Martha McCain - Guest Blogger The Road to Extreme Research #2 - Museums

8/12/2013

Martha checking out the back of this beautiful gown!

Hi. Martha McCain again. I really love to see costume exhibits at museums. When an outfit is beautifully mounted and shown as it was meant to be worn, you can learn so much.

Andrea being inspired by the tie dye!

Especially when you attend an exhibit with a like-minded, serious scholar....(These photos were made at an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2010)

Visiting an exhibit, however, is “research light.” Extreme Research requires laying the garment out on a table...

and "digging in."

I consider being allowed to study a garment that belongs to someone else a great privilege, whether the owner is a private collector or a museum like the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To work with garments in a museum, you have to prove your credentials and the seriousness of your project. Not only does the museum staff have to spend time locating garments and laying them out for you, they have to believe that you will do no harm to the object you’re studying.

This is the wonderful Jessa Krick, former Collections Manager at the Costume Institute, showing me some 18th century stays.

The time you get to spend “backstage” at a museum is limited, so I learned to prepare carefully.

I always take along:

my favorite camera
my magnifying viewer
a unlined notebook
several tape measures
an extra camera battery
extra media
sharpened pencils
sharpened color pencils
a pencil sharpener
a good eraser

and sometimes I take a macro lens and a thread counter.

If I know a garment I’ve asked to see has been photographed dressed on a form, I take along the picture. Needless to say, I read all the available information about the specific garment and the period before I go backstage at a museum.

The next time I visit Andrea’s blog, I’ll share some things I’ve learned through Extreme Research at museums.

11 Comments

Colleen Formby

8/12/2013 04:48:55 am

LOVE the "extreme research", as you know, and always appreciative that you do so much of it!
...and your "research bag" looks like mine!

Colleen

Martha McCain

8/14/2013 06:03:18 am

My "ER" doesn't hold a candle to yours, Colleen!

I'm amazed at all the detail in your research. I see why you call it "extreme research."e

8/12/2013 07:15:53 am

Val LaBore link

8/14/2013 01:30:24 am

I wished I'd had this list, or the knowledge, before I got to examine the extant Bloomer gown in our San Diego History Center collection. I only had my camera and a notepad.
I love reading about researching extant gowns and their re-creation.
Val

8/14/2013 06:00:50 am

Believe me, Val, that's all I took the first time. My bag gets fuller every trip. I forgot to mention that I take my laptop, too, so I can see the photographs I'm taking larger than on the camera's monitor. Are you planning to make a Bloomer dress?

8/14/2013 06:46:59 am

Martha, yes I did make a Bloomer gown, an exact copy of the one in our museum. I worked with Saundra Altman on it when I inherited a partial pattern she had made off the dress about 10 years ago. Now I give presentations on it, and finally finished the pattern and put it on the market.
These two blog entries tell about it.
http://timetravelingincostume.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-re-creation-of-1851-bloomer-gown.html
http://timetravelingincostume.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-re-creation-of-1851-bloomer-gown_1.html

Frances Grimble link

8/14/2013 11:28:15 am

I collect clothing from the late 18th century through the 1920s (and a few later pieces). I don't want to be responsible for taking care of someone else's garments, but much of what I've learned about construction of various eras has been learned from handling and altering items from my collection. I like seeing the interior of a coat when I reline it to wear, how a hem was stiffened when I take it up, and so on. Museums can't and don't want to collect everything, and there's a lot to be said for pieces that were never acquired or that were deacessioned and sold on the vintage market, not to mention finds direct from someone's family attic.

8/14/2013 11:45:01 am

Hi, Fran. I'll certainly be talking about you when I write about "most useful books in my personal library." I agree with everything you say here. But since I live in New York with little space and I don't have very deep pockets, I have to be brave enough to borrow clothing from my collector friends. That's what I doing for the new series of patterns/studies of clothing I'm working on. It's called "From the Collection of..." and I'll be including bios of the collectors.

8/15/2013 04:24:24 am

Do you have a website where you will put the patterns? Send me a link when you do! Best, Fran

8/15/2013 05:22:46 am

Martha, I too will be looking forward to reading your new series. Put me on your mailing list!
Val

K Krewer

8/14/2013 02:07:31 pm

lookin' great!

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Martha McCain - Guest Blogger The Road to Extreme Research #2 - Museums

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