The Museum Textile Services Study Collection
The MTS study collection is 25 years in the making. It consisted initially of textiles given to Director Camille Myers Breeze by her relatives and soon grew to include collections from families grateful to have found a place where their clothing and textiles will be cared for and put to good use. These materials service three purposes:
1. Reference The Collection provides reference materials to help conservation staff better understand the construction, technology, and history of historic clothing and textiles.
2. Preservation A secondary purpose for the collection is to preserve those artifacts that would otherwise be at risk of destruction.
3. Training Elements of the collection are also used as examples in training or demonstrations of proper conservation techniques.
We are especially interested in donations in the following areas:
1. Reference The Collection provides reference materials to help conservation staff better understand the construction, technology, and history of historic clothing and textiles.
2. Preservation A secondary purpose for the collection is to preserve those artifacts that would otherwise be at risk of destruction.
3. Training Elements of the collection are also used as examples in training or demonstrations of proper conservation techniques.
We are especially interested in donations in the following areas:
- Military uniforms and accessories with photographs and biographical information of the service man or women who wore them
- Sports uniforms with photographs and biographical information of the athlete
- School-girl samplers and embroideries
- Ethnographic and archaeological textiles with provenance
The MTS Study Collection collection is archivally stored and recorded in a searchable database that includes one thousand objects and scholarly publications. As such, it is an invaluable resource for conservation research, education, and museum exhibitions.
Please contact Camille Myers Breeze if you are interested in making a donation. Museum Textile Services is not a 501(c) and we can't appraise items or provide a tax receipt.