Historical Buddies

Coco Chanel once said that we are only dead when others stop thinking about us. Whether or not we heard it from her, most of us seem to believe that. When we talk about seeking “immortality,” what we really mean is leaving behind a legacy that will be memorable long after we are gone. It occurred to me recently, that as a historian, I seem obsessed with creating immortality for others. Whether it be a research project for school or a mystery collection at work, I love researching the history of someone largely unknown to the public. I like the idea that I am somehow bringing them back to life, and I imagine that if they could thank me, they would.

Perhaps this is why I wouldn’t have been a good curator for the Vivienne Westwood show. She is a respected living designer whose history and fame is already well recorded. In fact, she already had a big retrospective at the V&A a few years ago. What new insight could I possibly add?

Obviously, one of the reasons I am so excited about my John Doyle Bishop project is that I feel like I’m rescuing him from the historical dustbin. Here is someone who was a big deal in his own time, but has nearly slipped into oblivion because no one has kept his memory alive by writing about him. And he isn’t the first. I now have a little running list of dead people whose legacy I feel a personal connection to. One is Nina Hyde, the Washington Post writer whose collection of papers I organized when I was an intern in Special Collections. Another is Richard Bennett, a fantastic artist from the Seattle area whose sister donated a large collection of his stuff to MOHAI. I was the first person to process the material, and have excitedly looked on as the collection was fully accessioned into the collection, written about, and eventually exhibited. I feel like John Doyle Bishop, Nina Hyde, and Richard Bennett are like my historical buddies whom only I understand.

But sometimes I get a dose of reality. When I was researching Nina Hyde I came across recent newspaper article about one of her daughters. Oh right. She might be my historical mascot, but for someone else she was real—she was Mom. I also can’t take credit for Richard Bennett’s recent success as the subject of an exhibition and a book—it was his sister Helen who pushed for these things in the hope of keeping her brother’s memory alive. I often wonder what John Doyle Bishop’s niece thinks of me. I’m sure she is charmed that this student is so excited about her uncle, but for her he was real and for me he is a school project. How can I think that I really “know” him?

In the end, I think I imagine that this is all a game of historical karma. If I do a good job rescuing people from being forgotten, someday someone will do the same for me. They might not have any real idea of what I was like, but they will create some idea of me in their head, and the will decide that that person must have been pretty cool.

P.S. If you live in Seattle and you haven’t checked out the Richard Bennett exhibition at MOHAI, you really should. Buy the catalog too.

Vivienne Westwood...the final countdown!

My class's long-awaited exhibition opens two weeks from today! The curators are scrambling to finish the wall text, the exhibition designers are overseeing the installation, and the rest of us are helping out however we can. Once it opens a lot of the pressure will be off, but we will have tours to lead and an event to plan for a large group of high schoolers.

Did I force you to read about the exhibition yet? Well, if not, here is the press release (written by me and then heavily revised), and here is a shorter blurb from the museum website (written by me and then lightly revised).

Solved and Unsolved Mysteries

Sometimes grad school can make me feel like I am part of some kind of fashion detective agency. Besides the fact that I can go all CSI on a piece of fiber, I really enjoy the thrill of the chase when I am doing research. Here are some cases I am working on now.

Case #32: The many brands of John Doyle Bishop

When I was writing my thesis proposal, one of the key pieces of information my advisor was interested in was what brands JDB sold in his shop. Since I haven't found any business records, I mainly rely on what I can find out from actual garments. Between MOHAI and items I've seen listed on ebay, I now have a running list of names that are confirmed and those that are likely. I can confirm a name when I find something that has both the maker's label and John Doyle Bishop's. Like this:

But there were many cases (particularly with items at MOHAI) where the garment only had one label, and the donor provided the other information. That is strong evidence but not proof, since donors can be forgetful or might be repeating incorrect information from someone else (proof positive- the donor who believed they had a bloody scarf from the Lincoln assassination).

