Last week the TRC Leiden launched a campaign to raise funds to bring two collections to Leiden. One of the collections is currently in Arizona, while the other is in Paris and together they include about 2000 textiles and garments. These mainly come from Central Europe and neighbouring countries, as well as many items from other parts of the world, including Japan, India, Africa and the Americas.

A selection of garments from Central Europe, now still in Paris, that have been donated to the TRC.

Phase 1

The first phase of the TRC appeal was to raise 5700 euros to bring the two collections to Leiden and we are very pleased and proud to announce that within 5 days we have raised the money! The two collections are coming to Leiden! How was this done? It was purely thanks to the help of many individuals who know and love the work of the TRC and donated either via Voordekunst or directly to the TRC’s account. This is truly Citizen Culture in action! Many, many thanks to everyone.

Phase 2

Raising the 5700 euros so quickly means we can move to phase 2 much earlier than expected. This is to pay for hundreds of acid free boxes, a mountain of special tissue paper, as well as a deep freezer (to kill moths and other insects), storage racks, two cameras, etc. All the things needed to help process and store the collections. We will need another 6000 euros to do this. Can you help? If yes please just press one of the buttons.

Phase 3

But what does processing of the collections involve? As it stands at the moment the Paris collection will be coming to the TRC on the 23 January 2022. The Arizona collection will come in February. It is going to be a long job to sort and catalogue everything. We are going to set up a long row of tables in the TRC Gallery and then a group of volunteers will start tagging, cataloguing, photographing and freezing the objects. They (the objects not the volunteers) will be then boxed and stored. A long job that will take at least three months.

So I am pleased to announce that the Dept. of Museums, Collections and Society, Leiden University, is also involved and several MA students will be helping in this process and last night we had a welcome offer from the textile department of Osnabrück University, Germany, they are also willing to send students to help out. This is a fantastic opportunity for students (and others) to get actual experience in handling and processing so many textile items from all over the world.

Again, Citizen Culture at work in so many different ways and levels. And now all we need to do is get that larger building and the funding to run it….. and together we will do it!

Please help us change the TRC by making a donation!

Please click the icon for the Voordekunst / TRC crowdfunding campaignHow? Donations can be made by one of the following methods: First, we have set up 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 Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken..

Gillian Vogelsang, Director TRC, 25 November 2021