Four traditional men's belts from Romania. TRC collection.It has been an exciting day at the TRC (when is it not?). As you may know, in January (2016) we heard about a large collection of European regional dress that was looking for a new home and the TRC agreed to help out. Thanks to the support of various members of the Nederlandse Kostuumvereniging and a very generous donation from Rotary Leiden, we have been able to cover the main costs of bringing the collection to Leiden and purchasing storage racks. Other donations, including one particular donation from Australia, means we have enough money to cover the boxes, etc. And today, 2nd April, saw the first batch of the collection coming to the TRC. The second group of items will be coming in two weeks.

Dressed figures, outfits, individual garments and textiles, all arrived this afternoon in numerous boxes and by the rack load. We are now busy sorting out  and examining the contents, working out where items come from and what they go with. There are many items from Germany, including a wide range of 20th century women's caps decorated with embroidery, ribbons and in some cases pom-poms. There are also outfits from the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, as well as Lapland. And that is just in the boxes and on the mannequins. We have not yet opened the clothing bags that are hanging from two large racks. We will be cataloguing those next week. The exciting job, which is made a little harder because we are not sure what will come in the second batch of the collection. But that is what makes working at the TRC fun, challenging and inspirational.Close-up of leather-embroidered traditional Romanian belt. TRC collection.

In August 2016 we are going to use many of these items in an exhibition about European regional dress, with an emphasis on embroidered and beaded items. It is going to be a colourful display that will include some unusual items. More details to come .....

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 2 April 2016