Textile Conservation Assessment and Rehousing Project

FAIN: PG-50965-10

Lexington Historical Society (Lexington, MA 02420-0005)
Susan Bennett (Project Director: May 2009 to September 2010)

Hiring a consultant to conduct a preservation assessment and provide on-site training for staff on housing textiles. Preservation supplies will also be purchased. The collection includes quilts, coverlets, bedhangings, military uniforms, flags, samplers, and accessories dating from 1760. Displayed in three historic house museums, these items appear in special exhibits related to the history of Lexington and the American Revolution and are studied by scholars interested in period textiles.

The Lexington Historical Society wishes to engage a textile conservation expert to outline a plan for the rehousing of the Society's textile collection, recommend the purchase of supplies, train volunteers, and supervise the rehousing effort. The expert will assess the Society's textile collection and establish a plan for conservation, in consultation with Society staff and Collections Committee. The Society's textile collection includes items from the Colonial period that help to furnish the organization's three historic house museums that played a role in the early days of the American Revolution, as well as material from all of Lexington's history to the present time that can be used in thematic exhibitions on local history topics. The proposed project would begin in January 2010 and be completed in August, 2010.