Museum Textile Services has a new studio!  After an exhaustive three-week effort of painting, cleaning, and moving, the new facility opened for business on January 16, 2012. In its previous life, our new location was Wool Storage Building A of the Ballard Vale Mills.  It was constructed in 1878 of brick with a slate roof, and was renovated/restored in 1994.

While moving some of our items to the third-floor attic, we discovered wool fibers still clinging to the ceiling beams. It was very exciting for us to find physical evidence of the past function of our new space. There still exists part of a large pulley system, or "rope hoist" used to lift bales of wool to each floor.

Our new building has all of the modern conveniences while still retaining its historical charm. The studio space has increased by fifty percent, which has allowed us to give a permanent home to the tapestry tensioner and photographic equipment. Our new space has also given us another precious foot of ceiling height, allowing us to display and work on larger objects in-house. One of the long walls in the studio space showcases the building’s lovely brickwork. 

Other improvements include a permanent hookup for our large wash table, and the installation of a new stainless-steel darkroom sink to allow us to wash smaller textiles with greater ease. A larger storage room accommodates a table designated for object intake and examination, as well as a place to meet with clients. Additionally, there is a separate office for Camille, Cara and Courtney.     

We’re very pleased with our new facility and look forward to years of productivity and creativity!

by Sarah Berlinger

"The most important thing is not to win but to take part!"

       Coined by International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin, this phrase has served as a motto of the Olympics since 1908.  We at Museum Textile Services were very excited to receive several items of Olympic memorabilia for conservation from the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts.  An alumnus of the prep school, one Gordon Smith, donated his jacket, cap, and hockey pants from the 1932 Olympic Games to the school’s collection, and they have elected to have it conserved as an important piece of American Olympic history.  

Gordon Smith was a member of the 1932 and 1936 United States Olympic ice hockey teams. The 1932 games, where these objects were used, took place in Lake Placid, New York. That year, the team won the silver medal. In the only game Smith played in that year, he scored a goal. In the 1936 games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Germany, the team earned the bronze medal. Smith played in all eight games, and also scored one goal that year. Undoubtedly, Gordon and his team believed in de Coubertin's maxim.

The objects submitted to MTS for conservation include the jacket and cap used during the Opening Ceremony and worn by athletes throughout the games, as well as a pair of hockey pants that were most likely worn during competition. The objects have piqued interest in the studio, as several of us are avid hockey fans. It has been wonderful to learn the history behind such unique and meaningful items in the Olympic History of the United States.  

Click here to see an image of Smith and the U.S. ice hockey team from the 1936 Winter Games.

by Camille Myers Breeze

I am naturally skeptical about small art books, especially when they’re part of a series. However, on a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art bookstore I picked up Looking at Textiles: A Guide to Technical Terms by former MMA textile conservator, Elena Phipps. I made the $18.95 investment largely because of my familiarity with the author and her previous work including The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530-1830. 

The compact nature of the book led me to read it before any of the large and shiny volumes I also purchased for our Museum Textile Services library that day. An approachable 95 pages long, Looking at Textiles has a 15-page introduction followed by 72 pages of fabric glossary illustrated with beautiful textiles, historic images, diagrams, and depictions of textiles in other forms of art. 

I have read many, many introductions to books about textiles that aim to summarize the complexity and wonder of this medium in a few pages, and Phipps’ is as good as it gets. As the author puts it, “This book is a guide to help answer [questions] through a presentation of the vocabulary and ideas used in examining and describing textiles. Our aim here is not to present the whole story of textiles but to elucidate some basic and important terms that we hope will increase understanding of the materials and techniques used to create them.”

I learned and relearned countless details about fabric structures from this book, aided by the large and colorful illustrations. Anyone who writes about textiles on a daily basis will find   the glossary an excellent tool to have on hand to help maintain the accuracy of terms and descriptions. Moreover, Looking at Textiles is an approachable and unintimidating volume for people who are new to textiles. It will now become required reading for everyone in MTS’s Intern Certification program. 

