The TRC has recently been offered two impressive and fascinating collections of Central European and Balkan textiles, clothing and jewellery, as well as items from other parts of the world, including Afghanistan and Central Asia, Georgia, Japan, Palestine, Syria, and America. The last include a group of beautiful Middle American blouses with reverse appliqué (mola), not to mention 36 traditional American quilts!

A small part of the collection of Central and Southeast European garments, donated to the TRC, now still in Paris.

But what are these textiles and garments and why do we want them? One of the collections is in Paris and consists of over 800, mainly Hungarian and Romanian textiles and garments. The other collection is in Arizona, USA, and includes just over 1000 items, with many textiles from Albania in southeastern Europe and Georgia in the Caucasus. It also includes a small library of relevant books. These two collections complement each other and fill significant gaps in the existing TRC Collection.

An Hungarian vest with hand embroidery, part of the French collection about to be donated to the TRC.In consultation with various interested parties, including Yvonne van Delft, Wethouder Cultuur, Leiden and colleagues at Leiden University, the TRC has provisionally agreed to accept these items. The addition of these pieces to the already existing collection of over 36,000 pieces, will mean that the TRC and Leiden will have a unique textiles and dress collection that will be one of the best in Europe and reflect many different textile techniques and garment forms.

This amazing resource is open to the general public for educational, research, display and inspirational purposes, as well as supporting the concept of Leiden as Textielstad and Leiden Stad van Kennis.

We have lots of plans for these two collections that we hope to receive soon. Many of the embroidered pieces, for example, will be used for various volumes of the World Encyclopedia of Embroidery series (Bloomsbury, London), for at least two actual and online exhibitions, as well as films, all on various textiles and dress themes, especially regional forms. They will also be used for the teaching of various aspects of world textiles and dress, and to be seen, felt, and even listened to during workshops and study days that the TRC organises to support and encourage artisan skills, and to provide inspiration for present and future generations. It will also be an important cultural heritage resource for people living in many parts of the world as the collection will be available online in an open access form.

Hand embroidered sleeve of an Albanian garment. Part of the donation to the TRC.We hope that the garments and textiles currently in Paris can be transported to Leiden in early next year (several TRC volunteers may be travelling to Paris to pick up the items in a series of two-day trips), and early spring the Arizona items may arrive after being shipped by sea. It will take months to get everything sorted and online, but it will be worth it!

But inevitably there will be costs involved in transporting, cataloguing and storing these items. We need to find a minimum of 5700 euros for the basic costs. Any more would go towards two new cameras, a new deep freezer that goes to -35 centigrade, and about 400 acid-free storage boxes, not to mention a mountain of acid-free paper!

Please help us change the TRC by making a donation!

Please click the icon for the Voor De Kunst / TRC crowdfunding campaignHow? Donations can be made by one of the following methods: We have just started an official crowdfunding campaign with the help of Voordekunst. Please click here.

Please click the Ideal button for the TRC crowdfunding campaign.

You can also use the Ideal button. Just fill in the amount of money you want to donate, and add: Crowdfunding. 

 You can also use an international bank transfer:

• Account name: Stichting Textile Research Centre
• Bank: ING Bank
• Account address:  ING Bank, Schuttersveld 18, 2316 ZC Leiden
• IBAN NL39INGB0002982359
• BIC INGBNL2A
• TRC Leiden, Hogewoerd 164, 2311 HA Leiden, The Netherlands

Please note that in the USA you can use the 501(c)(3) system for tax deductions, via ‘The Tracing Pattern Foundation’ in Berkeley. Please contact Sandra Sardjono at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Many thanks, Gillian Vogelsang, Director TRC, 15 November 2021