I think the central issue is "mission" and what your collections
represent. What do you say you are presenting? If it is a time period,
that is pretty clear; you collect within the period. If you were a
children's museum, then collecting modern children's clothing is no
different from collecting kids' clothing of a hundred years ago; it
represents the goal of collecting. Will a curator a hundred years from
now see clothes of the 1980's as important to your collection?
Bob
Robert B. Pickering, PhD
Senior Curator
Gilcrease Museum
1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Rd
Tulsa, OK 74127
(918) 596-2706 Office
(918) 596-2770 Fax
(918) 805-4780 Cell
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of ERICA SCOTT
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 8:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] On 'vintage' clothing
The word "vintage" pertains to anything from a previous season.
Therefore, one could call their spring 08 shoes "vintage." (I think the
market decides what and when something/anything is deemed vintage--just
ask Ebay) In the world of costume collecting the word vintage is seldom
used. Instead we use typical museum language including historic, object,
dress or costume.
However, I think the more important issue is whether or not the items
fit into your museum's mission. Does it make sense to collect clothing
from the 1980s? Will you exhibit these items? Will your staff and
audience benefit from the acceptance of such objects?
I work in a fashion museum. There are many objects that we cannot accept
due to our mission statement; to collect based on design merit
regardless of the era from which the object dates. Additionally, a piece
could be from the 1780s or the 1980s but if it cannot be exhibited in
our galleries or is not fit to be studied by our students then it most
likely does not make sense for us to accept it into our collection.
Erica Suzanne Scott
Assistant Museum Registrar,
The Museum at FIT
www.fitnyc.edu/museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Adrienne DeAngelis
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 12:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] On 'vintage' clothing
Who decides what is vintage clothing? What are the characteristics of
authentic vintage clothing? What makes clothing from the 1980s vintage?
Adrienne DeAngelis, whose delusional relative threw out her best
bellbottoms just because "nobody wears this stuff anymore".
[log in to unmask]
>
> In a message dated 12/10/2009 1:05:15 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> We have a nice collection of vintage clothing at our museum and
recently
> we have had some people wanting to donate articles from the 1980s.
Our
> concern is that once we take one piece of clothing from the 80s,
where
> do we stop. I guess the big question is where do we start? I'm hoping
> someone out there has some good guidelines for taking "vintage"
clothing.
> If you have
> guidelines/policy, I'd love to see it. You can send it to me off post
if
> you like.
>
> Diane
>
>
> Diane Hutsell
> Executive Director
> McMinn County Living Heritage Museum
> 423-745-0329
> _www.livingheritagemuseum.com_ (http://www.livingheritagemuseum.com/)
> ========================================================= Important
>
>
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