The Process of Preparing a Historical Exhibit Involving Textiles: Conservation and Mounting Techniques

Author

Emily Kelley, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Date of Defense

3-25-2013

Date of Graduation

4-2013

Department

History

First Advisor

Amanda Sikarskie

Second Advisor

Patti Borrello

Third Advisor

Paula Metzner

Abstract

"The Process of Preparing an Historical Exhibit Involving Textiles: Conservation and Mounting Techniques" This project revolves around textile conservation, with an undertone of collections management. The processes detailed are to serve as a guide for creating mounts for historic textiles and to give preliminary information on how conservation works and how to identify textiles that are appropriate for conservation and display. Addressed in this project are the methods behind choosing which textiles to exhibit, mounting different types of textiles, and the three basic types of textile conservation. Choosing objects for an exhibit requires thought and consideration, for the desired story of the exhibit, as well as the condition of the textile. Different types of textiles depend on different types of mounts to support them. The three types of conservation are dry cleaning, stabilization, and wet cleaning. The physical project is an exhibit that was installed in the textile gallery in Kohrman Hall on Western Michigan University's campus. The three distinct sections of the project were each given a section of the gallery, with an additional section dedicated to an activity. Installed in the gallery were textiles chosen for each section because they provided a great example of each method in the project. There is also a video accompanying the section on conservation.

Comments

Photographs, video accompanying.

Recommended Citation

Kelley, Emily, "The Process of Preparing a Historical Exhibit Involving Textiles: Conservation and Mounting Techniques" (2013). Honors Theses. 2253.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/2253

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access