The Textile Conservation Laboratory The Cathedral’s Textile Conservation Laboratory is at the forefront of conservation technology. The Lab individuates its work based on the requirements, history, and fragility of each textile it conserves. The staff analyzes, cleans, and stabilizes not only the Cathedral’s tapestries but also textiles of all kinds belonging to museums and private collectors throughout the world.
A Story as Old as the Cathedral Itself
“The Cathedral is a place of unexpected opportunity.” MARLENE EIDELHEIT VALERIE SOLL The story of why the Cathedral has a Textile Conservation Lab is older than the Cathedral itself. In 1891, a year before the cornerstone was laid, American art collector Elizabeth Underhill Coles donated a set of the Barberini Life of Christ tapestries to the Cathedral. This donation created the tradition of art stewardship at the Cathedral that continues to this day. MARLENE EIDELHEIT As
the construction of the Cathedral progressed, the tapestries started being hung. The first two were in the Crypt chapel. Then, when the East End was finished, all 12 were hung for the first time. In the late 1930s, Baroness Wilhelmine von Godin, a seasoned expert on tapestry, spent two years restoring the set for the dedication of the Nave in 1941.
VALERIE SOLL In
the 1980s, the Textile Lab was started with a conservator, restorer, and some apprentices. It was during the same period that the stoneyard project was established under Dean Morton and Bishop Moore. The people who ran the programs were looking at tapestry and textile conservation as a profession. The point was to train young, interested people to care for the Cathedral collection. The Lab began to attract serious students of conservation and grew to take in conservation projects from museums in and outside of New York.
MARLENE EIDELHEIT The
more the tapestries hang, the more they need maintenance. The panels rotate in and out usually for the holiday seasons, but sometimes they hang for long stretches. We are a staff of seven people devoted to our tapestries, the conservation trade, and training future conservators. Our core team has been here close to two decades.
Conservation work at the Textile Lab. 210
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