ICOM Costume Committee, Belgrade 2011

GUIDELINES FOR COSTUME

Summary
Detail
Recommended reading

SUMMARY

1. Collecting Costumes
A clear policy is essential. Only take objects you intend to keep. Ask for as much information as possible.

2. Accessioning
Record as much information as time permits, using pencil when working with the object. Each object must bear its permanent accession number.

3. Care
Keep separate from the collection, and immediately on receipt, inspect for pests, and treat, and remove superficial dust. Handle as little as possible. Objects intended for preservation must not be worn.

4. Storage
The environmental conditions should be as near ideal as possible.
temperature relative humidity
For textiles 18°C 50-55 %
For leather 18 C 50 %
Maintain minimum variation.
Light area only when working on objects.

5. Conservation
Prevention is better than cure.
Wrong treatment will destroy an object for ever. Conservation should be done by professional specialists, in consultation with the curator.
If in doubt, leave it alone.

6. Display and Out-loans
No object should be on display indefinitely.
It should be displayed in recommended light of 50 lux maximum, and temperature and humidity as 4 above. It should be in an enclosed, ventilated environment.

7. Photography
Good quality photographs reduce the need for handling and examining objects.
Decide in advance exactly what the picture should show. Keep photo lamps turned off except when measuring light level and taking the picture. Adjust lighting by moving lamps and not the costumes. Keep account of exposure to strong lights and reduce exhibition time accordingly. Monitor heat and humidity during photography to comply with point 4 above.

DETAIL

The first rule is to show respect for the integrity of each item.

1. Collecting
A clear policy is essential. Accept only those items which fit within the policy. Know and respect the collecting policy of other institutions.

2. Accessioning
Use only pencils in the vicinity of an object, and never pens.
Record all the information given, and evaluate it, and ask for the following: Name and address of donor, Iender or seller - relationship to original wearer - designer/maker, whether amateur or professional - photographs or other illustrations showing the object in use - date when acquired - purchase place and price - present day value - purpose of making - history and circumstance of wearing. Where the history is unknown, the date of the object must be estimated and recorded by a qualified person (the century is not sufficient).
Sign and date information recorded.
Number each object with its permanent accession number.

3. Care
Immediately on receipt, before integrating with the collections, the object must be inspected for pests and mould, and if necessary, treated by mechanical means, such as brushing or vacuum-cleaning under screening, or if seriously contaminated, by fumigation in consultation with a conservator. No washing. Vulnerable items made from fur, feathers, hair or wool should be kept in isolation for several months before integration. Wear clean cotton gloves, no hand cream or scents and no jewelry which might catch in loose threads. Gloves protect cataloguers as well as objects.
Handle as little as possible. Avoid folding. If unavoidable, use acid-free tissue paper to cushion the folds.
Transport only under dust covers, using buffered trays or trolleys. Dustcovers should be made from well washed unbleached, or partly bleached calico.
No smoking, eating or drinking in any room containing objects.
No flower vases near working areas.

Cataloguing:
Place the object on a table covered with calico dust sheet, and record as much information as time permits. Basic data should include: permanent accession number, recorder and date - date of object, dimensions, colour, shape, material, technique (woven, knitted, embroidered, handmade, machine sewn), drawings or photographs, showing signs of wear, any decoration or special feature, repairs and conservation treatment.
Objects must never be worn. They should be displayed flat or on dummies for photography.
Duplicate all information and store each set separately.

4. Storage
Windows should be blacked out. Fluorescent light should have ultraviolet screens. Each light should have its own switch, so that only the working areas need be lit at any one time. The environment should fluctuate as little as possible. Cool conditions about 18° C with relative humidity between 50 and 55 % are currently recommended. Leather prefers a low humidity of 45 to 50 %, and should be kept separately, as should fur, feathers and woollen objects, because of their deleterious effect on other textiles. No natural fabric is inert. Each type reacts to, and is influenced by its environment in a different way.
Good housekeeping is essential, with regular, thorough vacuum-cleaning into all corners and under all shelving, as a precaution against pests. Use of chemicals to prevent pests, including moths, has been known to cause irreversible damage to all textiles, fibres and dyestuffs, and could lead to the development of resistant strains of insects.
Flat storage on padded surfaces is preferable to hanging, though hanging costs Iess and takes Iess space. Stress must be minimised, using individually padded hangers and white cotton tapes to take the weight of heavy skirts. Strained materials will tear and develop creases and distortions. Ensure sufficient space to allow objects to "breathe". Storage furniture and boxes should be raised off the floor to avoid damage in case of flood.
Only fluorocarbon fire extinguishers should be provided for use in costume and textile areas.

