Costume and Textiles

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Our costume collection is one of the largest in Britain. It includes men's, women's and children's clothes and accessories, household furnishings and needlework, and covers over two hundred years.

Among the wide range of garments are grand 18th century wedding clothes, sombre Victorian mourning garments, and wartime Utility clothing, as well as everyday separates from modern chain stores.

The textile collection includes examples of the many different craft skills which were popular among ladies in the 19th century. There are patchwork quilts, samplers, lace and embroidery.

We also possess a collection of material relating to fashion and textiles. This includes 19th century womens magazines along with their modern counterparts, dressmaking patterns, fashion-plates, shop and mail-order catalogues and photographs. All of these are valuable as records of the clothes that people have worn, and the way that they wore them.

We also have a collection of dolls, from the eighteenth century to the 1990s, ranging from elegant wax and china to homely rag dolls, and from Sindy to Tiny Tears.