RESEARCH CENTRES AND PROJECTS
SECTION 1: Research centres and projects primarily concerned with dress/textiles
SECTION 2: Research centres and projects of interest for the study of dress/textiles
NOTE
Research centres and research projects with online databases are listed here as well as under FURTHER RESOURCES: ONLINE DATABASES AND GATEWAYS.
SECTION 1
Research centres and projects primarily concerned with dress/textiles
ABEGG-STIFTUNG
SWITZERLAND
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 regarding pieces from the European and Mediterranean areas. The textile fabrics are not shown in isolation but placed in their historic and artistic context.
AHRC RESEARCH CENTRE FOR TEXTILE CONSERVATION AND TEXTILE STUDIES
TEXTILE CONSERVATION CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
UK
http://www.textileconservationcentre.soton.ac.uk/research/index.html
This research centre was established in July 2002, as a five-year project, thanks to a major award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Its aim was to improve the care and interpretation of textiles through a programme of multi-disciplinary research and dissemination involving leading academics, conservators, museum professionals and the general public.
BEJEWELLED: THE MALE BODY AND ADORNMENT IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN
BRITISH MUSEUM
UK
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/research_projects/bejewelled.aspx
A project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This project explores how jewellery marked and promoted gender definitions and distinctions in the Early Modern period. It addresses this issue by investigating the Early Modern European jewellery collection within the department of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum. In doing so, it aims to provide a new context for these holdings.
CENTRE INTERNATIONAL D’ETUDE DES TEXTILES ANCIENS (CIETA)
FRANCE
The CIETA is an international association founded in 1954 in order to coordinate work methods used by specialists in ancient textiles. Its base is in Lyon, France. Two official languages are used: French and English.
CLOTHING, CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
UK
http://www.shakespeare2.bham.ac.uk/clothing/home.html
The project will reconstruct the everyday life of clothes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England. It will address key areas of the cultural consumption of clothing: clothing and religious identity, the moral consumption of clothing, the everyday life of clothes, clothing and social status, and dress and gender identity. The project is based in the Department of Modern History and at the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham.
COSTUME AND TEXTILE STUDY CENTRE
NORFOLK MUSEUMS AND ARCHAEOLOGY SERVICE
UK
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=210.10x1
The Costume and Textile Study Centre collects, preserves, and provides access to its collection of British clothing, accessories, needlecrafts and home furnishings dating from the 18th century to the present day. For the first time the entire collection of over 20,000 items is accessible to the public.
An online searchable database of the collections is available:
http://museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?document=300
COURTAULD HISTORY OF DRESS ASSOCIATION (CHODA)
COURTAULD INSTITUTE
UK
http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/research/sections/historyofdress.shtml
The study of the history of dress at the Courtauld is aided by the work of CHODA (Courtauld History of Dress Association), which was formed in 1990 to bring past students together, and generally to support and promote the subject. CHODA organizes seminars and study visits during the academic year, and an annual conference which attracts international speakers.
DELIBERATELY CONCEALED GARMENTS PROJECT
TEXTILE CONSERVATION CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, UK
http://www.concealedgarments.org/
The term 'deliberately concealed garment' is used to describe instances where items of clothing have been deliberately hidden or buried in a building. The evidence for this practice dates back to the Middle Ages. The aims of this project are to locate, document, research and present instances of deliberately concealed garments in buildings.
An online searchable database of concealed garment finds is available:
http://search.concealedgarments.org/simpleSearch.jsp;jsessionid=1hhw4i7w3kcq8
KNITTING TOGETHER: THE HERITAGE OF THE EAST MIDLANDS KNITTING INDUSTRY
UK
http://www.knittingtogether.co.uk/
The aim of the website is to present the history of the knitting industry in the East Midlands since the 1500s, and to provide a preview of a virtual museum of knitting. The site traces the development of the industry, from the invention of the knitting frame by William Lee in 1589, through to the present day. Themes such as costume, technology, and companies can be explored. The virtual museum contains interactive exhibitions and images from various collections. The website as a whole is searchable by keyword, category, and document type. There is also an online catalogue of the virtual museum.
Search the site:
http://www.knittingtogether.co.uk/search.asp?cat=659
Online catalogue of virtual museum:
http://www.knittingtogether.co.uk/collectionsearch.asp?cat=672
NORWICH TEXTILES PROJECT
UK
http://www.norwichtextiles.org.uk/
This website has been created as part of the Norwich Textiles project, a collaboration of Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service and Norwich School of Art and Design. The project examines the development of textiles in the city of Norwich from medieval times to the present day. The website provides a detailed history of textiles in Norwich, together with links to an extensive range of further resources relating to this subject.
