Rockwood Textile Survey

During the spring of 2022, WUDPAC Fellow Margaret O’Neil worked with the Rockwood Park and Museum to survey a section of textiles from the 1999 Rockwood move. The 1999 Rockwood move saw the entire collection packed into boxes and moved to storage in Newark between March and April of that year. Although this house was originally thought to be temporary, the boxes were packed up in storage for more than 20 years.

            Upon opening the boxes, it became clear some of the textiles were damaged during this time in storage. Margaret O’Neil and Rockwood employee Loretta Spigel opened these boxes, inventoried each object, and determined what could be saved and what had to be discarded. Items to be saved and formally accessioned were packed into new boxes and put into storage. A total of 20 items chosen for the permanent collection were heavily affected by past insect activity and mold.

            These items were packed up and transported to the Winterthur Museum where they were frozen and vacuumed to remove frass, casings, dust, and mold spores. One item, a 19th-century hand-sewn linen shirt, was wet cleaned to remove additional mold spores. All items were then returned to Rockwood.