by Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director TRC, 22 April 2024
Lace cap made from a very fine net (tulle) with applied embroidered and appliqué motifs of various types and sizes. The Netherlands, 19th century (TRC 2024.1174).It has been a funny old week at the TRC! Lots of things happening, even more to think about and some unexpected donations that have led to totally different thoughts!
We have had various meetings over the last few weeks about the future of the TRC, its role in Leiden, about textile studies in general, about the nature of the TRC Collection, how we can improve the TRC website, especially the database, not to mention the question whether we really need to regularly set up small exhibitions.
It has been a confusing, frustrating and at times enlightening time, with the promise of more discussions to come, but in the long run, the TRC will be the stronger for this period of ‘soul searching’.
I would like to thank everyone who has been helping, thinking with us and adding useful and constructive comments.
Lace cap made from chemical lace decorated with stylised flowers and foliage. The Netherlands, 19th century (TRC 2024.1176).
We also had a group visit by MA students from Asian Studies, Leiden University, who are working on a project about collections (Thursday 18th April). There were 15 of them, some interested in textiles, others not. But by the end of the visit, you could tell they were all looking at the world (literally) in a different way.
That is the power of textiles, and the fascinating theme of dress and identity! Everone is involved in dress, that silent language that everyone speaks, but we all have to deal with those pesky dialects!
All those messages that you send throughout the day by what you wear, how you present your body and all those little hand movements, etc. And then all those messages sent by those around you that you have to interpret. And sometimes we go hopelessly wrong! Fascinating, while being so ‘ordinary’ at the same time. Several of the students are interested in having intern positions at the TRC and/or helping out as volunteers.
Lace cap made from a fine, open weave cloth with individual motifs of paired lines and dots darned into the ground. Rijnland (?), the Netherlands, 19th century (TRC 2024.1177).Lots and lots to think about. And while we were talking with the students about how to make a collection, and about the role of a collection within both the museum and the educational world, an elderly, Leiden lady came in with a flattish cardboard box, with seven lace caps. I assure you this was not a pre-arranged visit!
Of course we were curious, and we had a quick look. Two of the caps she brought appear to date to the early 19th century, with beautiful handmade bobbin lace bands (TRC 2024.1178 and TRC 2024.1179). Another cap, it seems, may be a regional Rijnland form from near the city of Leiden (TRC 2024.1177).
There are also examples made from chemical lace (TRC 2024.1176). Apparently they belonged to her mother and they are now tidying up the family home. And oh yes, there were more boxes with old textiles and garments if we were interested…...
Lace cap made from linen with a brim section made of bobbin lace decorated with stylised flowers and foliage. The Netherlands, early 19th century (TRC 2024.1178).We have various types of lace caps, both urban and regional forms in the TRC Collection, but most are early 20h century in date. The chance to see the differences in techniques, materials, motifs and indeed the cut and shape of the caps is something we are looking forward to. More about these pieces in a future blog when we have had time to do some research, but they do feel special!
Shortly afterwards and just as these same students were (slowly) leaving another lady, this time Karen Wiessing from Utrecht, came with two plastic bags, with garments her grandmother had worn in the late 19th century in Indonesia (her husband was a teacher there). The garments included an Indonesian blouse (kebaya; TRC 2024.1192), as well as a Western style blouse made for a more tropical climate!
There were also four items in the bag that I found intriguing. In the 1970’s a shop opposite to where she lived shut down, and she bought four different types of bras from the 1950’s, including a bullet bra. This is the type of sharply pointed bra that was made famous by the American singer and actress, Marilyn Monroe.
Bra with a small cup size made from a white satin material with foam and elastic fittings. 1940s-1950s (TRC 2024.1182).But perhaps what was a greater surprise is that some years ago we published a blog about a jacket (together with waistcoat and trousers) we had been given by friends in Amstelveen, not far from Leiden (TRC 2021.3360a). The jacket included the label of a fashion house, Maison Cumberland / F. Disslin, at 3, Rue Scribe and 66, Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III, in Paris, and the name of buyer, C.A. Wiessing.
This man, known as Kees, turned out to be an uncle of the Karen Wiessing who had just walked in. Not only that, but the family had found a letter from the French clothing company dated to 1936, in which the jacket is mentioned! Karen had read about this jacket in the TRC blog.
Label attached to long, black jacket with a deep split in the back. It is fastened at the waist with a single black button. France, 1935 (TRC 2021.3360a).It is a small world, and it is great to be able to give more social and economic contexts to the jacket, and indeed to soon see (as Karen Wiessing promised) a picture of Kees Wiessing taken during his visit to Paris in 1935! It is also one of the reasons she approached the TRC about these garments, to bring family items back together again.
Both donors who came to the TRC that day commented on how great it was to see so many young people obviously interested in textiles and dress, chatting about it, and indeed being inspired. And indeed how the atmosphere at the TRC was buzzing. Citizen culture and the power of textiles are alive and well and may I say it, flourishing at the TRC.
