ABSTRACT

This second edition of Textile Conservation offers an up-to-date perspective on the role and practice of textile conservators, capturing the diversity of textile conservation work across the globe.

The volume considers key factors that are integral to effective conservation decision-making. It achieves this by focusing on four major factors that have influenced development in textile conservation practice over the past decades: the changing context, an evolution in the way conservators think about objects, the greater involvement of stakeholders, and technical development. Features of the new edition include:

  • Updated chapters that explain new techniques and recent developments in the field;
  • New and updated international case studies that demonstrate conservation decision-making in practice, including assessments of the conservation of objects in some of the world’s major cultural institutions;
  • Full-colour illustrations that demonstrate conservation in practice.

Textile Conservation will be essential reading for conservators around the world. It will also be of great interest to academics and students engaged in the study of the conservation of textiles, as well as museum and heritage professionals.

chapter |9 pages

Overview

chapter 1.1|8 pages

Institutional developments and their effect on conservation policies *

The Cambusnethan Bog Burial Coat

chapter 1.2|11 pages

Figures in museum display *

The creation and use of a little person mannequin at National Museums Scotland

chapter 1.3|9 pages

Modern textile conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum *

Roots, evolution and rapid changes

chapter 1.4|10 pages

Modern textile conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum II *

Dynamic display and agile conservation

chapter 1.6|10 pages

Moving on *

The transition from museum conservation to private practice

chapter |7 pages

Overview

chapter 2.1|10 pages

To reveal and not obscure *

Balancing conservation and visual access

chapter 2.2|10 pages

Inherent vice, or *

How I learned to stop worrying and love shattered silk

chapter 2.3|8 pages

Preserving information *

Two beds with textile hangings dating from the seventeenth century

chapter 2.4|8 pages

Conservation and connoisseurship *

chapter 2.5|9 pages

The conservator's eye *

Bringing an additional perspective to textile artefacts

chapter 2.6|11 pages

Traditional dress *

The evolution of exhibition display methods in response to curatorial interpretations

chapter 2.8|11 pages

The conservation of three painted soft sculptures by Mirka Mora *

Three different outcomes

chapter |6 pages

Overview

chapter 3.2|8 pages

Mana taonga *

People-centred conservation practice at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

chapter 3.5|10 pages

The treatment and retreatment of trade union banners *

(Re)building a specialism in the conservation of large painted textiles based on their living history

chapter 3.6|10 pages

The Scots Colours at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum *

Use, preservation and protocol

chapter 3.7|11 pages

Preserving materials and preserving meaning *

Marie Watt's Untitled (Dream Catcher), 2014

chapter Chapter 4|122 pages

Interventive conservation

chapter |8 pages

Overview

chapter 4.2|8 pages

Documentation as conservation *

The treatment of an archaeological Andean khipu

chapter 4.3|10 pages

Recording change *

1978–2008–2024: the rationale for suction table cleaning of a needlework sampler with iron gall ink

chapter 4.6|10 pages

The conservation of four 1760s chairs *

Revealing and reinstating original upholstery features during in-situ treatment

chapter Chapter 5|58 pages

Preventive conservation

chapter |6 pages

Overview

chapter 6.5|10 pages

Material evidence *

Assessing risk in the collection of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

chapter |7 pages

Overview

chapter 7.2|9 pages

Conversations about teaching textile conservation *

Forming a community of practice

chapter 7.7|11 pages

The broadening of conservation boundaries *

A personal perspective

chapter |7 pages

Overview

chapter 8.1|10 pages

#textileconservation *

An informal community of practice on social media

chapter 8.3|10 pages

Beyond Hope *

Upholstery and textile conservation collaborations

chapter 8.4|10 pages

Negotiation and flexibility *

New challenges influencing the management of large, complex textile conservation projects: working in the public view

chapter 8.5|10 pages

Conservators curating exhibitions *