There has been quite a gap between this and my last blog post, mainly due to end of academic financial year deadlines and several extended on-site projects. So by way of compensation for my neglect of my blog, I bring you a collection that is full of colour, texture and variety.

I was very fortunate to assess the conservation and collections care potential of the pattern book archive at The Silk Museum in Macclesfield earlier this year, mainly with the aim of making ongoing housing and storage recommendations for this wonderful collection of impressively proportioned books.

Macclesfield was the centre of silk manufacture from the late eighteenth century. The current museum is very appropriately housed in the original School of Art building where the designers for the silk products were educated from the late 1800s until the silk industry declined in the mid twentieth century, as people no longer wore silk goods such as headscarves or, with the advent of synthetic materials, used silk for parachutes, handkerchiefs or ties to such an extent.

The pattern book archive is an incredible record of a lost industry’s heyday: each book is full of textile samples and intricate painted designs, and demonstrates a surprising love of vivid colour and in some cases fairly outlandish patterns during the Victorian era.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each book is a classic stationery binding, constructed to withstand fairly vigorous use and handling, and looking through them is an journey into a highly imaginative taste and style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The extent of the pattern book collection – there are over 900 volumes – and each volume’s weight due to their elephant folio size presented a significant challenge to find a housing solution that was protective but would not substantially add to the weight or the bulk of the volumes, space being limited in the repository. This ruled out boxing, even before the financial implications of rehousing over 900 volumes came into consideration. The solution was Tyvek, a wonderfully versatile material made from inert polyester that is resistant to tearing but provides an excellent protective barrier to handling damage and dust. This is easy for the volunteers working to support the care of the archive to fit and replace, and make each volume more contained and easier to handle for use in research.

I look forward to posting more when the work to rehouse the collection is complete.

 

Many thanks to the Silk Museum for allowing me to post these images.