5. Conservation
All aspects of preventive conservation should be thoroughly familiar to curatorial staff, as this is the most effective form of conservation. Historic textiles should never be left crumpled, or with uncushioned folds. Tables used for conservation should be padded under a washable dustcover.
Conservation involving washing or cleaning fluids and stitching should be done by a conservator, in consultation with the curator.
If no conservator is available, cleaning, other than vacuum-cleaning, should be avoided, and repair kept to a minimum. The wrong treatment may destroy an object. If in doubt, leave it alone.
All treatment should be recorded on catalogue card, signed and dated.

Embroidery

6. Display and Out-loans
No object should be on permanent display. Make sure that the display material is safe and compatible with the objects. Lighting should be kept to a minimum. There is no safe level, but 50 lux is currently recommended for displays.
There should be no light outside exhibition hours from any source, including daylight, from which ultra-violet rays have been excluded. Lights must be outside cases. Flattering lighting is better than cosmetic conservation.
Open displays are discouraged, because of the fluctuating conditions generated by visitors, from whom stem high humidity, temperatures and dust. Proximity to the objects causes security problems, because people will touch, breathe and move about. The environment should be the same as in storage, with cases kept at a steady 18°C, with a relative humidity of 50-55%.
To ensure that display methods do not cause stress to the objects or holes from pins, all exhibitions should be in consultation between curator, conservator and display designer.
No aerosol types of cleaning and polishing materials should be used.
To avoid static electricity, glass should only be wiped, and never polished with a dry cloth.

Future Considerations
New research methods continue to be developed which may reveal significant information for the first time, provided that no evidence has been removed by zealous cleaning or excessive display demands.
For ethical and scientific reasons, the watchword should therefore be: NO interference with objects accepted into a museum collection. Interference reduces their value as historic documents.
However, the interest awakened through eye-catching displays may determine the future safekeeping of costume collections, whether supported by taxes or private means. Compromises are inevitable.
Constant co-operation between curators, exhibition designers, conservators and scientists is the most necessary ingredient in promoting the best conditions for making a costume collection available to the public.

7. Photography
Documentation of historic textiles and costume can reduce the amount of handling and exhibition necessary for communicating to scholars and the public historical, cultural, and technical aspects of historical costume.
Photography, pattern-taking, drawings, and written descriptions are all good methods of documentation. Photography is often done by professionals with varying degrees of experience in museum work; it is imperative that costume curators and conservators be able to communicate the proper procedures and the desired end result. Historic costume should rather be well-photographed once than be subjected to repeated sessions of handling and lighting.
Textiles suffer irreparable damage from light, both visible and ultraviolet waves, as well as mechanical damage caused by repeated heating and cooling (and subsequent drops in relative humidity) that occurs under strong lights. Damage from light and heat is cumulative; costume which has previously been exposed to strong lighting should be displayed less.
Lights should be turned off or dimmed whenever possible, and maximum lighting should be limited to light measurements and the actual exposure, for example three minutes at a time. The costume can be kept covered with a lightfast drape during most of the set-up time. Lights should be kept at a safe distance, far enough away to prevent more than a 5° F temperature increase on the surface of the object. Monitor temperature and relative humidity regularly during a photography session; textiles kept at an optimal RH about 50% are less prone to permanent - and irreversible - damaging of fibres.
Photo lamps should be provided with UV- and IR-absorbing filters, which may require some colour compensation on the camera. The safest lighting for photographing textiles is considered to be electronic flash (strobe), as tungsten and quartz lamps have very high levels of infrared light (causing heat); the high levels of UV and IR in flash lighting are of such short duration that they are not unduly injurious, while providing greater colour accuracy and image sharpness. Particular care must be taken during TV and film work, which exposes objects to prolonged and intense lighting. For this use a UV-filtered HMI (halogen) lamp is recommended, as it generates little heat.

HANDLING

1. Costume requires trained personnel for handling (as opposed to many other types of museum objects), and should be accompanied to the Photographic Studio by a curator/departmental technician so trained (see Guidelines above).

