America

America

The American Folk Art Museum in New York was established in 1961 and is dedicated to the artistic expressions of self-taught American artists, from the eighteenth century until the present day. The Museum sets up exhibitions, organises educative projects and runs a publication programme. The collection includes some 8,000 items (2016), among which textiles (quilts, samplers), paintings, three-dimensional objects, photographs, etc.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), in Massachusetts, USA, was founded in 1870 and moved to its present buildings in 1909. The MFA houses over 450,000 objects from all over the world and from thousands of years ago (ancient Egypt) to the present day. Most of its textile collection is housed in the David & Roberta Logie Department of Textile & Fashion Arts. In 2015 there were over 27,000 items in this department of the museum.

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York was founded in 1897 and currently houses more than two hundred thousand objects, among which some three thousand embroideries from all over the world and from all ages.

The Helen Louise Allen Textile collection includes about c. 13,000 textiles, garments and related items, including many embroidered pieces. It is now part of the School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison (USA). The collection was founded by Helen Louise Allen, a professor of textiles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was particularly known for weaving, and to a lesser extent embroidery.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a complex of buildings along Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. It was established in 1910 as part of the Museum of Science, History and Art in the park of the University of Southern California. The current museum houses some 150,000 objects, dating from prehistory to the present-day.

The National Museum of American History (Washington, DC) covers many aspects of the United States of America’s history. The museum was set up in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology and was given its current name in 1980. The mission of the Museum is the collection, conservation, study and interpretation of objects that reflect the experience of the American people.

The Oaxaca Textile Museum (Museo Textil de Oaxaca) is a museum and educational centre in Oaxaca, Mexico, dedicated to textiles, including beadwork and embroideries. The Museum opened in 2006 after the donation of six large, private collections, each consisting of several hundred pieces. The overall collection mainly consists of Mexican and Central American textiles.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada, houses a collection of six million objects that relate to natural history and world cultures. The Textiles and Fashions section holds some 50,000 items that reflect the rich heritage of textile history.

The Textile Museum of Canada (TMC) in Toronto is fully dedicated towards the exhibition, collection, conservation and study of textiles, as a medium for cultural understanding. It has a collection of some 13000 items that cover 2000 years of history, and originate from all over the world. The museum has been particularly active in the digitization of its collection and the development of an interactive environment. 

The Textile Museum (TM), Washington, DC (USA), was founded in 1925 in the home of the American philanthropist George Hewitt Myers (1875-1957), who was also a well-known carpet and textile collector. The home of Myers at 2320 S St. NW was commissioned in 1912 from the architect John Russell Pope, who also designed the Jefferson Memorial, the National Archives building and part of the National Gallery of Art.

The Wadsworth Atheneum first opened it doors in 1844 and is the oldest, USA art museum in continuous operation. The Museum’s costume and textiles collection holds approximately 2500 textile objects (including embroideries) and 5000 costumes and accessories. These range in date from the so-called Coptic period (Egypt) to contemporary Western items.

The Winterthur collection is kept in the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, in Winterthur, Delaware, USA. It was formerly known as the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum. Its Textiles and Needlework Gallery houses some 20,000 objects, including bed hangings, clothing, counterpanes, embroidered blankets, float-weave coverlets, Jacquard coverlets, quilts and samplers.