I feel exhausted! Last Monday, 3 October, people in Leiden celebrated the lifting of the Spanish siege of Leiden in 1574. A week before Willem and I attended a big gala in the Pieterskerk, and for the weekend of 1-3 October there was a large fair in Leiden, a parade, and lots and lots of people from all over the Netherlands and elsewhere. And I also experienced another feature of the Leiden fair – a flat tyre on my bicycle due to the broken glass (mainly beer glasses) that was all over the place….
TRC book fair, 8 October 2022
Tuesday saw the TRC preparing books and magazines for the textile book sale held on Saturday, 7 October, which we had promised would include at least 400 textile and dress books. It took a lot of work to sort, sticker and box the books and we were feeling very proud of ourselves until we discovered a couple of other boxes of unsorted books!
TIES (Textiles in Europe Studies)
TIES meeting at the TRC, 8 Oct. 2022
On Wednesday and Thursday the TRC was shut to the general public as we had a brain storming session of TIES, an informal group of textile specialists from various institutes in Germany, Hungary, Spain and of course the Netherlands. We met at the TRC to see how we can work together to strengthen and support textile and dress studies. It proved to be a very interesting and productive two-days with a small group of people discussing their very different experiences and backgrounds, research and ideas for the future in an informal manner, rather than in the setting of a large conference with too many voices, sessions and lobby groups.
We decided that one of the main themes of TIES for the near future will be to work together within the field of archaeological textiles (in the broadest sense of these words) via production and trade to end use. We will let you know what happens as more details about who, what and why are developed! But I can tell you the initial discussions were really inspiring.
Part of the two-day TIES meeting was held in the Volkenkunde Museum with a session held by ModeMuze, a Dutch/Flemish platform for clothing and fashion that is active in putting garments, accessories and relevant information from various museums online. Items from the TRC Collection will also soon be appearing in ModeMuze in due course.
TRC textile book sale 8 October 2022Book sale
Friday was spent getting the last touches ready for the book sale – muscles really ached by the end of the day and I never want to see another blue sticker (for 1 euro books) again. We are regularly given private libraries of textile and dress books, many of which go into the TRC Library, but inevitably there are duplicates, etc. As a result we ended up with well over 500 books for sale.
Saturday, of course, was the book sale. This is the first time we have had such an event at the TRC and we were all concerned about whether anyone would come. We had put information about the sale on the TRC Facebook pages, on Instagram, on the website, in a special newsletter, etc., but. In the end, we need not have worried! Although officially opening at 10.00 we had visitors by 09.40 and by 10.00 the door was constantly opening as more and more early birds arrived looking for books. We were busy for the rest of the day. All the funds raised during the sale will be spent on the activities of the TRC.
We closed the doors at 15.00 feeling very pleased, happy and tired. It was a great success! We sold a lot of books (more than 300) and had the chance to talk with people and in some cases introduce them to the TRC and at other times to catch up on events with old friends and supporters of the TRC.
TRC book fair, 8 October 2022We were also able to make plans for several Romanian study days next year, on various themes such as Romanian regional dress and embroidery. We also talked with people from the Georgian Embassy about an exhibition on Georgian dress, and the possibilities of a project on the same theme.
Several collections of textiles and garments were offered, and of course, more books! We are now planning to have a similar book sale at least once a year and make it a regular feature of the TRC Agenda.
On a more personal note I would really like to thank AJ, Augusta, Beverley, Karin, Maria, Renske and Rosemary for all their help in preparing and running the book sale. Without their help it would simply not have been possible.
TRC Intensive textile course
And next week? From 10-14 October there is the TRC’s internationally acclaimed 5-day intensive textile course with participants from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the US. We organise the course again from 21-25 November: let us know asap if you want to attend.
Basically it's simply getting busier and busier at the TRC as more people discover this Valhalla for textile lovers.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 9 October 2022
