We had the honor of putting Faith in her box for the last time.  Linda took the boxes for the other items (the rest of her garments had come in a garment bag but Joy and Joelle had brought conservation boxes out for them) and put them on a mobile cart.

They waved goodbye to us as they moved the pieces down to the conservation labs and the freezer.  By nightfall, they would all be in cold storage to ensure the safety of the textiles in the collection.

Many people have asked Jill, Wendy and I if leaving the jacket made us cry.  Not really – that would assume that we felt that the piece was ours.  It never has been – we were just temporary caretakers for something wonderful.  I feel very privileged to have been able to care for her.

It is like sending your child off to college – bittersweet.

Tricia

More questions that day and later – could we steam the jacket or petticoats?  The answer was no on the jacket, we feared that the indigo dye was too fragile.  On the petticoats, we needed to check.   After we returned to Boston, samples of the silk that the petticoats were made from were sent to Joy to allow steaming trials to be done.  They needed to check to make sure that staining and color run/fade wouldn’t occur.

There there was the discussion on dressing the mannequin – the order of clothes, where the jacket sat on the skirt, etc.  We opened up pictures of Elizabeth in the ensemble and talked about it.  That is when we all realized that we needed the bum roll she was wearing.  Another set of paperwork, requests to email to Plimoth, shipping, registrar work and quarantine!

And then we were about done…

Time to pack her up.

Tricia

To prepare for the exhibit, we spent quite a bit of time going through a presentation that I had made for the Reveal.  We were looking at the ‘collateral’ that existed as we would need to pull together something quickly that would tell the story of the jacket to the general public.  I learned alot from Felice about the time frame that people feel comfortable standing and watching something, about the need to put benches near video monitors if too long, and timing between slides to give time to read.  We decided that at this time, sound was not an option we wanted to go with since it is in a general exhibition space.

As I write this, we have been going back and forth all this week with the edited presentation every day between Linda, myself and multiple staff members whose specialities are editing and exhibition story telling.  We will have it done later this week and loaded on the video monitor by Monday!  As part of that, photo credits needed to be determined as well as many permissions checked and requested for photos of objects in other musuems or people that are shown.  So you can imagine that there is plenty of work on that!  Then there is the fact checking, spelling check on names, and addition of names for new spanglers (43 of them!!) who worked the night of the Reveal and after on the coif.

One of the funny things is that we have so many people to credit – it has been a challenge to figure out how to do it.  We are experimenting with ways (i.e. do we roll the credits?).

The first edit was to reduce the 190 slides down to a manageable number for the standing visitor to read.  Then we needed to generalize the content.  Since it was for the Reveal, there were many insider points, jokes and references.  Another edit removed the specific names of individuals in the picture.  “Tricia traced the coif” became “The embroidery lead traced the coif”.  We had a full conference call just to come up with easy to use references for the types of people in the pictures!  Then another edit to make the passive voice more active.

So when you see the final video – you will understand that it meant for the person who comes upon the jacket in the gallery and knows nothing – it even has a slide at the end to direct people to the blog for more of the story as well as to come back in Fall 2011 to learn/see more.  And that even though it is short – it took alot of work to make it short!  Ha ha.

We even discussed how we would keep track of questions at the museum – often you know soon that you need to add info by the kinds of questions that are asked.  Sometimes we are all too close to the material to realize what holes there are in it.

Tricia

The other choice for Faith in her newly upgraded position was to be in the front of the Textile Gallery.  The rotunda I mentioned and showed yesterday splits off into three galleries.  The one on the right of the entrance is the Textile Gallery.  It is very large and lighted specially for textile conservation.  So Faith would be in the second-most highlighted position of the museum – not bad!

You can see us standing there, looking at the spot where cases would need to be moved to make way for her case.  The lighting would be able to be right for both sparkle and conservation of color.  The lighting is mostly track in the room.  But the case could be built on a very low pedestal that would allow the jacket to be eye level and we knew we could use a case that is small enough so people can get intimate with the piece to look at the embroidery.

So we have a decision!

Tricia

Sorry for the missed day of blog.  I was gone all last week at Williamburg to teach at a seminar and was a bit tired and forgot to add more entries.

So back to the story.  Wendy and I were at dinner that first night when we got an email – it was from Linda.  She had gone back to do some paperwork and the excitement of the jacket had rubbed off on others on staff.  Originally, the jacket would go up on display after a few small exhibition displays were completed and installed.  That was estimated as sometime in late April – plenty of time for us to get things done.  But the excitement of the jacket’s arrival had initiated a decision to shift the order of installations and get Faith up as fast as possible.  Linda wanted to know what we thought – could we all pull it off together – for MARCH 9th!

Of course the answer was YES!

So Faith will be on public display next week – starting Tuesday you can go and see her officially!!!  And just in case you don’t go until the weekend, I will be lecturing on the Jacket project on Sunday, March 14th at 11 am and 2 pm to officially open the mini-exhibit.  The details are below.  To all ye bloggers – get the word out!

Tricia

Lecture The Plimoth Jacket: 
A Paradise in Silk and Gold

Sunday, March 14 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

The Plimoth Jacket, on display at Winterthur beginning March 9, is a 1620s-era style woman’s embroidered waistcoat, originally conceived as a centerpiece for a planned exhibition at Plimoth Plantation. The project grew bigger than its humble beginnings however, to become a worldwide phenomenon in collaborative fabrication and research. Dr. Patricia Wilson Nguyen, a member of the team that worked to produce the jacket, will tell the story of how the project grew to encompass the labor of approximately 300 individuals as varied as 4th-grade boys and girls to men and women past their 70s, many of whom had never tried embroidery. 

A stunning visual treat, the jacket has provided a rich opportunity for needlework and lace research, shining a light on how complex pieces may have been worked in the 17th century. Not content with using materials available today, the team decoded how threads and spangles were made in the past and had them remade for the project. The research into needlework and lace techniques and materials as well as the inspiring story of developing a community of workers and “internet participants” will be told.
Members free. Included with admission.

For opening hours and directions visit www.winterthur.org/visiting/directions.asp

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The lecture is included with General Admission, as space allows.  To purchase General Admission tickets in advance please call our Information and Tours Office at 800.448.3883.

ADDRESS:

Winterthur Museum & Country Estate
Route 52
(5105 Kennett Pike)
Winterthur DE 19735

Winterthur is on Rte. 52 in Delaware, 
6 miles (9.6 km) northwest of Wilmington;
30 miles (48 km) southwest of Philadelphia, Pa.;
and 5 miles (8 km) south of U.S. Rte. 1.