Author: Kimberly Randall

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Image features: Three white-on-white patterned textiles sewn together, each having four selvages. The two outer textiles are patterned with stripes of geometric shapes including a bird. The center is patterned with zigzag bands, one above the other, to form an elongated diamond shape. Head opening is uncut. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this image.
Translucent Cloth
September is New York Textile Month, a citywide celebration of textile creativity. As in past years, the museum is collaborating with the Textile Society of America. A non-profit professional organization of scholars, educators, and artists in the field of textiles, TSA provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide....
Read Time
3 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
September 28, 2020
Image features: Black headcovering made from stretchy mesh fabric. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this image.
A Modest Achievement
September is New York Textile Month, a citywide celebration of textile creativity. As in past years, the museum is collaborating with the Textile Society of America. A non-profit professional organization of scholars, educators, and artists in the field of textiles, TSA provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide....
Read Time
2 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
September 21, 2020
Image features: Large wrapping cloth made from sheets of paper from account ledgers, glued together and stained with persimmon, giving a brownish color except where later patched with lighter colored papers. Writing still evident on sheets. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object
Only Seeing 
September is New York Textile Month, a citywide celebration of textile creativity. As in past years, the museum is collaborating with the Textile Society of America. A non-profit professional organization of scholars, educators, and artists in the field of textiles, TSA provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide....
Read Time
3 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
September 14, 2020
Image features: Samples of yarns dyed by members of the Society, affixed to the backs of admission tickets to the Annual Exhibition of 1908. Recipes for some colors are written below. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Preserving Knowledge, Preserving Color
September is New York Textile Month, a citywide celebration of textile creativity. As in past years, the museum is collaborating with the Textile Society of America. A non-profit professional organization of scholars, educators, and artists in the field of textiles, TSA provides an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide....
Read Time
3 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
September 7, 2020
Image features: Printed length in a design of uneven vertical stripes with overlapping small oval leaf or bead shapes in strong reds, orange, blue, mauve and yellow. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this image.
Althea McNish: An Exceptional Talent
As part of the African-Caribbean diaspora of the mid-twentieth century, textile designer Althea McNish had a lasting impact on British design over the course of her career . Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, she studied painting and worked as a cartographer and illustrator for the British government there. [1] In 1951, she and her mother left the island to...
Read Time
3 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
August 24, 2020
Image features: Tablecloth with square and rectangular compartments containing whimsical scenes inspired by Mughal and Persian miniature paintings and book illustrations. Scenes include seated musician on a carpet surrounded by flowering trees and swans, elephants with howdahs strapped to their backs, riders on horseback with parasols, and figures seated in elaborate garden pavilions. Primarily in shades of green, blue and pink. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
A Poetic Tablecloth
This colorful tablecloth was designed by Marion Dorn Kauffer, an accomplished twentieth-century designer primarily known for her textiles and carpets. Designing across different media, she also created wallpapers, illustrations, and graphics. The printed pattern that decorates this tablecloth features a series of square and rectangular vignettes inspired by Mughal painted miniatures from India. The vignettes...
Read Time
2 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
May 11, 2020
Image features a presidential campaign textile for Hubert H. Humphrey with alternating rows of the letter H enclosed by a green and blue border. Signature of Hubert H. Humphrey is in the bottom right of green border. Each square meant to be cut to make a campaign scarf. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Signature Scarf
This Hubert H. Humphrey “signature scarf” fabric was designed for Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign by Frankie Welch (a.k.a. Mary Frances Barnett), a textile and fashion designer as well as personal shopper and boutique owner. When her husband’s new position at the CIA first brought the Welch family to Washington, DC area in the 1950s, Frankie taught home...
Read Time
2 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
April 20, 2020
Image features a woven textile that serves as a commemorative of the US centennial while promoting the textile manufacturer Pacific Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Woven in black and cream, the composition has a bold graphic quality and depicts a broadly soaring eagle over a large modern factory enclosed in curvilinear frame. In between each factory is a plaque identifying the Treasurer, Agent and Selling Agent of the business. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Centennial Showpiece
This woven textile by Pacific Mills serves as a commemorative of the 1876 US Centennial while also promoting the textile manufacturer from Lawrence, Massachusetts – one of the largest textile producers in the Western Hemisphere during the nineteenth century. Woven in black and cream, the unusual composition has a bold graphic quality and depicts a...
Read Time
2 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
February 25, 2020
Image features a bookmark or stevengraph with a portrait medallion of Abraham Lincoln surmounted by an eagle perched on a shield flag that holds a banner in its beak that reads "E Pluribus Unum." Inscription at top reads: "Assassinated at Washington 14 April 1865," and just below another inscription: "I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by. And if it be the pleasure of Almighty God. To die by. (A Lincoln). Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Lincoln Bookmark
This post was originally published on July 26, 2018. Stevengraphs are small woven pictures that depict famous buildings, historical events, iconic scenes, and prominent public figures such as members of royal families, politicians and athletes. They were produced by Thomas Stevens (English, 1828–1888), a Coventry weaver who customized the jacquard loom to produce small detailed...
Read Time
2 minutes
Posted By
Kimberly Randall
Date
February 17, 2020