As other people have mentioned, vintage is not enough distinction for a
museum costume collection, it really isn't a word used by costume
historians, but is more of a retail distinction.
Think of the costumes as art or as history or a combination of the two.
Otherwise you will end up with a giant pile of thrift store looking wedding
dresses and random cast offs that you will never display. Costume, like
anything else has different levels of quality and importance, provenance
matters, condition matters, age matters less than the other factors (a first
ladies gown or Sept 11 NYFD uniform has far more meaning than a shredded
1905 dress with no provenance). There are very important pieces from the
80's and 90's and from last year if they are significant, but you want to
have some policy for narrowing them down, especially as textiles require
more training, materials and space to preserve correctly, I have found more
modern pieces typically are handled less carefully because of their
familiarity, but newness does not necessarily equal strength, especially
when plastics are involved (sequins, etc.)

The main thing is to collect within your own mission and abilities.

Elizabeth Walton
www.waltonmuseumservices.com

On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Diane Hutsell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  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
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