#textiles

The Still Room Blog

Becky Fifield

Aug 29, 2013
2 min

Catering to Clients in an 18th Century Philadelphia Shop

I spent July at a Research Fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. This mainly meant identifying manuscripts and object collections that might have something to tell me about my research topic: working women’s dress, as illuminated through the study of newspaper runaway advertisements. Read more about the project here, and an article on the work here. My goal now is to study more about the supply of garments to indentured and enslaved servant women, through purc

3 views0 comments

A Squeal of Delight at the Indianapolis Museum of Art: Miniature Dresses

Becky Fifield

Jul 25, 2013
1 min

A Squeal of Delight at the Indianapolis Museum of Art: Miniature Dresses

RL Fifield. I attended the American Institute for Conservation’s Annual Meeting in Indianapolis at the end of May. The opening reception was on a steamy night at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). While the reception was welcoming, it was difficult for the conference attendees to fully forget during these festivities that IMA had just decimated several senior conservation staff positions, part 21 positions lost during recent restructuring. However, as I worked my way throu

3 views0 comments

Connecting the Dots: Convict Servants in Maryland

Becky Fifield

Apr 4, 2013
3 min

Connecting the Dots: Convict Servants in Maryland

Eddie Izzard puns on the Church of England: “Cake or Death?” For people found guilty of committing small crimes in England, transportation to the American colonies for seven to fourteen years of bound servitude was the cake option. Overcrowding in England’s prisons made transportation seem like the perfect option – just get the petty thieves out of here, much to the chagrin of Maryland, where most convicts arrived. Within my study of the dress of indentured and enslaved runaw

1 view0 comments

Becky Fifield

Feb 28, 2013
3 min

Snapshot: Fabric Shopping in NYC

Tuesday, 2/12/2013, was, amazingly, a holiday at my place of employ. I took advantage of everyone else having a normal work day and went off to NYC’s Garment District. I have two motives when I visit that west side community, sandwiched between Penn Station and Times Square: I’m urgently looking for something specific for a sewing project that is going on RIGHT NOW! I’m trolling for possibilities. What do I think of this fabric for an 18th century handkerchief? Is the check q

2 views0 comments

Becky Fifield

Sep 29, 2012
2 min

Halloween Comes to Downton Abbey

I predicted in this post from April that people would be hot to trot for Downton Abbey influenced costumes this Halloween. True to form, a lot of readers have been finding my blog by searching on “downton abbey halloween costumes.” I’m thinking that there will be quite a few Annas & Mr. Bateses, some Lord & Lady Granthams, and quite a few Marys & Matthews. And I’m sure there will be a few Dowager Countesses chortling it up. (Anyone going as that tasty Turk?) But a Halloween

1 view0 comments

Becky Fifield

Sep 3, 2012
1 min

Happy Labor Day

Lewis Hine’s photographs will always remind us of the successes of the Labor Movement. The title of this image is Addie Card, 12 years. Spinner in North Pownal Cotton Mill. Girls in mill say she is ten years. She admitted to me she was twelve; that she started during school vacation and now would “stay”. Happy Labor Day. Addie Card, 12 years. Spinner in North Pownal Cotton Mill. Girls in mill say she is ten years. She admitted to me she was twelve; that she started during sch

1 view0 comments

Museum Monday: Why Museums Don’t Have Pictures of Everything on Their Websites

Becky Fifield

May 14, 2012
2 min

Museum Monday: Why Museums Don’t Have Pictures of Everything on Their Websites

I hear the occasional grumble. Why is that photo of that object so bad? Why isn’t there an online database? Why are only selected objects online? Why can’t museums get their acts together? Creating a structure to fit a mid-1770s gown. RL Fifield, 2003. I worked on a grant project for three years photographing a large chunk of a major art museum’s costume collection. In that time, we photographed 7,000 objects in three years. Pre-Columbian textile fragments. Black socks. Purse

0 views0 comments

The Act of Research – London Metropolitan Archives Edition

Becky Fifield

May 5, 2012
2 min

The Act of Research – London Metropolitan Archives Edition

A swatch preserved in the billet books at the London Metropolitan Archives. Thomas Coram Foundation for Children. Foundling number 12250, admitted April 2, 1759. In January of 2010, I arrived in London six hours late due to abnormal ice and snow conditions. One cancelled flight, one airport switch, and a six hour delay got me to the London Metropolitan Archives at 3pm. London was a mess – a shortage of snowmelt salt (which is a sickening pink) made all the sidewalks treachero

1 view0 comments

Becky Fifield

May 5, 2012
2 min

The Act of Research – London Metropolitan Archives Edition

1 view0 comments

Downton Abbey is Hot – Now for some real servants.

Becky Fifield

Apr 1, 2012
2 min

Downton Abbey is Hot – Now for some real servants.

I fully expect Masterpiece Classic’s Downton Abbey to inspire the costume choices of many next Halloween (see my post on Downton Halloween costumes). Dr. V and I clung to the compelling story lines from above and below stairs every Sunday evening. We even rushed home from our Super Bowl party to stream that night’s episode online. For years, Halloween parties have often had a French maid character, but will people take cues from Anna the head housemaid, or Mr. Carson, the but

1 view0 comments

Becky Fifield

Mar 19, 2012
2 min

Welcome to The Still Room.

Barbara Fritchie Restaurant, Frederick MD, RL Fifield photo, 2009. Conjuring the appearance of a 17th or 18th century Still Room yields a beautiful bounty of preserved foods for the grimness of winter, as well titillating sweetmeats. Here, harvests of the better months are sugared and salted, turning them into something more robust and intense. Fruits suspended in sugar, candies, a good tonic for darkening hair, and many a stringent spiced pickle issued forth from the Still R

1 view0 comments

Home and Blog: Subscribe

2012-2016

Home and Blog: Instagram

Home and Blog: Contact

The Still Room Blog

Subscribe Form

2012-2016

BLACk Lives MATTER. STOP ASIAN HATE. Love is love.

The Still Room Blog

Subscribe Form

​2012-2016

2012-2016