THE TEXTILE MUSEUM 2011 ANNUAL REPORT
ABOUT THE TEXTILE MUSEUM
Created and prized by cultures around the world for millennia, textiles are valued for both their artistry and the window they open into the lives of their makers. Through changing exhibitions and public programs for all ages, The Textile Museum expands public knowledge and appreciation—locally, nationally, and internationally—of the artistic merits and cultural importance of the world’s textiles. Established in 1925 by George Hewitt Myers, The Textile Museum is a private non-profit institution in Washington, D.C.’s historic Dupont-Kalorama neighborhood. The Textile Museum collection encompasses more than 19,000 objects that date from 3,000 BCE to the
present, including some of the world’s finest examples of rugs and textiles from the Near East, Central Asia, East and Southeast Asia, Africa, and the indigenous cultures of the Americas. The museum’s 20,000 volume Arthur D. Jenkins Library of Textile Arts is among the world’s foremost resources for the study of textiles. In 2014, The Textile Museum will move to the George Washington University’s campus in downtown Washington, D.C. to become a cornerstone of the new George Washington University Museum. This unprecedented affiliation will allow The Textile Museum to expand its rich tradition of scholarship, education, and fostering of cultural understanding. Visitors in Second Lives: The Age-Old Art of Recycling Textiles. Photo by Bill Petros.