Deandra de Looff, een student aan de faculteit der Archeologie van de Universiteit Leiden, is aan het onderzoeken hoe Shirlastain (een commercieel chemisch produkt waarvan de exacte samenstelling geheim wordt gehouden) gebruikt kan worden in archeologisch onderzoek, en met name of en hoe het gebruik van Shirlastain een snelle en betrouwbare methode kan zijn om verschillende vezeltypen, zoals wol, vlas en hennep, te identificeren. Het onderzoek bestaat uit het maken van replica’s van historisch textiel, het experimenteren met de daaraan verbonden methoden van spinnen, weven en verven, en het daarna bepalen, met behulp van een microscoop, of Shirlastain nog steeds verschillende vezelsoorten kan identificeren nadat deze zijn bewerkt. Het onderzoek is een onderdeel van een stage bij het 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.