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For the last few weeks mammoths have been at the forefront of interest at the TRC!

Initially this was due to a kind donation of some mammoth hair (TRC 2023.1510) in May 2022 by Erica Prus, who had earlier attended the TRC five-day intensive textile course. She had bought the hair online and it came with a certificate of authenticity, but was it actually mammoth hair or not, how can you tell?

Plastic bag with mammoth hair (TRC 2023.1510).

So we contacted friends at the Nederlands Forensisch Instituut (NFI), The Hague, asking if they could help. Was the hair genuine or not? It was a win-win for us, if genuine, how interesting, if a fake, how interesting!

For the NFI, however, it was of another, more immediate interest. One of the lesser known results of climate change is the increased availability of mammoth products, especially bone and ivory, from the melting permafrost in Siberia and Alaska. More and more complete bodies of mammoths are being revealed. This is becoming a problem for customs, police and other related institutes, because since 1989 there has been a global ban on the importation and use of elephant ivory, but mammoth ivory, due to the extinction of mammoths thousands of years ago, is legal. But how do you tell them apart?

From Monday, 2 October, the TRC presents a new exhibition that focuses on what people were wearing in the 1920s at various times of the day and on different occasions. We will show Western fashion from the 1920s, mostly for women, for daily, afternoon and evening wear, but there will also be underwear and pyjamas, sports wear, and a ceremonial outfit for a parliamentarian.

TRC exhibition "The 1920s from head to toe: Fashion from 100 years ago". From Monday 2 October 2023. Photograph by author.

Printed silk sample, 1920s (TRC 2023.1471).Some weeks ago we published a blog about the preparations of the upcoming TRC exhibition: The 1920s from head to toe, which is about 1920s fashion. It looks at daily, afternoon, evening and sportswear, as well as accessories such as hats, bags and shoes. All of the items come from the TRC’s collection of textiles and dress. The blog indicated that we are still actively looking for prints, images and photographs dating from the period to make the garments come ‘alive’.

As a result, we have just been given by the Dool family a collection of 23 printed silk textiles that date from the 1920s (TRC 2013.1469 - TRC 2023.1477). We are working on how to include these pieces in the exhibition. The textiles were left by Diane Joubert, wife of the artist Rein Dool. She originated from the Caribbean. She was an artist and deeply involved with textiles and featured in a recent TRC blog about some Frieda Kahlo style clothing.

Here at the TRC we are busy working on our next big exhibition: about 1920s fashion in the Western world! The emphasis lies on women’s clothing and outfits, but we have not forgotten men’s wear, and we are including various men's outfits including an official uniform for a Dutch politician, as well as evening wear. All the items are based on garments and accessories in the TRC Collection.

 Exhibition in progress: The 1920s from head to toe

Sample of Irish crochet lace (TRC 2007.0674).Citizen Culture has been active again at the TRC!

Last Saturday, 26 August, we had the first of a series of sessions with the aim of sorting out the TRC’s collection of hand and machine made lace. And by lace we mean “a textile patterned with holes which are created by the manipulation of threads” (Earnshaw 1984:91;  see below), which is a very broad definition that includes a wide range of techniques, from needle forms and bobbin laces to crocheted, knitted, knotted and tatted techniques, not to mention machine made examples!

The TRC Reference Lace Collection currently stands at over 1000 pieces of lace. Some are small samples, others are complete items such as collars, lappets and shawls. They range in date from the early 19th century to the present day. The collection not only includes samples of lace, but also the tools and patterns required for lace making, such as bobbins, threads and pillows, crochet hooks, netting and tatting shuttles, as well as discs for making Tenerife lace.

Crazy quilt, USA, 1890s (2019.2925).Textiles tell stories. Deeply human stories about belonging, or the longing to belong, about love and hope and everything in between.

No where is this more true than in the stories that quilts tell. I look at the TRC’s collection of American quilts in particular, and think about the lives of the women who created them, about what they wanted for their children and for their own lives.

Having lived in Minnesota, an American state in the mid-West, I think about the stories behind an amazing late-19th century crazy quilt that came from there. This quilt (TRC 2019.2925) includes silk, velvet and cotton pieces; ribbons from (probably very heated) Republican Party political conventions; and both hand embroidered and painted panels. The stories it could tell! (You can learn more about this quilt at a TRC blog of 21 April 2020).

Pair of embroidered tiger boots for a boy, China, 20th century (TRC 2023.1248a-b).I have small feet (British size 3, Dutch 36), but I feel I have clodhoppers (slang for really large feet or shoes) when I look at some of the shoes that have recently been donated to the TRC by Quirina Vreeburg.

Quirina is slowly giving the TRC her collection of Han and Manchu Chinese textiles, garments and accessories. The first few boxes came in a few months ago and they contained skirts, panels, and gowns.

Just recently she came with another three boxes of items, mainly filled with embroidered pieces, including garments, panels, bags and 25 pairs of Chinese shoes, plus a single, tiny shoe – I will come back to this piece below.

Black satin blouse decorated on the front and back with embroidered bands of repeating geometric and lacy shapes in red and yellow. The garment was known to the Dool family as one of Diane's 'Frida Kahlo' blouses. Antilles, 1950s/1960s (TRC 2023.1218a).The TRC recently received a donation of clothing and other textiles from the Dool family here in the Netherlands. They had given other items in the past, including pieces from Central and South America, the Middle East and the Netherlands.

The latest Dool family donation includes a set of clothing, worn and for more than fifty years cherished and carefully preserved by Diane Joubert, in the style of the famous Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954).

The outfit consists of a blouse (TRC 2023.1218a) and matching skirt (TRC 2023.1218b), as well as a shawl (TRC 2023.1219) and was worn in the 1950s and 1960s by Diane Joubert (1939-2021), who originated from to a large and old merchant family living in Curaçao and Venezuela. The family were also involved with the artistic world of Central America.