About

Museum Textile Services, the premier textile conservation studio in New England, specializes in the preservation of fabric-based materials for cultural institutions and individuals. Museum Textile Services documents, cleans, stabilizes and mounts historic textiles. Through educational programs and outreach initiatives, Museum Textile Services teaches individuals and cultural heritage institutions how to ensure better preservation of their textiles.

Founded in 1999, Museum Textile Services has served hundreds of cultural heritage institutions, private collectors and individuals with an interest in their family history through its laboratory services, consultations and educational programs. Museum Textile Services has treated some of our most significant cultural heritage materials, including Civil War flags, World War II uniforms, wedding dresses, samplers, quilts and other fabric-based materials.

Museum Textile Services has a reputation for excellence in conservation treatment because of the skills of its professional conservators and the variety of materials they are capable of treating. The conservation studio is staffed by two professional conservators and a corps of talented interns, who come to Museum Textile Services to get hands-on training in the art and science of textile conservation.

Museum Textile Services offers consultation and training to help institutions identify and preserve collections as a whole. Collections surveys provide valuable information about the current condition of a cultural heritage institution's collections, exhibition and storage guidelines and a list of those items that are most in need of conservation. Training programs, offered through cultural heritage institutions, regional organizations such as the New England Museum Association or through collaborations with institutions abroad, provide museum professionals with the resources needed to complete basic conservation treatment of historic textiles.

The Museum Textile Services website, www.museumtextiles.com, serves as a resource for textile conservation information, including links to other conservation organizations and a guide to undergraduate and graduate education programs.