Assessment and Long-Range Planning for the Care and Sustainability of the Textile Collection of the University of Iowa Museum

FAIN: PG-233666-16

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA 52242-1320)
Sean Pierre O'Harrow (Project Director: May 2015 to February 2017)
Katherine Lynn Wilson (Project Director: February 2017 to October 2017)

Hiring a consultant to undertake a preservation assessment of a collection of approximately 700 textiles from Africa, Turkey, and the Andes that document diverse textile traditions from around the world.  Highlights from the collection include mid-20th-century cloths from the Yoruba (Nigeria), Kuba (Zaire), and Bamana (Mali) peoples; 19th-and 20th-century flat woven kilims, pillows, and saddle bags from Turkey; and mantles and sashes from the prehistoric Nazca culture of Peru.

The collections that are the focus of the project are African, ancient Andean,and Turkish textiles. All are significant to the humanities because the woven designs reflect the hopes, fears, dreams, and aspirations of the weavers who made them. The symbols of these textiles reveal the essence of social order, religious and philosophical practices, and technological systems. The goal of the grant is to support a preservation assessment of the approximately 700 items in the textile collections of the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The activities that the grant would support are: a) site visit by one conservator to examine the collections, interview relevant staff, review collections management policy, and present preliminary findings, b)written report by the conservator which includes recommendations for short- and long-term actions, and integration of preservation needs with the strategic plan, and c) on site presentation of findings by the conservator to UIMA stakeholder groups.