This document discusses the benefits and process of documenting textile collections. It provides examples of documentation sheets used by Jim and Connie Henderson to record information about items in their collection, including inventory numbers, descriptions, locations, photos, technical details, provenance, and notes. The examples show documentation for rugs, books, sweaters, and other textiles. Connie shared that when she asked other collectors about their documentation practices, most had not done systematic documentation and their collections lacked organization. Documenting collections has benefits like aiding identification, insurance, estate planning, and learning about the pieces.

1. This is the beginning of Part 2 of our virtual version of Jim and Connie’s presentation on how they
have gone about documenting their textiles and their textile books.

2. Benefits and Pleasures
of
Documenting Your Collection
Jim and Connie Henderson

3. Collection Documentaton
Why ?
Russ Pickering's suggestion ~ 1983
"you don't know your pieces until you write about them“
- to LEARN and retain knowledge about yours and related pieces,
- for CORRESPONDENCE about specific pieces
- for INSURANCE
- for THEFT IDENTIFICATION
- for ESTATE plans, passing on information and estimated value

4. Collection Documentaton
Why - again ?
Russ Pickering, essay on STEWARDSHIP (1992)
“Treasure of the Caucasus”, NEARC 1992, Catalog for Exhibition at Norton Gallery and School of Art, WPBch
“… the three basic elements of a collectors world…”
- Search and Seizure
- Organization and Documentation < ------------
- Stewardship

5. Connie – anecdotes and survey -- typical practice
In preparation for their TM presentation, Connie surveyed a number of
collectors, asking what their documentation of their collections was like.
Connie began
by recounting her efforts to discover what kind of documentation of their
collections other collectors had undertaken and what sort of responses she got.

6. Here is the text of the email she used:
We are doing a program at the Textile Museum in March on documenting collections such as rugs & textiles.
We have our own system, but we would like to hear from other collectors and museum staff about how they document their collections to discover what others do.
There are several reasons to document – for insurance purposes, for estate planning so your children will know what you have, to learn about your own objects by
writing about them, etc.
How do you two document your collections?
· A list in Excel or WORD?
· Other software?
· Photos? Diagrams? Other ways?
What headings do you use?
For example:
1. name of an item,
2. its country of origin,
3. its provenance - where or from whom you got it, prior owners, where exhibited if in any shows or exhibits
4. date acquired,
5. price paid,
6. structural analysis: warp & weft color & material (eg wool, cotton etc; knot count & type of knot; color count; design description, borders; end finishes etc
7. reference to similar items in books or auction or museum catalogs? etc.
8. References to emails or correspondence about the piece
9. Do you give each item a number as well as a photo and description? If so do you use archival tape for numbering?
10. How often do you update your documentation?
If you can share your thoughts by email, that would be great or, If you are willing, we would love to call and talk with you about this if that is easier for you.
Thanks so much,
Connie Henderson

7. Connie said that, when she talked to collectors, asking what they did by way of documentation she often got
long pauses in response or sometimes an indication that they had done “something” about 10 years ago.
Only three collectors Connie contacted seemed to have done any systematic documentation of their
collections.
She said that she also picked up some anecdotes that are examples of why it is important to document, and of
the possible consequences of not doing so.
• The family of a deceased collector that threw a complete set of Hali Magazines in the trash
• The person who sent a rug to be washed and never saw it again
• The spouse of a collector-dealer with advancing dementia who had not documented the collection or kept
purchase prices
• The estate executor who knew nothing about rugs and textiles
Connie also said that only three of her respondents had documented their books, magazines and auction
catalogues in their reference library

8. Some said that they had made a beginning maybe a decade ago but had not continued the practice.
Connie said that she found only about three textile collectors who did systematic documentation of their collections
on a continuing basis.
I think my own response may be typical:
“I fear that I have not documented my own rug and textile collection at even the levels within my capabilities.
“I do have quite a number of rug and textile books, but, sadly, haven’t documented them either.
“Mostly, I have things sorted approximately on shelves here in front of me and in the living room. Both are within easy reach, but things are getting
out of hand here, too.
“I have perhaps three stacks of rug and textile books behind me, with a box of old ORR issues, around which they are stacked. I can usually find things,
here in the apartment, I want to consult, but sometimes it takes some searching, and I don’t know what’s really in those three stacks, unless I look.
“I was looking for Christopher Alexander’s book “A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art,” and “George O’Bannon’s translation and comment on
Moshkova in his “Carpets of the Peoples of Central Asia,” and spent most of a day before finding them on a shelf in front of me.
“I have a nearly complete set of Hali’s in order on a shelf and some other issues of ORR and Ghereh.
“A librarian would (and should) be ashamed of me.”
John
That‘s maybe too much in the way of preliminaries. Let's look at the documentation system Jim and Connie employ.