2. Costumes and accessories should be handled, positioned, and secured only by trained curators/departmental technicians.

3. Costumes and accessories should be carried and handled in storage trays.

4. Wear clean cotton gloves when handling costume.

5. To avoid unnecessary retakes and handling, orders for special photography should be accompanied by specific instructions as to angle, lighting, background, details required, and so on. It is usually best that the person responsible for the order be present during the photography. Keep accurate records of all photography of the object, so that existing photos can be used, avoiding repeated photography.

6. Before positioning an object, secure the surface upon which it is to rest as well as the background material.

7. Whenever possible, move the camera and not the object to attain the proper angle and focus.

8. Never adjust the camera lens or lights directly over the object.

LIGHTING

1. As textiles are both heat- and light-sensitive, IR- and UV-absorbing filters are to be used on all lamps. Electronic flash lights are preferable to photofloods and spot lamps. Fan-cooled lamps help prevent the object's heating up.

2. Maintain light intensity as low as possible. Indirect lighting, diffused or bounced off adjacent white surfaces, is preferable.

3. Lights should be turned off or away from the object at intervals following three minutes' exposure. Turn lights on at full strength only for focusing, light readings, and shooting.

4. To reduce heating effects and minimise danger from accidents, keep lights as far as possible from the object. The surface temperature of the object should not rise more than 5° F; the RH must not fall below 50%.

ENVIRONMENT

1. Maintain conditions of cleanliness, temperature and RH consistent with Museum exhibition and storage areas (see Guidelines above). If the conditions in the Photography Studio are unfavourable for a particular object, the curator or conservator should designate a more suitable location.

2. Monitor the area around textiles with hygrometers or hygrothermographs, so that lights can be shut down if the temperature and/or humidity change sharply. Cool steam (well away from the object) is the fastest and safest way to increase RH.

PHOTOGRAPHERS UNDER CONTRACT

1. Curators and/or conservators should inform outside photographers of the Museum's guidelines and of the special lighting restrictions on costume.

2. TV and film crews are recommended to use UV-filtered HMI lamps for costume; the conservator or curator shall determine whether or not they are to be used.

3. To ensure compliance with Museum standards, a person designated by the curatorial and/or conservation department concerned should be present when costume is photographed by an outside photographer.

RECOMMENDED READING

ICOM Code of Professional Ethics.
Anne Buck: Vocabulary of basic terms for cataloguing costume. In Waffen- und Kostümkunde 2, München, Berlin, 1982, pp. 119-121; with ICOM Vocabulary of Basic Terms for Cataloguing Costume. In Waffen- und Kostümkunde 2, München, Berlin, 1982, pp. 122-151; with the basic information, Cataloguing Costume, published in the Museums Journal, December 1976, pp. 109-110.

Museums and Galleries Commission: Standards in the Museum Care of Costume and Textile Collections, London, 1998.

Nordiska Museet, Stockholm: The Boundaries of Antiquarian and of Technical Responsibilities in Conservation, 1982.

ICOM Bulletin, July 1986 no. 4: The Conservator-Restorer.

Costume Society of America: Annual Meeting 1987 resolution encouraging the prohibition of wearing objects intended for preservation.

Susan Blackshaw - Vincent Daniels: Selecting materials for Use in the Display and Storage of Antiquities. ICOM, Zagreb, 1978.

Karen Finch - Greta Putnam: The Care and Preservation of Textiles. Batsford, London, 1985.

Karen Finch: Recording Evidence. UNESCO, Budapest, 1985.

Mary Kahlenberg: Collecting Considerations. Pp 54-57 Textile Conservation Symposium in Honor of Pat Reeves, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.

Hermann Kühn: Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities. Butterworth, London, 1985.

Keith O'Story: Approaches to Pest Management in Museums. Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, USA, 1985 (free on request).

Else Østergaard: Studies in Museum Technology. Nationalmuseet, Denmark, 1978.

Francesco Pertegato, editor: Conservation and Restoration of Textiles. International Conference, Como, 1980.

Philip Sykas: Caring or Wearing. Museums Journal, vol 87, no. 3 December 1987. Philip Sykas: Guidelines for Storage Furniture for Costume Collections. Group for Costume & Textiles Staff in Museums Newsletter, Autumn 1993.

Garry Thomson: The Museum Environment. Butterworth, London, 1986.