PASOLD RESEARCH FUND
UK
The Pasold Research Fund promotes and supports research on textile history, broadly defined. It does this by giving financial assistance to researchers, by organising and supporting conferences and workshops and by publishing a monograph series and a major journal, Textile History.
POCKETS OF HISTORY
WINCHESTER SCHOOL OF ART / VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
UK
http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/pocketsofhistory.html
The Pockets of History collection contains new digital photographs of over three hundred tie-on pockets of the 1700 and 1800s, with overviews and close-ups of details. The photographs come from the first survey ever made of women's tie-on pockets surviving in Britain. The survey and the website are not intended to be comprehensive, but to provide sufficient examples of tie-on pockets to establish an understanding of their construction, materials and decoration and to facilitate comparisons between pockets normally geographically dispersed in different collections.
SCOTTISH TEXTILE HERITAGE ONLINE
UK
http://scottishtextileheritage.org.uk/
This pilot project aims to provide a one-stop guide to Scottish textile collections. The website contains a searchable database of approximately 3000 descriptions of textile-related museum and archive collections and objects, together with a gallery of some 400 images. An online resources section contains essays on a wide range of textile-related subjects, and maps show the distribution of textile collections across Scotland.
Online searchable database:
http://scottishtextileheritage.org.uk/DServeA/index.asp
SPINNING THE WEB: THE STORY OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY
UK
http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/
Spinning the Web brings together for the first time a collection of some 20,000 items from the libraries, museums and archives of North West England which tell the story of the Lancashire Cotton Industry. The collection can be explored via the online database, or by selecting one of a number of research themes.
Online searchable database:
http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/advanced.php
TEXTILE CONSERVATION CENTRE
UK
http://www.textileconservationcentre.soton.ac.uk/
The Textile Conservation Centre is the leading international organisation in the field of textile conservation research, education and practice. Its work has now broadened to respond to the dynamic social and intellectual challenges of the heritage sector, both nationally and internationally.
NOTE - The University of Southampton has decided to close the TCC on 31st October 2009.
For further details please see this statement:
http://www.textileconservationcentre.soton.ac.uk/newsandevents/02_23_09_closureconfirmation.shtml
TEXTILES COLLECTION
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS AT FARNHAM
UK
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/ST.html
The collection of world textiles at the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham has supported the practical study of woven and printed textiles for over forty years. The Textiles Collection aims to provide real examples that demonstrate the application of a broad range of textile techniques and processes - encouraging students to handle textiles, to respond to their qualities, and to question and analyse them as a primary source. The collection consists of over 3,000 artefacts ranging in date from Coptic textiles c. 800-1000 AD through to Scandinavian furnishing fabrics c.1950-1990. The collection can be searched and browsed via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) website.
TUDOR EFFIGIES
UK
http://www.tudoreffigies.co.uk/
A pilot project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project aims to link the dead, their dress and their documents to create a visual research resource for 16th century costume. An online searchable database containing images is available, and can be searched by keyword, date, and gender.
Online searchable database:
http://www.tudoreffigies.co.uk/search/default.asp
SECTION 2
Research centres and projects of interest for the study of dress/textiles
AHRB CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RENAISSANCE ELITES AND COURT CULTURES
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
UK
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/projects/ahrbcentre
The University of Warwick’s expertise in the Renaissance led to the establishment of the AHRB Centre for the Study of Renaissance Elites and Court Cultures within the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance in 2000.
NOTE - The Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) is now the Arts and Humanties Research Council (AHRC).
AHRC CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF THE DOMESTIC INTERIOR
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
UK
A project funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council. The goal of the Centre is to develop new histories of the home, its contents and its representation. It pursues research into the changing appearance and layout of the rooms in a range of buildings, from tenements to palaces, the objects that furnished those rooms, the ways rooms and objects were depicted, the manner in which people used them, and how they thought about them. At the heart of the research undertaken by the Centre is a broad-ranging analytical survey of the ways in which Western interiors are represented. Part of this work involves the compilation of a database of visual and textual sources charting representations of the domestic interior in the West from 1400 to the present.
Online searchable database - The Domestic Interiors Database (DIDB):
http://csdi.rca.ac.uk/didb/
ANATOMY OF GENDER
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGIES
USA
http://anatomyofgender.northwestern.edu/about.html
The website was erected by the Northwestern University Library and Academic Technologies to accompany the exhibition The Anatomy of Gender: Arts of the Body in Early Modern Europeat the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, January 3-March 12, 2006.It explores the relationship between sex, gender and images of dissection in Renaissance and early modern European anatomical texts, c.1540-1800. Anatomical illustrations of this period reveal complex attitudes toward visualizing sexual difference.
