The TRC has embarked on a new large-scale and very exciting project. Following the publication in February 2016 of the 688-pageEncyclopedia of Embroidery from the Arab World, a new contract was signed with Bloomsbury Academic in London to publish an equally beautifully illustrated and highly informative successor volume, namely an encyclopaedia of embroidery from Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau (Iran and Afghanistan) and the Indian Subcontinent. The volume is edited by Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director of the TRC, and Willem Vogelsang, dept. director of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden. Use is made of the extensive TRC collection of textiles and garments from that part of the world. In December 2018 the manuscript of the Encyclopaedia was submitted to Bloomsbury and the book is due to be published by the end of 2020.

Counted thread embroidery from among the Hazaras, Afghanistan. TRC 2008.0236.Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indian subcontinent have throughout history been in close contact. For millennia, people from Central Asia have migrated from the north towards what is now known as Iran and Afghanistan, and hence they often moved either west, towards modern Turkey, or east towards the Indian subcontinent. Others, be they nomads, pilgrims, tradesmen or soldiers, moved directly from east to west and from west to east. This is the story of the Indo-Iranians, the Scythians, the Turks, the Uzbeks, Sufi saints and itinerant craftsmen. In addition, all of this part of the world has in recent centuries felt the pressures from further away, from Russia, Europe, China.

Is Shirlastain a reliable tool in the identification of archaeological textiles?

Deandra de Looff, a student of the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University, is researching how Shirlastain can be used in archaeological research. The research is carried out in order to ascertain whether the use of Shirlastain (a chemical substance, commercially available, the exact composition of which is kept a secret) could possibly be a fast, basic and reliable identification tool for different types of fibers, such as wool, flax and hemp. The research consists of making replicas of historical textiles, using ancient spinning, weaving and dyeing techniques, and subsequently using a microscope to study whether Shirlastain can still identify the different fibers after their processing. The research is part of an internship at the TRC.

In 2007 the TRC was involved in hosting a conference at Leiden University and the National Museum of Ethnology on the forms and uses of prayer beads from various religious and spiritual backgrounds. There was also a small exhibition on the same theme based on items out of the TRC’s extensive collection of prayer beads. Because of the TRC moving to its current premises, etc., the Prayer Bead Project was put on hold with the expectation that we would return to it. This has now happened and a book on this theme is nearly finished. It looks at the history of prayer beads, as well as the main Buddhist, Christian, Eco-Spiritual, Hindu, Islamic, Neo-Pagan and Sikh forms, to name just a few. Many of the prayer beads in the TRC collection are used to illustrate the book (photographs by Joost Kolkman). It is the intention that the book will be published by 2017 and that there will be an accompanying exhibition at the TRC.

The textiles and garments from the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamun, who died ca. 1323 BC, have to date received scant attention, although they constitute the largest group of items from the tomb, and they certainly will provide a wealth of information about the state-of-the-craft of Egyptian and Middle Eastern textile production in the second half of the second millennium BC. The TRC is therefore very honoured, and thrilled, that the Egyptian museum authorities have granted Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director TRC, and her team access to the conservation laboratories and other facilities of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt, in order to carry out, always under the supervision of GEM restoration specialists, a full examination of the Tutankhamun textiles, clothing and related items housed at GEM. 

This means that Dr Vogelsang, the TRC, as well as Prof. Olaf Kaper, Dept. of Egyptology, Leiden University, and a growing group of Egyptian scholars and students and many other international experts, can further develop a large-scale and in depth study of all of the textiles and garments that were discovered by the British archaeologist, Howard Carter, when he opened the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh in 1922. The Egyptian authorities have asked for assistance in preparing a detailed catalogue of the textiles; to develop a strategic plan for displaying the items; and helping to prepare educational items (including books and replicas) to better inform the public about the textiles and garments and how they were worn by the young pharaoh.

