Cataloging an Adirondack Clothing Collection: The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Case Study
Roberta Wall
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
About this Item
- Title
- Cataloging an Adirondack Clothing Collection: The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Case Study
- Contributor Names
-
Wall, Roberta (Author)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
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Montegut, Denyse (Thesis advisor)
- Date
- 2021
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2021.
- Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.
- Advisors: Montegut, Denyse.
- Abstract
- Small museums and historical homes face myriad challenges in maintaining their historic collections. Limited resources including funding, staff and proper training concerning object handling and collection care can result in neglected museum collections. Due to their fragile nature and specific storage and conservation needs, costumes are often the most vulnerable objects in house museums and smaller institutions that lack the resources to prioritize collection management. The historically important, rare and beautiful costumes in the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society's collection are not used for research or exhibitions. Most of the women's costume collection has been collecting dust for nearly forty years in the unfinished attic of the House of History, the Victorian mansion which houses the museum and Society. This paper will document the development of proper collection management procedures including assessment, deaccessioning and rehousing while balancing the main obstacles facing smaller museums today such as lack of funds, time, training and staff. The guidelines developed and presented in this paper are intended for use by similar small institutions and museums in caring for their own costume collections. Like most smaller museums, the majority of the staff at the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society are part-time volunteers. Thus, this paper appeals to a wide audience interested in costume care, from general to academic and hobbyist to professional. While the goal of this collection management project is to ensure the longevity of the museum's costume collection, the author also hopes to empower the museum staff to properly care for their costume collection for the enjoyment of generations to come.
- Subject
- Historical museums
- Museums--Collection management
- Costume--Conservation and restoration
- Clothing and dress
- Small museums
- Franklin County Historical and Museum Society (N.Y.)
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_000852
- pqdiss: 28322191
- ISBN: 9798708717962
- Language
- eng
- Publisher
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Citation
Wall, R. (2021). Cataloging an Adirondack Clothing Collection: The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Case Study [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3841
Wall, Roberta. Cataloging an Adirondack Clothing Collection: The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Case Study. 2021. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3841
Wall, Roberta. "Cataloging an Adirondack Clothing Collection: The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Case Study." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2021. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3841