Nigar Shukri and Maryan Koehler dressed in Kurdish clothing from the area of Urmieh, northwestern Iran (1974 or 1975).On Tuesday, 20th August 2019, Gillian Vogelsang wrote:

Two boxes arrived last Friday (16th August 2019) from the USA, with some very different stories. The first box contained a small group of Iranian and Afghan garments that date from 1972-1975 (TRC 2019.1853a-1867). They were donated by Maryan Koehler. Some pieces were actually worn by Maryan at the time, while others were given to her when she worked in the country. More specifically, she was with the US Peace Corps teaching at the University of Isfahan, and between 1973 and 1975 she was at what was then called the Rezaiyeh College of Agriculture (now called Urmia University, in the northwest of the country) as a professor of English.

Maryan Koehler sometimes dressed in Kurdish clothing from the area. The Kurdish garments were given to her by her friend Nigar Shukri. Maryan Koehler is now tidying up and has been looking for a suitable home for her items. After looking on the internet she felt that the TRC Leiden understood these pieces and would make them available to a wide public.

Detail of a hand-embroidered huipil from Guatemala (Knobler donation).

The second group of textiles (TRC 2019.1837-1849) helps to fill a ‘gap’ in the TRC Collection. Thanks to the generosity of Chuck and Carolyn Knobler, USA, we have been given a selection of huipil (women’s tops) and a shawl from Guatemala and Mexico. Most of these pieces date to the latter half of the 20th century and are made from locally woven cloth (back strap looms).They are decorated in a variety of techniques and styles, including woven and embroidered forms. Some of the embroidered examples will be used in a future publication about hand embroidery from the Americas.