This 2011 book is part of the Getty Publications “Looking At” series, which includes other titles such as Looking at Photographs, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts, and Looking at European Frames. 

by Katey Corrigan


Occasionally a project comes to us through a third party, such as an insurance company. Despite the anonymity, the fine crafting and personal significance of objects is often obvious. Earlier this year Museum Textile Services worked on a collection of Christmas Ornaments. The fifteen needlepoint ornaments had survived a families’ & craftspersons worst nightmare: a Christmas tree fire. A number of condition issues needed to be addressed so that these family treasures could be stabilized enough to be enjoyed again this Christmas.

The damage to the collection consisted of soot, water damage, mildew and/or mold activity, and dye bleed. Unfortunately, the ornaments cannot be washed, because testing showed that additional dye bleed would occur. Dye transfer is frequently irreversible, but may be prevented by choosing needlecraft materials with waterfast dyes. 

In order to deactivate the microbial activity, the ornaments were fumigated with chlorine dioxide. The collection was then carefully surfaced cleaned using a HEPA vacuum with micro-suction attachment and vulcanized rubber sponges. 

The difference in appearance of the “before and after” photos is subtle, but the treatments have stabilized the condition of the collection, preventing further damage because of microbial activity and other surface contamination. These treasured ornaments can now safely be displayed and enjoyed again.

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, MTS conservators are remembering a very important flag we recently treated that flew on a US Coast Guard ship the USS Centaurus, which serviced Pearl Harbor and other sites in the Pacific theater.

The USS Centaurus was an attack cargo ship which was at the battle Okinawa in April and June, 1944, and supplied Guadalcanal in the fall of 1944. Guadalcanal is located in the Solomon Islands, and was won back from the Japanese during a six month campaign from August 7, 1942 to February 8, 1943. 

Together with a second U.S. Coast Guard Museum flag from Guadalcanal, the Centaurus flag was removed from the old backing fabric, vacuumed to remove any particulates, and humidified to remove wrinkles and folds. Both flags have signs of insect damage and are tattered at the fly ends from use. The Guadalcanal flag has such extensive fraying that servicemen had tied the strips of wool into large knots. Some of these knots were untied by conservators prior to mounting but the others could not be loosened.

Both flags were pressure mounted in order to minimize the amount of conservation stitching required. Quarter-inch archival Polyfelt from University Products in Holyoke, Massachusetts, was used to create a soft surface. The padding was voided beneath the knots and thick binding edge to provide a more even pressure mounting. The padding was placed on a solid-support panel from Small Corp, Inc. in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and covered with cotton fabric. The flag was then hand stitched to the fabric-covered mount around the perimeter and along several stripes. A small Corp UV-filtering acrylic box was used to complete the pressure mount.

The conserved WWII flags returned to the US Coast Guard Museum in summer, 2011, and are among the favorite items requested for display at ceremonies and other Coast Guard events.

by Sarah Berlinger

The conservation of a Bicentennial felt flag from the Hanover Historical Society of Hanover, Massachusetts, presented MTS with a unique quandary: what is the best way to patch the pest-damaged felt flag while maintaining a color and texture consistent with the original object? The answer: Needle Felting!

After several tries of making the patch with various shades of blue cotton fabric, it was determined that not only were the colors not a match, but the tight weave of the cotton did not possess the same loft of the felt flag. Using wool roving in shades of blue, gray, white, and brown, small amounts of fibers from each color were blended together by hand until a color match was found, including allowances for color damage through soil deposits,  light, and age.  After the flag was humidified to reduce wrinkling and spot cleaned to reduce localized soil deposits, a map of the missing areas of the flag was traced onto a lightweight, non-woven polyester substrate (Reemay®.)

Using a needle felting tool and mat, the blended wool roving was felted into the template traced on the substrate. The patch was placed under the object and the roving was lined up with the losses in the flag.  A small amount of felting was done where the patch edge met the object edge, to achieve a seamless transition.  After the patch was securely fastened to the flag, a cotton backing fabric was attached, adding a layer of stability to the entire object. 

From the photograph at the beginning of this post, it's clear to see that needle felting was the best choice for making an effective repair to the Bicentennial flag. In addition to conserving the flag, we added a new skill to the MTS repertoire, and one that will serve us well in the years to come.

by Sarah Berlinger, Technician       

Framing is an important aspect of conservation that is oftentimes overlooked. In the interest of time, money, or waiting to obtain institutional permission, items that need conservation framing may be conserved but left unframed, or not conserved at all. At Museum Textile Services, our framing is an affordable upgrade for your object, and our conservation framing techniques protect your objects now and into the future.