See also the ancient Egyptian sewing bee, organised for April 2016

Catalogue of the Crowfoot Collection of spinning and weaving equipment in the TRC

Thanks to the generosity of John Crowfoot, grandson of Grace Crowfoot, the TRC has recently been given a most unusual gift. This includes items of spinning and weaving equipment collected by Grace Mary Crowfoot, a Grande Dame of textile archaeology. She collected the items btween 1909 and 1937 when she and her husband, John Crowfoot, worked and lived in the Middle East. The objects include Sudanese, Palestinian, Syrian, as well as European items, notably a collection of spindles and whorls, a bedouin spinning stone, sword beaters, weaving shuttles, pin beaters, and samples of Sudanese cotton. All are neatly labelled with information as to where the objects come from.

In addition to these items, the TRC was already in possession of a number of letters written by Grace Crowfoot to Mr. Robert Charleston in the 1940s.  Mr Charleston later worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The letters discuss various aspects of textile history and work in progress. For the Charleston letters, the TRC is currently engaged in a separate programme.

Researcher: Ms. Riet van de Velde

The TRC has an extensive collection of Dutch lace caps, and also examples from other parts of Europe. They date from the mid-19th century to the present day. These represent an important garment worn by girls and married women throughout Western Europe. These caps were used to give information about the marital, social, regional, religious and indeed economic status of the wearer.

Lace cap with golden jewellery over a silver casque. Northeast Netherlands. TRC collection.The TRC collection is currently being catalogued and photographed so that a detailed description of their construction, appearance and use can be presented to the general public. In addition, Dutch lace caps are often described according to their regional origins – Rijnland, Volendam, Zeeland, and so forth, but seldom with reference to the use of lace caps in urban and regional forms from other parts of Europe.

The aim is to have the TRC's collection digitally available so that it can be used by researchers elsewhere to identify and discuss similarities and differences. This project will be of particular interest to social historians.

Project duration: Photographs and data will be made digitally available on the TRC website in 2015.

Researcher: Koen Berghuijs

During and following the successful exhibition on hand spinning ('The Spinning World') exhibition held at the TRC in 2011, Koen Berghuijs (curator of the exhibition and archaeologist) has been collecting postcards with representations of men and women hand and wheel spinning. These images come from many different cultures and periods from around the world.

Most of the postcards date from the beginning of the 20th century and provide an insight into pre-industrial spinning technology and forms of equipment and place these in their social, economic and cultural contexts. There is also, however, a hint of romanticism in that some of the 'spinners' depicted were probably models and may never have done any spinning at all. Similarly, there is an element of depicting the 'noble savage/happy peasant' carrying out an 'exotic' task, whether in Ireland or Africa.

Project duration: The aim of the project is to have all the relevant postcards annotated and then published in either actual or digital form. The Centre for Textile Research, Copenhagen University, has expressed interest in publishing the volume as part of their textile series. It is anticipated that the basic manuscript will be ready by the end of 2015.

Researchers: Shelley Anderson and Alice Jaspers.

Robert J. Charleston (1916-1994) was the keeper of Ceramics and Glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He helped to build up the collection that is considered to be one of the most comprehensive in Europe. He published extensively and, as one of the most eminent experts on glass, served as a consultant to museums and collections around the world. A keen amateur historian and archaeologist, Charleston also had another, less well-known passion, for textiles.

This project will scan, transcribe and translate, for the first time, the TRC's unique collection of Charleston's early correspondence regarding his research into Roman textiles. This collection includes letters to and from pioneering archaeologists such as Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Grace M. Crowfoot, and R. Pfister, among others. The letters, written during and shortly after the Second World War, reveal a remarkable pan-European scholarly cooperation among British, German, French, Italian and Hungarian researchers. Mr. Charleston gave the letters to Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, director of the TRC, in May 1985 and they were given to the TRC some years ago.

Project duration: The project is divided into three stages: (a) transcribing and annotating the letters between Charleston and Grace Crowfoot, (b) transcribing and annotating the letters with other experts, (c) preparing the annotated letters for digital publication.