CENTRE FOR EARLY MODERN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
UK
http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/cems/
Established in 2007, the Centre for Early Modern Studies capitalises on the concentration of scholars of the Early Modern era based at the University of Exeter. Formally located within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, it provides a focus for intellectual exchange and interdisciplinary activity between academic staff and postgraduate students of the Departments of History, English, Drama, and Modern Languages. Research at the Centre encompasses all aspects of the period between c.1500 and c.1800 and expertise spreads from Britain and Europe to the Middle East and North America. Key areas of activity include: religious culture; social and economic relations; political and intellectual thought; gender and sexuality; space, landscape and national identities; the history of the book; theatre and performance.
CENTRE FOR EARLY MODERN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
UK
The Sussex Centre for Early Modern Studies is an interdisciplinary institution. Consisting of academics from the Departments of English, History and Art History, and a postgraduate community drawn from across the country and the world, the Centre covers most aspects of early modern study.
CENTRE FOR EIGHTEENTH CENTURY STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
UK
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/scecs/index.html
In 2008 the Southampton Centre for Eighteenth Century studies (SCECS) was launched at Chawton House Library. SCECS brings together specialists from a broad range of disciplines (English, History, Music, and Philosophy) and draws on a rich research culture at Southampton in eighteenth-century studies.
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
UK
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cmrc/
The Centre reflects the research interests and aspirations of more than twenty members of staff across various disciplines: Archaeology; English; History; and Music. Research covers the intellectual history, literature, politics, music, material culture, buildings and landscape of the period between late antiquity and 1700. Staff are committed to developing interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching.
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM
UK
The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies is an interdisciplinary network of scholars working in a wide variety of fields. Its membership encompasses all departments with medieval and renaissance staff. Above all, the Centre provides a network for contact and the exchange of information.
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
UK
Edinburgh University is home to a large community of medieval and renaissance specialists, with over 70 members of staff actively pursuing research in this field. Subjects taught include history, history of art and architecture, languages and literatures, music, divinity, archaeology, law, Celtic and Scottish studies and Islamic studies. Research interests of the Centre are global, including European, Islamic, American and Asian studies.
CENTRE FOR REFORMATION AND EARLY MODERN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
UK
The Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies (CREMS) is a centre of excellence at the University of Birmingham for research into the history of the Reformation and early modern Britain and Europe. Since the creation of the centre in 2004 CREMS has hosted conferences and has developed a thriving seminar culture that reflects the diverse research interests of staff and students. The Centre has extensive resources for students and academics interested in the Early Modern period.
CENTRE FOR RENAISSANCE AND EARLY MODERN STUDIES
QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
UK
http://www.qmul.ac.uk/renaissance/
The Centre has one of the greatest concentrations of expertise in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies in the UK. The Centre was launched with the first seminar in the Renaissance Witnessed Series. This series will review what the Renaissance now means to scholars across the disciplines and will be commented on by leading experts from within the college and the international scholarly community. The seminars bring new approaches to the Renaissance, to scholars and students, the museums, galleries, libraries and archives sector, and the broader public.
CENTRE FOR SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM
UK
The Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies is one of the oldest-established Research Centres in Durham University. Founded in 1985, it has for more than twenty years provided a focus for interdisciplinary contact, collaboration, and exchange of ideas within the University, while maintaining a high profile internationally through its conferences, publications, postgraduate courses, and other activities. It is home to the Early Modern Group.
CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF THE RENAISSANCE
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
UK
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/
The Centre for the Study of the Renaissance is a large and broadly-based research community. The interdisciplinary study of the Renaissance has been a strong feature of the University of Warwick since the appointment of John Hale as the founding professor of History in 1964. The Centre for the Study of the Renaissance currently has over thirty members drawn from the departments of Classics, English & Comparative Literature, French Studies, Italian, History, and History of Art.
CONSUMERISM AND THE HISTORY OF CONSUMPTION RESEARCH GROUP
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
UK
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/niassh/chocs/index.htm
This interdisciplinary research group has grown out of a common interest in the history of consumption and consumer studies among researchers in the fields of Accounting History, History and Computing Methods at the University of Newcastle. Initially, a group has come together whose interests lie primarily in using archival documents such as account books to explore the history of British consumption before the modern period (c.1800), although the group is interested in expanding its chronological and geographical focus.
COURT OF CHIVALRY 1634-1640
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
UK
http://www.court-of-chivalry.bham.ac.uk/
A project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council with the aim of researching and editing the records of the Court of Chivalry, 1634-1640. An online database makes available details of 738 cases, which cover a wide range of subjects relating to the social, political and cultural history of the period.
