This is the beginning of Part 2 of our virtual version of Jim and Connie’s presentation on how they have gone about documenting their textiles and their textile books.

Benefits and Pleasures of

Documenting Your Collection

Jim and Connie Henderson

Collection Documentaton

Why ?

Russ Pickering's suggestion ~ 1983

"you don't know your pieces until you write about them“

- to LEARN and retain knowledge about yours and related pieces,

- for CORRESPONDENCE about specific pieces

- for INSURANCE - for THEFT IDENTIFICATION - for ESTATE plans, passing on information and estimated value

Collection Documentaton

Why - again ?

Russ Pickering, essay on STEWARDSHIP (1992) “Treasure of the Caucasus”, NEARC 1992, Catalog for Exhibition at Norton Gallery and School of Art, WPBch

“… the three basic elements of a collectors world…”

- Search and Seizure - Organization and Documentation < ------------

- Stewardship

Connie – anecdotes and survey -- typical practice

In preparation for their TM presentation, Connie surveyed a number of collectors, asking what their documentation of their collections was like.

Connie began

by recounting her efforts to discover what kind of documentation of their collections other collectors had undertaken and what sort of responses she got.

Here is the text of the email she used:

We are doing a program at the Textile Museum in March on documenting collections such as rugs & textiles.

We have our own system, but we would like to hear from other collectors and museum staff about how they document their collections to discover what others do.

There are several reasons to document – for insurance purposes, for estate planning so your children will know what you have, to learn about your own objects by writing about them, etc.

How do you two document your collections?

· A list in Excel or WORD?· Other software?· Photos? Diagrams? Other ways?

What headings do you use?For example:1. name of an item,2. its country of origin,3. its provenance - where or from whom you got it, prior owners, where exhibited if in any shows or exhibits4. date acquired,5. price paid,6. structural analysis: warp & weft color & material (eg wool, cotton etc; knot count & type of knot; color count; design description, borders; end finishes etc7. reference to similar items in books or auction or museum catalogs? etc.8. References to emails or correspondence about the piece9. Do you give each item a number as well as a photo and description? If so do you use archival tape for numbering?10. How often do you update your documentation? If you can share your thoughts by email, that would be great or, If you are willing, we would love to call and talk with you about this if that is easier for you.

Thanks so much,

Connie Henderson

Connie said that, when she talked to collectors, asking what they did by way of documentation she often got long pauses in response or sometimes an indication that they had done “something” about 10 years ago.

Only three collectors Connie contacted seemed to have done any systematic documentation of their collections.

She said that she also picked up some anecdotes that are examples of why it is important to document, and of the possible consequences of not doing so.

• The family of a deceased collector that threw a complete set of Hali Magazines in the trash• The person who sent a rug to be washed and never saw it again• The spouse of a collector-dealer with advancing dementia who had not documented the collection or kept

purchase prices• The estate executor who knew nothing about rugs and textiles

Connie also said that only three of her respondents had documented their books, magazines and auction catalogues in their reference library

Some said that they had made a beginning maybe a decade ago but had not continued the practice. Connie said that she found only about three textile collectors who did systematic documentation of their collections on a continuing basis.

I think my own response may be typical:

“I fear that I have not documented my own rug and textile collection at even the levels within my capabilities.

“I do have quite a number of rug and textile books, but, sadly, haven’t documented them either.

“Mostly, I have things sorted approximately on shelves here in front of me and in the living room. Both are within easy reach, but things are getting out of hand here, too. “I have perhaps three stacks of rug and textile books behind me, with a box of old ORR issues, around which they are stacked. I can usually find things, here in the apartment, I want to consult, but sometimes it takes some searching, and I don’t know what’s really in those three stacks, unless I look.

“I was looking for Christopher Alexander’s book “A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art,” and “George O’Bannon’s translation and comment on Moshkova in his “Carpets of the Peoples of Central Asia,” and spent most of a day before finding them on a shelf in front of me. “I have a nearly complete set of Hali’s in order on a shelf and some other issues of ORR and Ghereh. “A librarian would (and should) be ashamed of me.”

John

That‘s maybe too much in the way of preliminaries. Let's look at the documentation system Jim and Connie employ.

