ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The Smith College Historic Clothing Collection is an archive of clothing and accessories of women from all social classes in the United States, from 1800 to the present. The Collection includes over 3000 objects, most of which are donations from Smith College Alumnae and friends of the College. It is used as a resource for courses in costume design, history and material culture, art and literary history, and curatorial practices. A Smith senior, Beth Pfaltz Welsh, established the collection in 1979. Smith students have worked as interns ever since.

 

MISSION STATEMENT

The Smith College Historic Clothing Collection (SCHCC) advances the understanding of women of all classes through the study of their dress. This diverse collection fosters interdisciplinary research, inquiry, and connections through engagement with tangible evidence of women’s lives.

 

VISION

The collection is a liberal arts archive or laboratory offering a wide range of primary research,

such as:

 keys to the history of many of today’s technologies in textile manufacturing,

 expressions of class, gender and race imbedded in the materials and construction,

 the physical and mental deportment imposed by under layers and fit,

 the aesthetic preferences of different eras,

 reflections on conscious and unconscious messages in our own time.

 

COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT PLAN

The collection holds clothing and accessories of dress for women of all social classes from 1790 to the present. If we combined our collection with that of Historic Northampton it would be one of the finest study collections available to undergraduate students and scholars. Every attempt is made to collect items which reflect lives of women from a broad social and economic spectrum. The value of a garment may be the story that comes with it, in spite of the condition. Objects which reflect a special technological development or a political movement which affected women’s lives are particularly important. The focus is the “uniforms” of women’s many roles and jobs. These are mostly but not exclusively, everyday clothing. The aim is to gather the humble as well as the couture, the well-worn work clothes along with the clothing for a single special occasion, the unique home made piece as well as the mundane manufactured example. At this point any further expansion is limited by the lack of storage facilities.