ABSTRACT
The word ‘connoisseur’ is a somewhat old-fashioned one. Despite the implication of antiquarianism, the term connoisseurship continues to be used today as the title of a course that forms part of the curriculum of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture (WPAMC), a master of arts degree programme run in conjunction with the University of Delaware, where it is interpreted by some as a snobbish and by others as a more succinct word meaning ‘material culture’ or ‘object-based research’. Object-based research is not a new concept in the study of historic textiles, but the nature of the collection at Winterthur has provided opportunities for both staff and students to use these skills in unexpected ways. This paper features two connoisseurship projects by WPAMC students, presenting them in the context of the history of the development of Winterthur’s collection. The goal of the connoisseurship project is to ensure that each student understands that issues of condition reporting and treatment cannot be considered in isolation of the historical context of the object.