Online searchable database:
http://arts-itsee.bham.ac.uk/AnaServer?chivalry+0+start.anv
EARLY DRAMA, ART, AND MUSIC PROJECT
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
USA
http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/resources/edam/index.html
The Early Drama, Art, and Music (EDAM) project was established by the Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, in 1976 to coordinate and sponsor research in early drama and to encourage interdisciplinary study that is directly or indirectly relevant to the theatre. While a principal focus was retained on iconography (but not exclusively) as it relates to drama and the theatre, attention was also given to other aspects of dramatic production and to music.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CENTRE
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
UK
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ecc/
The Warwick Eighteenth Century Centre is an interdisciplinary research centre based in the Department of History of the University of Warwick. The Centre runs major research projects and provides a forum for academic staff and postgraduate students in the Humanities, including members of the departments of History, English, French and History of Art.
GLOBAL HISTORY AND CULTURE CENTRE
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
UK
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc
The Global History and Culture Centre (GHCC) is part of the Department of History and the Faculty of Humanities. The Centre promotes a global approach to historical questions and research and aims to develop the new field of global history and culture.
Global Textiles:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/research/global-textiles/
Global Fashion:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/research/global-fashion/
THE HOUSEWIFE IN EARLY MODERN RURAL ENGLAND: GENDER, MARKETS AND CONSUMPTION
BIRKBECK COLLEGE
UK
http://www.consume.bbk.ac.uk/research/whittle.html
Part of the Cultures of Consumption Programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
This project has analysed the household accounts of Alice Le Strange, a member of the Norfolk gentry, for the years 1606–1653. Research shows that production and consumption were much more closely related than in today’s developed modern economies. Women’s management of the domestic sphere involved overseeing the production of food and clothing as well as everyday consumption. Consumption typically involved direct personal relationships between consumers, producers and traders.
Cultures of Consumption Programme:
http://www.consume.bbk.ac.uk/
JOHN STYLES
UK
http://www.johnstyles.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
The website of John Styles, Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire. Professor Styles specializes in the history of eighteenth-century England, with a particular interest in the history of everyday things used by the common people.
Current research projects include:
Spinning in the Era of the Spinning Wheel:
http://www.johnstyles.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/spinning.htm
Material London, 1660-1850:
http://www.johnstyles.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/materiallondon.htm
LEWIS WALPOLE LIBRARY
YALE UNIVERSITY
USA
http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/
The Lewis Walpole Library is a research library for eighteenth-century studies and the prime source for the study of Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. Its collections include significant holdings of eighteenth-century British books, manuscripts, prints, drawings and paintings, as well as important examples of the decorative arts. Housed in an historic frame house in Farmington and given to Yale by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and Annie Burr Lewis, the Lewis Walpole Library is a department of Yale University Library, open to researchers by appointment.
The Lewis Walpole Library Digital Collection presents images from the Library's collections. The main focus of the Digital Collection is the Library's world-renowned collection of English caricatures and political satirical prints from the late-seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Also included are prints, drawings, and watercolors related to Horace Walpole's collection and house at Strawberry Hill.
Online searchable digital collection:
http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/research/digital_collection.html
MAKING ART IN TUDOR BRITAIN
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
UK
http://www.npg.org.uk/research/programmes/making-art-in-tudor-britain.php
The National Portrait Gallery holds the largest public collection of Tudor and Jacobean painting in the world. The collections are one of the most significant resources for the understanding of visual culture in the English Renaissance. This major research project will help to transform understanding of early painting practice and the production of portraits in the Tudor and Jacobean periods. The project will involve a detailed and comprehensive scientific survey of over 80 of the most important portraits from the Gallery's Collection in the period 1500-1620.
MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN STUDIES RESEARCH GROUP
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
UK
http://research.ncl.ac.uk/mems/
The Medieval and Early Modern Studies research group aims to bring together the large concentration of scholars from different subject areas within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (including History, English, Classics, Modern Languages, Music, and Law) working on pre-modern periods up to c. 1800. It stimulates interdisciplinary and collaborative research by organizing events at which scholars from different disciplines within the university, and from outside, discuss ideas on related topics.
SHAKESPEARE INSTITUTE
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
UK
http://www.shakespeare.bham.ac.uk/
A research institution of international standing established in 1951 to push the boundaries of knowledge about Shakespeare Studies and Renaissance Drama.
SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
UK
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/
Founded by the American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, Shakespeare's Globe is an international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare's work and the playhouse for which he wrote, through the connected means of performance and education. Together, the Globe Theatre Company, Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition and Globe Education seek to further the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.
