The Materials Collection houses many samples of raw and processed plant and animal fibers, synthetic fibers and textiles. Plant fibers include bamboo, linen, seaweed fiber, banana fiber, pineapple, soy, milkweed and ramie. Animal fibers include sheep wool, alpaca, yak, camel, angora, cashmere, silk, and milk protein fiber. The collection has samples of roving for spinning, spun yarns, and knitted and woven textiles. Textile samples include many technical textiles using fibers with anti-microbial properties, moisture-wicking, thermal resistivity and water absorption. Most samples may be handled and checked out.
Stewarded by the RISD Archives, this list of archival collections provides an overview of the history of textile education, creation, and collecting on RISD campus and at the RISD museum. Unprocessed collections do not have a finding aid available in RISD ArchivesSpace, but may be available to researchers at the RISD Archives. To visit materials, please make an appointment through the RISD Archives webpage.
Permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from archival materials must be obtained in writing from the RISD Archives. The researcher assumes full responsibility for use of material and for conformity to all applicable laws, including copyright. Visit RISD Archives for more information or contact risdarchives@risd.edu.
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Apparel Design Dept., Student Work 1999.59 (unprocessed collection)
Four outfits created by Apparel Design students, [circa 1954], plus two silk kimonos given to the donor as wedding presents.
Costume and Textiles Curatorial Files (Susan Hay Records) 2006.58 (unprocessed collection)
Curatorial records
1954-2002
Subject Files (circa 1952-2002), Adolphe Braun exhibit files (2000); Grant files (1980s-90s) Tirocchi Exhibit files (2001).
From Paris to Providence Exhibition records 23.03.03
Slides, photographs, negatives, documents, and one VHS tape document the From Paris to Providence: Fashion, Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers' Shop, 1915-1947 exhibition held 2001 January 12-April 8.
J. Fred Woell poster Publications International Textile Design Contest materials 2015.23 (unprocessed collection)
One J. Fred Woell lecture poster, undated, designed by Art Wood. Art Wood's "Degree Project, Textile Department, RISD, 1974." Daniel Walworth, "Documents from Hurricane Belle, August 10, 1976." BFA Painting 1978. International Textile Design Contest correspondence, 1992 and 1994, and a pamphlet from the 1990 contest. Placed in Tulokas Vertical File.
Mary Agnes Dexter Gray papers 16.2.16
The Mary Gray Dexter papers contain examples of her classwork completed as a student in the Rhode Island School of Design, Department of Textile Design, 1909-1911. The bulk of the collection is found in a notebook containing color coordinated weaving pattern plates. Each plate, 8.5x7 inches, is signed, dated, numbered, and identifies the type of weaving pattern depicted. There is one folder containing six fabric analysis sheets, 1910-1911. Each sheet is signed, dated, numbered, and contains a detailed analysis of a weaving design. Topics include selvage, warp dressed, texture, filling arrangement, warp and filling yarns required, and heddles per harness. The notebook may contain analysis sheets and both items contain fabric swatches. These records may be class work for the required classes "Analysis and Structure of Fabrics" and "Weave Formation."
The papers contain a 1911 January 29 Providence Sunday Journal (original and photocopy) titled "Textile Training at the School of Design," which includes an image of Dexter punching cards for a Jacquard loom.
The RISD catalogues for 1910-1911 and 1911-1912 contain an image of Dexter's textiles designs.
Matthew Fidrych Textile Design Course Materials, 1930s 2009.23 (unprocessed collection)
Student material of Matthew Fidrych (father), detailing Evening School studies in Textiles 1932-1940. One bound notebook of ruled paper (6.75" x 8.25") containing class notes, One three-ringed notebook (8.5"x11") with class assignments and fabric samples, One three-ringed notebook (8.5"x11") with weave pattern lay-outs and fabric samples, and one bound textbook, "Textile Costing: An Aid to Management," by Lockwood and Maxwell, 1938 (Washington, D.C., the Textile Foundation).
Matthew A. Fidrych papers 16.2.1
The Matthew A. Fidrych papers contain class notes and assignments, fabric samples, handheld threader, weave layouts, and a textbook from his student days at Rhode Island School of Design, 1932-1940.
Rudolf Berliner and D. Graeme Keith records 23.3.4.1
Curatorial records
Rudolf Paul Berliner served as Curator of Decorative Arts, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1946-1953. Berliner obtained, with the assistance of Paul J. Sachs, the position of Keeper of Prints and Drawings, Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, New York in 1939, the same year that D. Graeme Keith joined the staff as an Assistant in Exhibitions. He left in 1946 because of the return of Curator Calvin S. Hathaway from his service in Europe, to become the first Curator of Decorative Arts at the RISD Museum of Art. His primary function was to survey, study, inventory, and catalogue the extensive decorative arts works that had been collected during the previous fifty years. He created the Textile Study Room for faculty and students. From 1962-1967, he worked at the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.