Eleutherian Mills - Hagley Foundation (Hagley Museum and Library)

Hagley Museum and Library will use its grant to hire two textile conservators to conduct a detailed conservation survey of approximately 600 items of clothing and fabric samples made from pioneering synthetic DuPont fibers such as nylon, Orlon™, acrylic, Dacron™ polyester, and Qiana™. The survey will also include more than 400 items that relate to the development of nylon in the 1930s, including research, and wear-tested and commercially sold clothing. Resulting reports will permit the museum to establish treatment priorities, long-term storage requirements, and procedures for preserving the items while on loan or on exhibit. Owing to the unique nature of these collections, Hagley will widely disseminate the findings to textile conservation students and the public through a PowerPoint presentation and through a brochure that will be available on Hagley’s Web site.