Center for the Study of Historic Dress and Textiles 

As a way to address current concerns relating to the Smith College Historic Dress Collection as well as in an effort to expand the reach of the collection as an education resource, it has been proposed by Kiki Smith that Smith College invest in the establishment of a Center for the Study of Historic Dress and Textiles. This could be a space dedicated to teaching, learning, and research of historic clothing using the Smith Collection. This would make the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection more accessible to students, faculty, and the broader public and would strengthen the potential for student learning and research opportunities. It would encourage the use of the collection in more classes across campus and in the Five Colleges. 

Establishing a Center for the Study of Historic Dress and Textiles would require significant financial investment on the part of the College. Due to the nature of a material culture collection, this project would require continual financial support to maintain and upkeep the collection for the foreseeable future. However, the mission of Smith College Historic Clothing Collection and its potential for increased hands-on learning opportunities clearly aligns with Smith’s values and would be a logical investment for the College. This collection has existed on campus for decades and deserves financial support from the College in order to aid it in furthering its mission of educating students about the lives of women through material culture. 

Specific Needs

Storage

• The College needs to invest in a space intentionally built and designed to safely hold the collection. The collection has long outgrown its current storage arrangement. A new storage space to fit both the collection as it stands now with room to grow is necessary. This space should be: 
  • Secure
  • Temperature and humidity controlled 
  • Clean 
  • Dark
• In addition to a physical storage space, the collection also needs additional compact storage units. 

Classrooms

• In order to effectively support teaching with the collection, classrooms with enough space for both students and the safe display collection objects are crucial. 

Workrooms

• Dedicated workspaces for collections staff, faculty, and students to complete collection maintenance and process new acquisitions. There should also be space to safely store collection items as well as conservation/storage materials and dress forms. There should also be space for a studio to photograph collection items. 

Exhibit Spaces

• A variety of spaces throughout campus to display small student exhibitions using the collection.

Research Room to hold documents and archives related to the collection as a whole and individual objects. A research room would also include additional contextual material related to period dress. 

Administrative Office for staff.

Support Materials to aid in proper care and maintenance of the collection.

Staff

• Director: The Smith College Historic Clothing Collection needs a full-time staff member to act as Director of the collection. Some responsibilities would include:
  • The director would head the management of the collection and would work to ensure interdisciplinary engagement with the collection. 
  • As a faculty member the director would teach various classes using the collection in their curriculum and would advise students on developing their own exhibitions using the collection. 

• An administrative assistant would be needed to aid the Director in the management of the collection.
• Student staff would be hired to assist with research and administrative tasks.