COLLECTIONS OUTSIDE THE UK
Small selection of dress/textiles/furnishings collections outside the UK.
NOTE
Collections with online databases are listed both here, and under
FURTHER RESOURCES: DATABASES/GATEWAYS.
Collections included in this list:
CANADA
Royal Ontario Museum
Textile Museum of Canada
GERMANY
Deutsches Ledermuseum Schuhmuseum
(German Leather Museum & German Shoe Museum)
RUSSIA
State Hermitage Museum
SWITZERLAND
Abegg-Stiftung
USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Museum of Fine Arts
Canada
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6
Canada
Tel: 416.586.8000
Textiles & Costume: http://www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/wculture/textiles.php
The Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume is a spacious new gallery that presents the Museum’s rich and diverse collection of 50,000 textile and costume artifacts through a rotating display of about 200 pieces dating from the 1st century BC to the 21st century AD.
Textile Museum of Canada
55 Centre Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2H5
Tel: (416) 599-5321
Email: info@textilemuseum.ca
The Textile Museum of Canada's permanent collection contains more than 12,000 artifacts and spans almost 2,000 years and 200 world regions.
An online searchable collections database is available on the Home Page of the website.
Germany
Deutsches Ledermuseum Schuhmuseum
(German Leather Museum & German Shoe Museum)
DLM Ledermuseum Offenbach, Frankfurter Str. 86, 63067 Offenbach
Tel: (069) 829798-0
Email: info@ledermuseum.de
English version:
http://www.ledermuseum.de/DLM/frames_e/hfr_in_e.html
This website is available in both German and English versions. The museum collects examples of leatherwork and shoes from across the world. The collection includes examples of footwear of spanning four millennia, and examples of crafts and design from the Middle Ages to the present, with the focus on leather.
Russia
State Hermitage Museum
Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya, 34
190000 St Petersburg, Russia
Recorded Information:
Tel: (812) 710-96-25
Tel: (812) 710-90-79
Email: visitorservices@hermitage.ru
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org
The Western European Applied Art collections include jewellery, furniture, and textiles. There is a small collection of Renaissance jewellery, and an extensive collection of 18th century jewellery, from various Western European countries. The collection of Western European furniture consists of some 1,000 objects made in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England, dating from the 15th to the 19th century. The Hermitage collection of some 5,000 textiles reflects the development of Western European weaving from the medieval period to the early 20th century. The earliest items are fragments of Italian and Spanish patterned silks and linens from Perugia dating from the 13th to 14th centuries. Remarkable 15th and 16th century ecclesiastical vestments from various Italian cities demonstrate the heights reached by silk weaving during the Renaissance. The collection of Western European Tapestries ranges in date from the 15th to the 19th century.
An online searchable collections database is available:
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/fcgi-bin/db2www/browse.mac/category?selLang=English
Switzerland
Abegg-Stiftung
Werner Abegg-Strasse 67, CH-3132, Riggisberg
Tel: 0041 (0)31 808 12 01
Email: info@abegg-stiftung.ch
In December 1961, Werner and Margaret Abegg, private collectors of long standing, established the Abegg Foundation. The Abegg Foundation collects and undertakes research into historic textiles from the early days to around 1800, primarily focusing on textiles from the European and Mediterranean areas. The textiles on display are placed within their historic and artistic context.
USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, 10028-0198
Tel: 212-535-7710
Costume Institute:
The Costume Institute houses a collection of more than thirty thousand costumes and accessories spanning five continents and as many centuries.
See: http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp?dep=8
Antonio Ratti Textile Center:
Previously dispersed among the various curatorial departments according to the cultures that produced them, most of the Museum's textile holdings are now gathered in the Antonio Ratti Textile Center. The textile collection includes examples from all of the world's civilizations and from almost every period in history. Among the 35,000 pieces are archaeological fragments, tapestries, carpets, quilts, ecclesiastical vestments, silks, embroideries, laces, velvets, and more, dating from 3000 BC to the present.
See: http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/antonio_ratti_textile_center
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts:
The 50,000 objects in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in the major Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The department's holdings cover the following areas: sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles.
See: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/introduction.asp?dep=12
Arms and Armor:
The collection of armor, edged weapons, and firearms in consists of approximately 15,000 objects that range in date from about 400 BC to the nineteenth century. Western Europe and Japan are the regions most strongly represented. The focus is on outstanding craftsmanship and decoration—that is, items often intended solely for display rather than for actual use, from minute ornamental sword fittings to full suits of armor.
See: http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/introduction.asp?dep=4
Online searchable collections database (all departments):
http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Seventh Avenue at 27 Street, New York City, 10001-5992
http://www.fitnyc.edu/aspx/Content.aspx?menu=PresentGlobal:Museum:MuseumCollections
The permanent collection of the Museum at FIT currently includes more than 50,000 garments and accessories, dating from the eighteenth century to the present, with particular strength in modern and contemporary women’s fashion. The accessories collection consists of approximately 15,000 objects that date from the mid-17th century to the present day. Among the 15,000 accessories there are more than 4,000 pairs of shoes. There are also 30,000 textiles, dating from the fifth century to the present.
The MFIT Online Collection presents images and descriptions of 350 of the objects in the museum’s holdings of historic and contemporary fashion and textiles:
http://fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu/code/eMuseum.asp?lang=EN
Museum of Fine Arts
Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Tel: 617-267-9300
Textile and Fashion Arts: http://www.mfa.org/collections/index.asp?key=31
Art of Europe: http://www.mfa.org/collections/index.asp?key=23
The MFA's Textile and Fashion Arts Collection originated when Boston was the center of the US textile industry. Today the Museum owns more than 27,000 objects ranging from American needlepoint to European tapestries, Middle Eastern rugs, African kente cloths, and haute couture fashions. Art of Europe Collection ranges in date from the seventh century to the late twentieth century and includes paintings, sculpture, and works of decorative art.
The safety and accessibility of the Textile and Fashion Arts collection is being improved with the design and construction of custom storage mounts for costume accessories:
http://www.mfa.org//master/sub.asp?key=43&subkey=5130
