ABSTRACT
The first theme of this chapter is the close relationship between homemakers in the past with their textile furnishings. This relationship included making up textiles into furnishings, their regular care and maintenance, occasional repairs when required and often the long term provision for them that continued across generations and sometimes for hundreds of years. The situation changed in the twentieth century, first through economic decline resulting in neglect, and secondly due to houses becoming museums and the care of the textiles passing to others. Textile furnishings were then preserved as museum collections rather than maintained as home furnishings through housekeeping, and this development provides the second theme of the chapter. The twentieth century produced a new profession that of textile conservation, and this in turn brought new ways of thinking about textile care through the application of science.1 This chapter will demonstrate that the traditional skills of caring for textiles through good ‘housewifery’ and needlework still play an important role in textile preservation and conservation in the twentyfirst century. Modern conservation also plays an important role in the current interpretation of historic house museums to the visiting public.
