DRAM 313 - Historic Costume Collection and Exhibition

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as GNCS 313) This intensive is created to support both the research and study of clothing as artifacts. Students have the opportunity to work with objects from the Vassar College Costume Collection and another community based historical collection. Students conduct research, examine garments, learn various preservation and stabilization techniques for textile preservation, and methods for mounting historic exhibitions. The intensive is one unit and meets once a week. Kenisha Kelly.

Explore the Vassar Historic Clothing Collection and its history connected to the individuals who created its garments. Throughout the semester we center on the importance of the manufacturing labor force of the late 19th and early 20th century, to make visible and tangible many silent histories of the seamstresses and tailors from that time. Students conduct research on the makers of those garments and learn about their work practices while also assessing the importance of the fabrics that were used to create each garment, examine how certain textiles were manufactured during the period, as well as study the origins of the fabric itself in order to gain understanding of how many of these materials were created and distributed during that time. Susan Hiner, Kenisha Kelly.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: INT