Conservation Assessment for Historic Textiles of the Museum at Eldridge Street

FAIN: PG-50825-10

Eldridge Street Project, Inc./Museum at Eldridge Street (New York, NY 10002)
Bonnie Dimun (Project Director: May 2009 to September 2010)

Funding supports a conservation assessment of 60 items in the textile collection of the Museum at Eldridge Street. The collection includes many items used in Jewish religious practices. These textiles are also used in exhibitions and educational programs documenting the immigrant experience on the Lower East Side and Jewish-American traditions and culture.

With NEH support, we will contract noted textile conservator Judith Eisenberg to assess the conditions of the most fragile items in the collections of the Museum at Eldridge Street: the textiles.There are 60 fabric-based items: 25 torah covers; 3 bimah covers; 7 arc curtains; 4 arc valances; 4 covers for the Torah between readings; 9 tefillin or tallit (prayer shawl) bags; 2 tallit collars; 4 tallits; 2 fabric circumcision scrolls; and 1 large textile of undetermined purpose. Ms. Eisenberg will examine each textile, write a condition report, a proposal for treatment, provide an estimate of the time needed for treatment, prioritize the conservation needs for the textiles, and make recommendations for storage and exhibition for each textile. The project will begin in January 2010 and is expected to take forty hours of Ms. Eisenberg's time. We will also provide Nancy Johnson, archivist at Eldridge Street, with a fee of $35/hour to assist Ms. Eisenberg to access textiles from storage.