Rolled Textile Inventory
The project you’re viewing arose as a result of the need to ensure we have a complete inventory of the roughly 150,000 ethnographic and 850,000 archaeological objects in our globe-spanning collection prior to our move to the Jewelry District in Providence, Rhode Island. As you might imagine, having a precise list of the things that we’re responsible for during such an endeavor is critical, and developing that list is a task we take seriously. While we maintain an inventory of the objects in our care on a day-to-day basis, it’s a normal practice in the museum world to update such accounts every few years to confirm we know exactly what objects are housed in each of our many storage locations, as well as each object’s condition at the time they are checked. Typically, major inventories of a collection are completed in sections (divided by location or subcollection) and are rotated on a schedule over several years. Ideally, such work is, then, constantly being done. In planning for a major move, however, it’s wise to conduct a collection-wide inventory effort so that plans are being made with the most up-to-date information as possible. One of the last remaining segments requiring an updated inventory was our rolled textiles.
What do I mean by “rolled textiles?” Simply put, objects made from cloth – fabrics woven from cotton, silk, satin, or other fibrous materials made into shirts, skirts, blankets, or nearly anything else you can think of – stored wrapped around a thin, hollow tube that is hung horizontally on a pole between two vertical supports. Materials that are chemically inert, including archival cardboard tubes, acid-free tissue paper, and Tyvek (Yes, THAT Tyvek! Some of the same characteristics that make it useful for things like protective suits and home improvement projects make it ideal for museum collections work!) are used to contain each piece, with dye-free cotton twill tape used to tie it gently but firmly to prevent it from unrolling and slipping to the floor. The Haffenreffer maintains a collection of approximately 1100 textile pieces stored in this way, ranging from rugs and blankets to banners and flags.
Inventory projects can be spot-checks, where several object numbers and their locations are taken from the collections database and checked against the physical reality of the shelves (or, in the case of the rolled textiles, horizontal rows of poles) to make sure the objects are where they are supposed to be. This is, of course, easier and less time-consuming than a full inventory would be. In a full inventory, each piece is pulled and its location and additional relevant information (such as maker if known, measurements, materials, and so on) checked and meticulously reconciled with that recorded in the database. Often, there are historic gaps in database records, and it is during projects like these that those gaps are filled. For example, if a prior collections professional was working on a large piece alone, they may not have been able to measure it without someone assisting them, and the relentless march of time, exhibition schedules and accessions means they don’t get time to go back to it. Similarly, if a photograph was not made of an object when it was acquired, an image may be made during the inventory process and uploaded to the database record. Finally, each object is carefully examined, with a fresh condition report being made. This creates an at-a-glance “snapshot” of its physical well-being, and allows the current people working on it to track whether its condition has deteriorated or otherwise changed over time, perhaps indicating problems with climate, ambient light exposure, or perhaps the greatest fear a collections professional might face – infestation of fiber-eating insects such as case-making clothes moths or varied carpet beetles!
Inventory efforts can also be shelf-level checks, where a collections professional will systematically go through each shelf – or, in this case, horizontal set of poles – identifying each object in its location and reconciling the physical with the recorded location. It was during this type of inventory that Curatorial Assistant Jessica Nelson discovered that many of our rolled textiles had some significant gaps in their database records, including lack of photographs. Photography is a critical part of an object’s record, as there is no better way to identify an object than with a clear, well-composed image. As the collections staff had already been planning a more in-depth inventory and photography project of the rolled textile section to span the summer of 2024, turning our focus to the non-photographed objects seemed to be the logical next step. The result is Off the Roll!
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- Textiles Photography Project Jessica Nelson