Introducing the Digital Collection: Historic Clothing Collection

Abstract

The Textiles, Merchandising and Design Historic Clothing Collection at MTSU was founded in 1988 at the encouragement of the curator of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, as inspiration to build a collection for students and the public in the state of Tennessee. Collection activities include donations, accession, documentation, study, research and exhibition of historic clothing and accessories. The entire 750 piece collection is maintained in an environmentally controlled laboratory for continued preservation.

Since the inception of the Historic Clothing Collection, the primary method of locating or researching items has been a physical search utilizing hard copy descriptions of items, in three ring binders. The 2017-2018 Digital Seed Grant (and library expertise) enabled the collection’s digital development through photography, garment metadata, digital inventory and a permanent website for the collection’s continued growth. This effort allows visual identification and study of the collection by the current MTSU community, community partners, and the public at large.