ABSTRACT
In the 2010 edition of this book, the authors examined the evolving discipline of textile conservation over a 30-year period, through a discussion of the cleaning of a New England schoolgirl embroidered sampler. Five forces were cited as influences on decision-making: connoisseurship, technology, science, economics and professionalism. Cleaning an artefact, central to a textile conservator’s practice, was used as a lens through which to examine changing attitudes within the field as a whole. Specific factors known to complicate the cleaning process, such as the presence of iron gall ink and knowing when to use a suction table, were discussed. This analysis presented a useful conservation methodology. For the 2022 update of the case study, now covering a 44-year span, further advances in the field are discussed and the treatment was revisited in light of the same criteria.
