Museum Textile Services
  • About MTS
    • Our Team
    • Client List
    • Press Room
  • Textile Conservation
    • Asian Art
    • Architectural Interiors
    • Ethnographic Textiles
    • Flags & Banners
    • Historic Clothing
    • Quilts and Coverlets
    • Samplers & Embroideries
    • Sports Memorabilia
    • Tapestries
  • Fumigation Services
    • Fumigation FAQs
    • Our test results
  • Andover Figures™
    • Our Mission
    • The Andover Figures System
    • Choosing a Form
    • Purchasing Andover Figures
    • AF Contact Form
  • Resources
    • MTS Magazine
    • Textile Conservation Basics
    • Textile Stabilization
    • Textile Storage
    • Displaying Historic Costume
    • Displaying Flat Textiles
    • Museum Pests
    • Disaster Response
    • Advanced Topics
    • Class Readings
    • Staff Publications
    • Resources in Spanish
    • MTS Videos and Slide Shows
  • Blog
Picture
Architectural Interiors
Asian Art
Flags & Banners
Historic Clothing
Quilts & Coverlets
Samplers & Embroideries
Sports Memorabilia
Tapestries

Ethnographic and Archaeological Textiles

Archaeological textiles are among the most challenging of all artifacts to handle and conserve. Having survived hundreds, sometimes thousands of years in the ground, they tend to deteriorate rapidly once exposed to humidity, light, and oxygen. ​Conserving archaeological textiles may also involve preserving earlier restoration efforts, without which the textiles would have not survived this long post excavation.
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Chancay textile fragment c 1200, before conservation. Courtesy Huaca Huallamarca.
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Chancay textile fragment c 1200, after conservation. Courtesy Huaca Huallamarca.

​Ethnographic textiles from world cultures are equally susceptible to damage even if they are only decades old. Many collectors acquire ethnographic textiles directly out of their natural context, meaning they are soiled, worn, and vulnerable. Museum Textile Services works with universities, museums, and collectors in the United States and abroad to preserve, analyze, and safely exhibit ethnographic and archaeological textiles so that their inherent technical and historical information is not lost.
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Native American moccasins, after fumigation and stabilization. Courtesy Natick Historical Society.
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Uzbek embroidered suzani with magnetic hanging system. Courtesy private collector.
For nine years, Camille Breeze ran the Ancient Peruvian Textiles Workshop in and around Lima, Peru.
​To read more, click here.

Museum Textile Services, LLC

P.O. Box 5004
Andover, MA 01810
admin@museumtextiles.com
​
978.474.9200
  • About MTS
    • Our Team
    • Client List
    • Press Room
  • Textile Conservation
    • Asian Art
    • Architectural Interiors
    • Ethnographic Textiles
    • Flags & Banners
    • Historic Clothing
    • Quilts and Coverlets
    • Samplers & Embroideries
    • Sports Memorabilia
    • Tapestries
  • Fumigation Services
    • Fumigation FAQs
    • Our test results
  • Andover Figures™
    • Our Mission
    • The Andover Figures System
    • Choosing a Form
    • Purchasing Andover Figures
    • AF Contact Form
  • Resources
    • MTS Magazine
    • Textile Conservation Basics
    • Textile Stabilization
    • Textile Storage
    • Displaying Historic Costume
    • Displaying Flat Textiles
    • Museum Pests
    • Disaster Response
    • Advanced Topics
    • Class Readings
    • Staff Publications
    • Resources in Spanish
    • MTS Videos and Slide Shows
  • Blog