An important year:
In the first place our apologies for the somewhat ‘bare’ lay-out of this Newsletter. The company of Tinyletter, that to date looked after its distribution to some 3,000 subscribers, has announced that it will stop all its activities by February 2024, and it appears that it has already slimmed down its service by no longer including illustrations. We are urgently looking for a new (and affordable) system that will make sure we can update our friends regularly about our activities. In any case, we can assure you that the address file for the current Newsletter will be reused for the new form.
But more importantly, we want to wish all our friends and contacts a happy New Year. May 2024 be a peaceful year, also for those currently suffering violence. Here in Leiden we sometimes take our untroubled and harmonious surroundings for granted. But how dreadful the situation elsewhere!
Looking back, 2023 has been a busy, exciting and at times frustrating year! It is clear from the number of visitors to the TRC that local, national and international recognition of the role that the TRC is playing in the world of textile studies is growing. The TRC is actively expanding its role as an international hub for textiles and dress in all their many and varied forms. We are a centre where skills and knowledge can be acquired via lectures, workshops, courses, exhibitions, research, teaching of BA to PhD students, etc.
What inspired the TRC enormously was the collaboration (a form of Citizen Culture) with several cultural groups, from Leiden and beyond, of textile and clothing friends with a foreign background. Our meetings with people with a Romanian origin were extremely educational for us (we learned a lot about Romanian blouses) and at the same time showed them our appreciation for their cultural heritage. The same applies to meetings with Leiden residents with a Middle Eastern background.
We have also been very active with respect to the prestigious Bloomsbury World Encyclopedia of Embroidery. Vol. 3, about sub-Saharan African embroidery, was published earlier this year, and volume 4 about Scandinavian and West European embroidery is now at the proof stage and should be out in 2024. We are busy with the next two volumes, which are about embroidery from the Americas, and from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the Caucasus.
In addition, the TRC Collection is growing and more and more depth is being added to this remarkable and diverse open access facility for textile studies. The Collection, with more than 44,000 items, is now an important, international resource that is attracting visitors to Leiden from all over the world. An important and extensive acquisition this year was a large part of the collection of the former Naaldkunst Museum in Winschoten (Groningen).
But why frustrating? As the TRC has become more well-known we are getting more and more visitors, groups, emails about potential donations as well as people popping in with items for the Collection, etc., and we simply need more space. But there are positive things happening! Thanks to a grant by Leiden Council we are currently in the process of having a professional feasibility plan written about the TRC, Leiden and the future.
The report will be presented in early 2024 and will be looking at possibilities with respect to finding more space and financial support, etc! More about this plan in due course. Needless to say, other suggestions and actual offers of help are most welcome. All in all, 2024 is going to be a busy, active and perhaps even decisive year!
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End-of-the-Year campaign 2023/2024
To ensure that the TRC can continue to organise all its activities, we would like to ask anyone who has enjoyed one or more TRC events, or is generally enthusiastic about our work, to make a donation.
Our bank account number is NL39 INGB 000298 2359, Textile Research Centre Leiden. Our BIC/SWIFT code, for donations from abroad, is: INGB NL2A.
For Dutch donors it is good to know that the TRC is officially recognised as a Cultural ANBI (under no. 804514070) and that donations are therefore tax deductible at a very attractive percentage.
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Agenda:
Below we provide the dates of the workshops, courses and study days for 2024 as they are currently planned. All you have to do is click on the title below and you will receive further information on your screen. No doubt other activities will be added to the agenda at a later date. Therefore, please regularly consult the agenda on the TRC website.
- Ma 15 Jan: TRC opens again for the public
- Wed 24 Jan: Workshop needlebinding for beginners
- 12-16 Febr: TRC Intensive Textile Course
- Wed 28 Febr: Workshop band weaving
- Fri 15 March: Study day: What is a thread?
- Wed 27 March: Workshop needlebinding over the thumb
- Fri 3 April: Study day: What is embroidery?
- 22-26 April: TRC Intensive Textile Course
- Wed 24 April: Workshop tablet weaving for beginners
- Wed 8 May: Workshop: Kumihimo braiding
- Fri 10 May: Study day: What is a weave?
- Wed 22 May: Workshop band weaving of pick-up patterns
- Fri 31 May: Study day: What is velvet?
- Wed 12 June: Workshop Stone Age fibres
- Wed 19 June: Shetland lace knitting
- 24-28 June: TRC Intensive Textile Course
- Fri 9 Aug: Study day: What is a printed textile?
- 12-16 Aug; TRC Intensive Textile Course
- 7-11 Oct; TRC Intensive Textile Course
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Blogs
The TRC regularly publishes short articles about certain types of textiles, new acquisitions, etc. The blogs are published on the TRC website, on the TRC Facebook pages and on LinkedIn. Below are the titles of the blogs that have been published since September 2023. You can click on the title to read the contributions. We'll start with the most recent:
- 23 December: The anatomy of a corset sampler
- 17 December: The diversity and depth of the TRC collection: An appraisal
- 16 December: Tenerife lace wheels at the TRC
- 2 December: Citizen Culture in Leiden
- 1 December: A young woman's memory box from liberated Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1944-1945.
- 29 November: 19th century knitting sheaths and knitting sticks. How to knit while cooking
- 27 November: Kingfisher feathers and Chinese hair ornaments
- 24 November: TRC accepts large part of the collection of the former Museum voor Naaldkunst, Winschoten, the Netherlands
- 19 November: Cherry blossoms and stars: Embroidery from Ukraine
- 1 November: More Chinese and Japanese items for the TRC Collection
- 29 October: Preserving the ‘kogin’ tradition, a unique form of sashiko from Hirosaki, Japan
- 21 October: Silk paintings and a surprise TRC presence: The National Silk Art Museum, Weston, USA
- 16 October: Trijp! A Leiden story.
- 15 October: A 200-year old linen bag from the Netherlands: A view through the microscope
- 11 October: It’s blanket season: Watkins Mill, near Lawson, Missouri (US)
- 1 Oct: Opening at the TRC of the 1920's fashion exhibition
- 30 Sept: Yemeni/British TRC student features in the London Fashion Week
- 22 Sept: Woolly mammoths at the TRC
- 19 Sept: The 1920s from head to toe: Fashion from 100 years ago
- 18 Sept: 1920s printed silk samples