In order to limit further deterioration of objects, we only use archival-quality framing supplies, such as backing board, and UV-filtering glass or acrylic. The acrylic spacers we use to keep objects off glass must also be archival, as they are in close proximity to the object. 

We have a fine selection of high-quality Larson-Juhl and Decor period-style frames to choose from that are sure to suit your tastes and be suitable for your textile. If you wish to see a wider variety of moldings, our frame supplier will meet with you at Museum Textile Services where you can choose from among hundreds (!) of wood and metal frame moldings. Your textile never leaves our studio and all framing is done by our staff.

Before framing, your conserved object and frame are vacuumed and inspected for stray fibers and dust.  After the spacers are installed on the UV-filtering glass or acrylic, the mounted textile is placed in the frame and held in place with stainless-steel brads. The entire package is backed with an archival barrier material called Marvelseal, which provides a stable environment that is virtually pest proof. Hooks and hanging wire (or D-rings for larger objects) are then installed and the object is ready for display.

For larger items, including quilts and flags, we rely on our colleagues at Small Corp. Inc. in Greenfield, Massachusetts, to construct state-of-the-art museum panels and 5-sided ultraviolet-filtering acrylic cases, which maximize both protection and display potential.

Please consider having your objects conservation framed, whether they’ve been recently conserved or not.  The fate of your object might truly depend on it.

by Sarah Berlinger, Technician

The Fairbanks House, located in Dedham, Massachusetts, is notable not only for its age, but for its impressive collection of American crafts and memorabilia. The house, whose first rooms were constructed around 1640, is believed to be the oldest surviving timber frame house in the United States. As a historic house museum, the Fairbanks House endeavors to fully represent the lives and time periods of different groups of Fairbanks family members who have occupied the house over the years.  Included in those representations are various crafts and works of art created by the family over the years. 

In 2008, Museum Textile Services conducted an initial survey of the collection of samplers in the house that were created by members of the extended family over the years; the collection includes samplers from 1763 to 1830. Thanks to a Tru-Vue Optium Conservation Grant through the American Institute for Conservation, we were able to conserve seven samplers for the Fairbanks House in 2011.

For young girls and teens, samplers served several purposes. They provided the opportunity for girls to work on their embroidery technique, something every woman needed to possess. Samplers also provided something to keep girls occupied during the day. Many of the samplers in the Fairbanks collection were done by girls around 11 years old. Some of the samplers were very simple; they contained renderings of the alphabet and numbers, a few examples of different stitches and borders, and sometimes a name. Others included elaborately embroidered scenes and designs, as well as poetic tributes.  

One of the most endearing qualities of samplers is the mistakes they possess.  For example, in the first line of the stanza in the 1798 sampler below, the "w" of "anew" would not fit within the border, so the stitcher, eleven year old Betsey Fairbanks, added the letter above the word. The same thing was done in the third line with the word "high." A larger image of this sampler can be found here.  Such missteps only increase the charm of these needleworks. 

Conservation efforts for the samplers included removal from acidic backing boards and adhesives, vacuuming, and some repairs to embroidery stitches.  Some of the samplers that merited such attention were wet cleaned using deionized water.  After removal from old boards, we constructed new cloth-covered mounting boards.  The samplers were stitched to their new boards around the perimeter and at strategic points in the interior of the sampler.  All the samplers were given new frames with Optium UV-filtering Acrylic. Conservation on a majority of the samplers was completed in time to be returned to the house for the Fairbanks family reunion in August.

Conserving objects with such a rich family history and artistic context is always a wonderful opportunity, and we're grateful to the Fairbanks House for letting us do our part to help preserve these small treasures for future generations of the Fairbanks Family to enjoy. 

by Sarah Berlinger, Technician

       We’ve wrapped up the two-year long thangka conservation project with the Mead Art Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, and we want to tell everyone about one of the later parts of the project: the construction of new mounts for unmounted thangkas. While most of the thangkas we conserved from the Mead came in their existing silk and cotton mounts,
four paintings arrived sans surrounds. They are a folksier style of painting, possibly made by itinerant painters. The decision to remount was made by Elizabeth Barker, Director and Chief Curator of the Mead, in order to return the paintings to their full glory.             

