of Gloucester High School Cadet. The coat might have remained in its frame at the high school had concerned Gloucester parent Kim Minnaugh not noticed mold growing on the inside of the glass. Minnaugh brought the problem to the attention of the Gloucester Committee for the Arts, and Museum Textile Services was hired to assess the coat. We developed a proposal for deinfestation, cleaning, stabilization, mounting, and displaying the coat inside an existing display cabinet at the high school. Initially they contracted us only to unframe and deinfest the coat while the City of Gloucester pondered how to pay for the full treatment.
In the next blog, we will outline the conservation, mounting, and re-installation of the Bacheler coat.
|