As my list of confirmed and likely brands grows, I've been doing research about each one so that I can better understand the kind of business JDB was buying from. Before I started this project, names like Pauline Trigere, Ben Zuckerman, Ben Reig, and Maurice Rentner meant almost nothing to me. But I have since discovered that they were all very successful and respected luxury ready-to-wear brands in their day. I also learned that Pauline Trigere stayed young by standing on her head every morning and dating men in their 20s. But those tidbits might not make it into my paper.

Case #47: The mark on the teacup

For our decorative arts class we were each assigned an object from FIT's study collection. I picked this pink teacup:

Which has this mark on the bottom:

As we learned our first day of class, there are apparently huge reference books full of makers marks that you can page through when you need to identify something. I pulled a few for porcelain and was surprised when I came across the answer relatively quickly. Because the mark was hand-done it can look slightly different each time, but this is certainly the mark of porcelain from Derby.

Case #36: George Taylor, where were you in 1926?

I've gotten started on my research of the "hemline index" and have already run into a major mystery. If you google "hemline index" many of the articles (mostly fluff pieces in newspapers) mention an economist named George Taylor and say that he first presented the idea in 1926. The problem is that I can't find any information about what he actually said. No articles cite the original source, and I suspect that they are all just getting their information from each other. There is some information on the web about the George Taylor in question, but he didn't really rise to prominence until later- in fact, in 1926 he was still in school for his Phd. I've tried to find books of his writings, but a library search for "George Taylor" brings up thousands of unrelated hits. This mystery remains elusive and unsolved.

On the plate for the final semester

Here is the rundown of my courses that started this week:

Exhibit- Plan and Interpretation: As far as workload goes, this will be a class in reverse. The exhibition that we have been working on since August goes up March 8, so our heaviest workload is right now. Once it opens we’ll have events to manage and tours to lead, but the bulk of the work will be done. There will be a bit of follow-up once it closes in April (yes, all this work for a one month show) tapering off to no work at all in May. Click here to see the press release for the show.

Modern Textiles: For our first week we visited a show at the Museum of Art and Design and talked about the questionable distinction often made between high art and craft. It seemed like a promising start. The interesting thing about this class is that our professor is the head of our rival program at NYU. That either proves that our program is superior somehow, or we are about to be majorly sabotaged.

Advanced Curatorial- Acquisition Theory and Practice: The funny thing about this class, is that it has almost nothing to do with the title. It should really be called Grab Bag of Things We Think You Should Know. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It sounds like the course was built around feedback from alums regarding knowledge and skills they wished they had acquired in grad school. The first part of the class will essentially be a crash course in Decorative Arts. The reasons being that A) Many of us will probably end up in small museums where we will be expected to manage more than textiles and clothing and B) Traditionally the study of dress has fallen under the umbrella of Decorative Arts, so future employers often expect textile people to be knowledgeable in that area as well. I think it is going to be fun. Our professor seems great and I’ve already been assigned a pink teacup to research. The dec arts portion only lasts until April, and then we get another teacher coming in to drill us on terminology that they think we should know. I’m not sure what that will be like, but I envision myself making flashcards to remember what a dolman sleeve looks like as opposed to a raglan one.

Advanced Theory- Professional Seminar: This is one I’m really excited about. Each year the class has a theme that everyone writes a paper about. Then we all present our papers at a symposium which we plan and organize. This year’s theme is “Fashion Mythbusters” –each of our papers with research and question some commonly held myth about fashion or fashion history. I will be taking on “The Hemline Index,” the supposed connection between the height of women’s skirts and the health of the economy (I can tell you right now—the theory is totally crap). Much like DDR last semester, I can sense that this is the one I will want to talk about the most.

Then, of course, I’ll be trying to fit in a much thesis work as possible. On Tuesday I went to the office of Grace Rose, John Doyle Bishop’s niece and the owner of a scrapbook full of clippings about her uncle. I had seen the scrapbook once before, but this time I confirmed that I was allowed to print the photos I found in it. So I am now officially authorized to share this with you

In case you are unclear, this is a picture of John Doyle Bishop surrounded by other pictures of John Doyle Bishop. How can you not love him??