       The first step of the remounting project was to find the appropriate fabrics. After thorough online and in-store research, we found a blue cotton that we liked, but didn’t think was a rich enough hue. After dyeing the fabric with navy dye, the color was perfect. We also found a loose-weave linen that was ideal as the backing fabric. Following the procurement of the desired fabrics, the next step was to determine the proper sizes of the new mounts. To do this, we measured completed thangkas of similar types and used the same proportions to figure out the right size. I haven't done that much math in years! Next, the blue fabric pieces were attached to the thangka using the painting's previously existing stitch holes.

       After attaching the new blue fabric to the front of the paintings, we installed the linen backing fabric.  Following that, we attached Veltex headers and footers to the backing fabric, to enable safe hanging of the thangkas in the museum. Once the four new mounts were completed, the thangkas were returned to the Mead Art Museum. Currently, the smallest remounted thangka is on exhibit in "Picturing Enlightenment: Thangka in the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College." The first group of 9 thangkas will be exhibited until January 1, 2012.  After that, the second group of 9 thangkas will go on display until June 2012 and include the remaining three remounted pieces. 

       Be sure to catch Camille Breeze's lecture Opening Doors: Conserving the Mead Art Museum’s Thangka Collection at the museum at 4:30 p.m. on October 19, 2011. A complete schedule of exhibition events can be found on the Mead Art Museum website at https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/ .

by Sarah Berlinger, Technician       

As the nation celebrates the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, Museum Textile Services is proud to have had a part in conserving a bit of history very important to Massachusetts’s involvement in the fight.  Over the summer, the National Colors of the 55th Massachusetts, one of two all-black regiments in the state, went on display at the Concord Museum.  MTS completed the conservation of the flag, which belongs to the Middlesex School in Fall of 2010. A state-of-the-art climate-controlled case was built by Will Twombly of Spokeshave Design in Watertown, Massachusetts, using a Small Corp, Inc.  inner core.

The flag was donated to Middlesex School by a relative of Norwood Penrose Hallowell, the colonel of the regiment, in 1972.  Hallowell, a native of Philadelphia and a Harvard graduate, struck up and maintained a close relationship with Middlesex School of Concord, MA, eventually becoming President of the Board of Trustees for twelve years.

Colonel Hallowell and his brothers all served the Union Army; he, William and Edward all served as soldiers while another brother, Richard, worked at the Stearns house in Medford as an assistant to slaves on the Underground Railroad.  The Hallowells, a Quaker family, struggled with their pacifistic religious ideology and the injustice they believed was being done by slavery.  After thoughtful consideration by the Hallowells and the rest of the Meeting, the decision was made to fight, giving birth to the term “Fighting Quakers.”      

 
After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued New Year’s Day 1863, recruiting began for the creation of the first all-black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts.  Hallowell was commissioned the Lieutenant Colonel of the 54th by Governor John A. Andrew.  Lt. Colonel Hallowell aided in the training of these men, and then led them to the ships that would take them South and into battle.  Governor Andrew then ordered Hallowell to return and form the 55th Massachusetts.  He took over as Colonel, and his brother Edward replaced him as Lt. Colonel of the 54th.

Colonel N. P. Hallowell’s daughter found the flag of the 55th Massachusetts wrapped in tissue in a trunk of her father's belongings.  Another relative, Hannah Bigelow, conserved the flag with the assistance of the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston and donated it to Middlesex School in 1972.  Middlesex School, after conservation by MTS was completed, loaned the flag to the Concord Museum for their exhibit When Duty Whispers: Concord and the Civil War.  An overview of the flag and exhibit from the Metro West Daily News can be found here. It was also featured on the cover of the May 27th, 2011,  issue of Antiques and the Arts Weekly.

It was wonderful for us at MTS to not only conserve a bit of Massachusetts and Civil War history, but also to learn the provenance of this wonderful object. Understanding the flag’s place in history is truly a treat for us, and we are happy to share such a great story with everyone.