BASIC WORKSHEET

Some begin with an OUTLINE – basic ESSENTIALS

- a guide for handwritten notes

- or directly into laptop or pad-device

MS WORD

MS EXCEL

other DOCUMENT software

PastPerfect

Bento (FileMaker)

other Museum Inventory software

PRIMARY – ESSENTIAL Basics

INVENTORY NUMBER

DESCRIPTION – Identification hierarchy - What - Where - Who - When

- summary description

 Overall SIZE – feet-inches [meters]  

- Woven area – usually not counting fringe - Or separate note on fringe length

 

Current location Photo(s)

Spreadsheet Examples

RUG-TEXTILE INVENTORY

Item# DESCRIPTION LocationEst.

Date

Size

not fringe

Aq'n Date

Aq'n Cost

Repair Cost

Est.

Whsl

The following examples show how these general formats are populated

Jim showed the following example about a trade of books with a friend who is a collector-dealer who went through their inventory to add his collection

The gray filled in boxes on the right show the Henderson book collection. The horizontal hatched boxes show books of possible interest to the Hendersons

• Gray on the left and red text show books owned by both Hendersons and friend

• Gray on the left and black text show Henderson books not owned by the friend

• NO gray on the left with red text shows friend’s books not owned by Hendersons

FOLDERS

PHOTOS, & receipts, letters & emails,

Filed by InventoryNumbers

FOLDERSand

PHOTOS

GOOD PRACTICE

RENEW & transfer digital files every few years

Including new media & software

BACKUP !

RETAIN PAPER originals

FOLDERS & PHOTOS -- Example

PHOTOSSeccade / Sajjadah / Prayer Rug

includeback & front and key details

SECONDARY – Technical Details optional

Useful to use MS Word -- Examples

- WARP - WEFT - PILE or BROCADING or other PRIMARY DECORATIVE technique

- EDGES- ENDS- COLORS & color count- DESIGN overall .- FIELD & SPANDRELS - BORDERS: main, guard outer & inner- END PANELS - CONDITION

ExampleDocumented TECHNICAL DETAILS

Muçur – Prayer Rug – OTHER NOTES – Exhibition & References

OTHER DETAILSComplete Yastik

e.g., colors & color count

The following examples were given

where a page from the inventory record,

compressed into a relatively small PDF file,

facilitated dialog by email to discuss attribution and comparison with others

Inventory Sheet as PDF

compressed small file size for email attachments

Inventory Sheet as PDF

compressed small file size for email attachments

Tunisia Gafsa “ferrãŝīya”

John Howe introduced us to Bill & Sandra Bechhoeffer

We carried on a lively email dialog 2009-2013He later captured this real-life discussion at the TM

Inventory Sheet as PDF

compressed small file size for email attachments

Here is an image of this piece during the show-’n-tell after the slide-show

Inventory Sheet as PDF

compressed small file size for email attachments

Jim recounted a lively email dialog about this piece, and how a similar one was advertised in Hali in the early 1990s by a German dealer as “Navaho” at an astonishing price; he insisted he was right despite our asking about the visible fringe at each end of his piece

Inventory Sheet Also record Provenance and Gifts

Connected to Friends

Provenance – connected to friends

S. Anatolia, Kilim, Saҫikara YörükCollected in field research by J. Powell & H. Böhmer

Owned with D.D. Moore and R. Dennis

Anatolia Kilim -- Saҫikara Yörük

Provenance – connected to friends

S. E Anatolia Kilim - Yörük or Kurd

Analysis & Attribution

Brocaded and other Flatweaves – Detailed analysis can take time and words!

Analysis & Attribution is also a worthy effort for such Brocaded and other Flatweaves

Jim added the example of sweaters that he and Samy Rabinovic acquired in the late 1990s from Michael Bischoff, after they saw the unique one that village weavers had made for Michael a decade earlier.

Jim had asked “if you ever get another one I’d like to have it”.

Samy brought the two from Turkey. Later it was learned that others have been made, and Jim began to collect photos and attributions to current owners, including one owned by John Howe from his always fruitful visits to flea markets.

JIM’s SAMY’s

Jim and John Howe had brought their sweaters to this RTAM session. Here are front and back photos of the sweaters with their owner-models.

And another

half-dozen

This is the end of Part 2, of this post.

The easiest way to get to Part 3 is to exit this post, return to the announcing email, and use the link there to enter the Textiles and Text site again.

Then select Part 3 in the red-lettered column on the right.