A blog that I wrote in October 2024 (to be downloaded here) described my study of  a recent donation to the TRC of 65 metal buttons. The buttons were collected without any context in the Netherlands. In this blog, I would like to elaborate on my findings of last year.

In the previous blog I suggested that, based on the shank type, these buttons could not be older than the 19th century. However, I was wrong. I now know that the oldest buttons are medieval (see TRC 2024.2625) and the group presents, in fact, a fair representation of buttons from every century since then until the 19th.

Metal button with a five-petalled flower and a key shank with a tiny hole. Part of the button has broken off. Medieval. TRC 2024.2625.

Key shank with tiny hole. Metal button TRC 2024.2625.

Clare Waight KellerWe are very happy to announce that international Fashion Designer and Creative Director, Clare Waight Keller, has very kindly agreed to become a member of the TRC Board.

Clare has worked as a designer for various fashion houses, including Calvin Klein (New York), Ralph Lauren, and Gucci. She was also artistic/creative director for Pringle of Scotland, Chloé, and Givenchy. More recently she has taken on the role of Global Creative Director of Uniqlo.

Clare has sent the following message about this amazing new development:

"I’m thrilled to join the Board of the TRC and to be part of helping Dr Gillian preserve the future of historic textiles. This knowledge is vital and an incredibly important part of our collective cultural history. What has been achieved so far has already contributed significantly to the prevention of the loss of ancient and unique textiles and clothing for future generations. In my role I hope to bring even more significant value and support to ensuring this expertise is not lost and its value is protected. I’m truly looking forward to contributing to the long term future of the TRC and highlighting its unique importance to our social history and society."

Clare’s knowledge of textiles and fashion will be a great boon for the current and future work and development of the TRC.

Besime Alikisioglu, Master's student at Leiden UniversityAs a Museum Studies master’s student from Turkey, at Leiden University, I was overwhelmed when I saw the large Turkish collection recently donated to the Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden (for two previous blogs on the subject, see 9 June and 2 July). I felt a mix of excitement, amazement, and emotion. I was impressed by the variety and the care taken with the items.

Born and raised in Istanbul, I grew up visiting Topkapı Palace and the Istanbul archaeological museums, a habit that continued during my years as an Art History student. The collection felt like drawing a historical chronology, each garment a fragment of Anatolia’s layered past, stitched with memories of Ottoman heritage, rural traditions, and shifting borders.

What struck me most was the incredible range of objects included, garments, jewellery, and çarık (leather shoes), not only from Turkey but also from surrounding regions such as Syria, Armenia, and even Central Asia, reflecting the deep interconnection of cultures across time and space. This was not just a donation of fabric and fibre; it was a gift of memory, craftsmanship, and identity, and it resonated deeply with my own academic and personal journey.

Last Thursday (26 June), as participants of the TRC’s 5-day Intensive Textile Course were making their own samples of velvet, we had the honour to welcome Dian Oerip, with her son, together with Nova Burdo-Marseline (Fig. 1).

They had been looking for the ‘Textile Museum’, which is listed by Google Maps as being on the Hogewoerd here in Leiden! What Google means is of course the TRC. They were initially disappointed that the TRC is not a museum, and that currently there are no exhibitions for the public to see (this is not the first time that visitors to the city have come looking for the Leiden Textile Museum!).

Fig. 1. Surprise visit of Indonesian weaver at the TRC Five-day Intensive Textile Course, June 2025

Recently some very interesting objects arrived at the TRC, kindly donated by Jasja Kotterman and family. As an intern at the TRC, I was asked to enter the objects into the TRC collection catalogue, tagging them and entering details, such as materials, country of origin, and techniques. Sometimes part of our work for the catalogue is also to identify what, exactly, the item is and how it is used. At times, such as in the case of these new objects, this involves looking deeper into their social and cultural significance and history under the TRC focus of ‘dress and identity’.

Fig. 1. Tibetan saddle rug (TRC 2025.0765a).

Boxes with part of the Turkish collection, brought in from Belgium on 8th June, ready to be catalogued and photographed from Monday 9th. Photograph by author.“Things happen at the TRC” is how someone recently described us, and I cannot disagree. Sometimes ‘things’ are expected, sometimes not at all, and an example of unexpected ‘things’ just occurred a few days ago.

Last week we got an email from a friend who referred to the Kavak Costume Collection, asking what we knew about it. The answer was simple: nothing at all. It turns out to be a private collection based in Belgium. When I checked their website I was surprised by the range of Anatolian/Turkish outfits and garments for men and women, as well as items from Armenia, Syria, Yemen, Uzbekistan, India, etc.

The collection includes individual garments, outfits, jewellery, footwear such as hand knitted socks and shoes, as well as hair ornaments. The objects range in date from the late 19th century to about 2000 and show how materials, colours, textures, as well as tastes have changed and developed over the decades.

Fig. 1. Serbian woman's waistcoat from the late 19th or early 20th century (TRC 2010.0065).At the end of March, I wrote a blog about a collection of garments from former Yugoslavia, donated by Annelies van Eijk-Kuiper and collected by her sister Jet Kuiper in the 1970s. In that blog, I explained my initial findings trying to determine the provenance of the items.

Cultural institutions, such as the TRC, often face the expectation to be experts in everything we own. One of our strengths, however, is the diversity of our collection, and Dr. Vogelsang-Eastwood has taught us that the term "expert" implies that we know everything about a topic, which is of course as unrealistic as it sounds. We certainly don't know everything, far from it!

Lots of ideas have been floating around in the TRC workroom over the last few months about how to make available more research and analysis data and materials at the TRC (as briefly discussed in an earlier blog).

One of the ideas that is being enthusiastically discussed is the making of a fibre sample collection, to help with the identification of the many types of textiles in the TRC Collection (currently at about 50,000 items from around the world). But what should we include, how to organise it and indeed, how to finance it?

Students at the TRC sorting and studying fibres for the sample collection. Photograph by author.