Louise Coffey-Webb - Managing Costume Collections: An Essential Primer

Costume Society of America series

Phyllis A. Specht, Series Editor

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Managing Costume Collections

An Essential Primer

Louise Coffey-Webb

Foreword by Robin D. Campbell

Texas Tech University Press

Copyright 2016 by Louise Coffey-Webb

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic storage and retrieval systems, except by explicit prior written permission of the publisher. Brief passages excerpted for review and critical purposes are excepted.

This book is typeset in Minion Pro. The paper used in this book meets the
minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

Cover photograph/illustration: Angels Costumes London.
Photograph by Louise Coffey-Webb, with permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Coffey-Webb, Louise, author. | Costume Society of America.

Title: Managing costume collections : an essential primer / Louise
Coffey-Webb ; foreword by Robin D. Campbell.

Description: Lubbock, Texas : Texas Tech University Press, 2016. | Series:
Costume Society of America series | Includes bibliographical references
and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015039969| ISBN 9780896729575 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780896729568 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780896729582 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Costume museums. | MuseumsCollection management. | BISAC: DESIGN / Textile & Costume. | DESIGN / Fashion.

Classification: LCC NK4701.8 .C64 2016 | DDC 706dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015039969

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 / 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Texas Tech University Press

Box 41037 | Lubbock, Texas 79409-1037 USA

800.832.4042 | ttup@ttu.edu | www.ttupress.org

This book is dedicated to all those along my path, who
recognized my passion for costume and its place in our world, and who encouraged me to continue in my pursuits.

Contents

Illustrations

Mens jackets organized by size and color14

Dry-cleaning-style automated rack for reproduction clothing16

View of the atrium storage area 17

Wall plan of holdings showing color-coded sections 18

1930s sweaters grouped by color in well-labeled corrugated
polypropylene archival boxes21

Early-nineteenth-century shoes in compact storage drawer23

Earlier storage version of similar period footwear24

Shoes stored in commercial shoeboxes25

Study storage drawer under acrylic with former placement
method, 199226

Former director Edward Maeder holds the pallet for a pair
of eighteenth-century shoes27

Shoes in a polypropylene box with size tags27

Fan storage at the Gabriella and Leo Benarek Textile
Conservation Laboratory29

Supported bris fan at the Gabriella and Leo Benarek
Textile Conservation Laboratory29

Drawer of parasols resting on Ethafoam bridges31

Hanging parasols in muslin bags31

Headdresses and footwear from Varekai designed by
Eiko Ishioka33

Custom hat box with mount34

Hats on shelves with glass sliding doors35

Easy-access hats on pegboard 35

Hat storage on enclosed pull-out shelves 36

Howard Greers sketch and annotations for Marion Davies
in the film Cardboard Lover , 192838

Sample page from ICOM International Committee for
Museums and Collection of Costumes Vocabulary of
Basic Terms for Cataloguing Costume 52

Makeshift photography studio in collection workroom56

Archival costume box labeled with photographs58

Large manila tags are attached with a tag gun64

Mans rental jacket organized by size and date65

Hanging tag sample66

A bar code being adhered to a mans shirt68

Refrigerated and humidity-controlled fur storage interior74

Refrigerated and humidity-controlled fur storage exterior75

Celluloid button (1940s coat) with chemical deterioration
in the form of crystals82

Examples of sausages made of ecru muslin over
polyester needle-punched batting84

John Galliano and author, not wearing gloves in order to
unhook closures with dexterity86

Rolling clothing rack with canvas covers

Detail of canvas tiebacks showing method of closure to be
a button89

Magnets holding Tyvek dust covers to the metal
storage container90

Kimono envelope for storing folded kimono91

Hanging huipiles92

Hanging storage 93

Example of a rolled 1920s dress94

Rolled handkerchiefs95

Flat storage (drawer) for 1920s dress96

Examples of polypropylene boxes for collar storage97

Former work space in a closed-off stairwell98

Easy access to the collection at the Fashion Resource
Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago99

1920s Jean Patou gown showing a water-damage mark
at thigh level100

Slide-out trays for specimens on type of crenellated
rolling rack105

Emergency supplies on rolling cart106

Webbing clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella)108

Furniture carpet beetle (Anthrenus flavipes)109

Pull-out tray storage for quilts suspended on stretched muslin124

Open storage124

Box for eighteenth-century gown with accessories129

Custom wooden shipping crate showing grid attachment
to securely space hangers130

Wooden shipping tray with posts to support mannequin wigs131

Early-twentieth-century cotton blouse showing lignin
stain from wooden hanger154

Foreword

In keeping with the Costume Society of Americas mission to stimulate scholarship in the rich and diverse field of costume and to disseminate information on dress and appearance, i n 1999 we partnered with Texas Tech University Press (TTUP) to establish the CSA publication series. Since then, the CSA Series has published outstanding work on various aspects of dress and culture. This book by Louise Coffey-Webb represents a major step in a direction that the CSA Series has hoped to take since TTUP brought forth Margaret Ordoezs Your Vintage Keepsake: A CSA Guide to Costume Storage and Display. Focusing on the care and management of garments found in a wide variety of collectionssome intended for preservation, others for active usethis work represents the sort of outreach that CSA has long considered a pillar of its mission.