9. BASIC WORKSHEET
Some begin with an OUTLINE – basic ESSENTIALS
- a guide for handwritten notes
- or directly into laptop or pad-device
MS WORD
MS EXCEL
other DOCUMENT software
PastPerfect
Bento (FileMaker)
other Museum Inventory software

10. PRIMARY – ESSENTIAL Basics
INVENTORY NUMBER
DESCRIPTION – Identification hierarchy
- What - Where - Who - When
- summary description
Overall SIZE – feet-inches [meters]
- Woven area – usually not counting fringe
- Or separate note on fringe length
Current location
Photo(s)

11. Spreadsheet Examples
RUG-TEXTILE INVENTORY
Item# DESCRIPTION Location
Est.
Date
Size
not fringe
Aq'n
Date
Aq'n
Cost Repair Cost
Est.
Whsl
The following examples show how these general formats are populated

13. Jim showed the following example about a trade of books with a friend
who is a collector-dealer who went through their inventory to add his collection
The gray filled in boxes on the right show the Henderson book collection.
The horizontal hatched boxes show books of possible interest to the Hendersons
• Gray on the left and red text show books owned by both Hendersons and friend
• Gray on the left and black text show Henderson books not owned by the friend
• NO gray on the left with red text shows friend’s books not owned by Hendersons

15. FOLDERS
PHOTOS,
& receipts,
letters & emails,
Filed by Inventory
Numbers

16. FOLDERS
and
PHOTOS
GOOD PRACTICE
RENEW & transfer digital
files every few years
Including
new media & software
BACKUP !
RETAIN PAPER
originals

17. FOLDERS & PHOTOS -- Example

18. PHOTOS
Seccade / Sajjadah / Prayer Rug
include
back & front
and key details

19. SECONDARY – Technical Details
optional
Useful to use MS Word -- Examples
- WARP
- WEFT
- PILE or BROCADING or other PRIMARY DECORATIVE technique
- EDGES
- ENDS
- COLORS & color count
- DESIGN overall .
- FIELD & SPANDRELS
- BORDERS: main, guard outer & inner
- END PANELS
- CONDITION

20. Example
Documented TECHNICAL DETAILS

21. Muçur – Prayer Rug – OTHER NOTES – Exhibition & References

22. OTHER DETAILS
Complete Yastik
e.g., colors & color count

24. The following examples were given
where a page from the inventory record,
compressed into a relatively small PDF file,
facilitated dialog by email to discuss attribution and comparison with others

25. Inventory Sheet as PDF
compressed small file size for email attachments

26. Inventory Sheet as PDF
compressed small file size for email attachments

27. Tunisia Gafsa “ferrãŝīya”
John Howe introduced us to
Bill & Sandra Bechhoeffer
We carried on a lively email dialog 2009-2013
He later captured this real-life discussion at the TM
Inventory Sheet as PDF
compressed small file size for email attachments

28. Here is an
image of this
piece during the
show-’n-tell after
the slide-show

29. Inventory Sheet as PDF
compressed small file size for email attachments
Jim recounted a lively email dialog about this piece, and how a similar one
was advertised in Hali in the early 1990s by a German dealer as “Navaho”
at an astonishing price; he insisted he was right despite our asking about
the visible fringe at each end of his piece

30. Inventory Sheet
Also record Provenance and Gifts
Connected to Friends

31. Provenance – connected to friends
S. Anatolia, Kilim, Saҫikara Yörük
Collected in field research by J. Powell & H. Böhmer
Owned with D.D. Moore and R. Dennis

32. Anatolia Kilim -- Saҫikara Yörük

35. Provenance – connected to friends
S. E Anatolia Kilim - Yörük or Kurd

37. Analysis & Attribution
Brocaded and other Flatweaves – Detailed analysis can take time and words!

39. Analysis & Attribution
is also a worthy effort for such
Brocaded and other Flatweaves

41. Jim added the example of sweaters that he and Samy Rabinovic acquired in the late 1990s
from Michael Bischoff, after they saw the unique one that village weavers had made for
Michael a decade earlier.
Jim had asked “if you ever get another one I’d like to have it”.
Samy brought the two from Turkey. Later it was learned that others have been made, and Jim
began to collect photos and attributions to current owners, including one owned by John Howe
from his always fruitful visits to flea markets.

43. JIM’s SAMY’s

44. Jim and John Howe had brought their sweaters to this RTAM session.
Here are front and back photos of the sweaters with their owner-models.

45. And
another
half-dozen

46. This is the end of Part 2, of this post.
The easiest way to get to Part 3 is to exit this post, return to the
announcing email, and use the link there to enter the Textiles and Text
site again.
Then select Part 3 in the red-lettered column on the right.