Hello!
I wanted to share a link to a project I'm working on this semester,
the Historic Costume Preservation Workshop at Vassar College (HCPW).
This NEH funded project has students working with me (and other
faculty/staff) to better document our collection of 500+ examples of
historic fashion, dating from the nineteenth century. We've had two
formal workshops so far, with Jessa Krick discussing best practice
for cataloging, and Jonathan Scheer and Rebecca Chartier discussing
best practice for handling and storing textiles and writing condition
reports. We will have one more intensive workshop in April, with CSA
member Colleen Callahan.
Meanwhile, we have weekly labs to document the objects, and each of
us will focus on one object for a research paper before we're
through. We're hoping to host a small exhibition at the end (if we
can find a secure space!)
In the weekly labs we have unearthed some interesting pieces, and we
have many questions to answer as we head toward final projects and
further research. Many of the students are coming to this project
with no knowledge of costume history, so their ability to identify
different features varies greatly. As the project moves along, I'll
be pushing them into more external research to test their theories
about the dates, fibers, etc. of the objects, and most importantly,
to discuss different aspects of each object's significance.
Here's a good video post to start with:
http://blogs.vassar.edu/hcpw/2010/03/01/video-of-blue-floral-bodice-
with-bustle/
Please browse around the site and take a look at what else the
students have found.
Over the next few weeks, there will be new posts every day or so, to
show more videos and photos of the objects
We’d love your feedback! We have to make some decisions soon, to
choose about 7 objects from the collection for our final projects.
We’ll identify objects that have condition issues, and stabilize them
so that we can mount them and exhibit / photograph them. It’s going
to be hard to narrow down our selections, so your comments can help
guide us.
I hope you’ll take a look! If you find it interesting, you may want
to subscribe to the blog. Just click on the "Subscribe" tab on the
top right and choose from the list of options. I highly recommend
subscribing by email - then all new posts will show up in your inbox.
Videos and photos won't come through in the email if you do that, but
the email will link you to the blog so that you can see everything.
Of course, you can also contact me directly if you have any other
questions or comments about the project.
Enjoy!
-Arden
p.s. my apologies to anyone who's getting this twice, since I also
just posted it on the CSA list . . .
--
Ms. Arden Kirkland
Costumer
Vassar College Drama Department
Poughkeepsie, NY
[email protected]
845-437-5589 (costume shop)
http://blogs.vassar.edu/hcpw
http://ardenkirkland.wordpress.com
http://blogs.vassar.edu/vccc
http://tryingonhistory.blogspot.com/
http://grou.ps/digitalobjects/
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