New Ways of Engaging with Historic Textiles: Interactive Images Online

Abstract

Digital technologies provide new opportunities to envision, explore and create material culture, and thus to engage audiences and to undertake research. This paper introduces Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM), one application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), to the documentation and examination of a small number of textiles, straw plaits and wax seals. This technology enables the user to ‘re-light’ the on-screen ‘object’ (allowing the user to direct the lighting to meet their needs) and is particularly useful for inspecting textured surfaces online. PTM/RTI was explored as part of an integrated strategy to enhance access to, and preservation of, a unique set of design records: The Board of Trade Representations and Registers of Designs, 1839–1991, held in The National Archives, London. The use of PTM/RTI expands concepts of envisioning and encourages exploration of the role of digital technologies in the interactions between the viewer and what is viewed, between researchers and textiles of all sorts, and thus has the potential to offer both close-hand and remote ways of seeing the range of material fabrics and surfaces that would have adorned early modern and other historic interiors.

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the support of Nancy Bell, Anna Bülow and Dylan Williams at The National Archives; The Clothworkers’ Foundation; the Arts and Humanities Research Council; the archivists, artists, conservators, curators, designers and historians who contributed to the consultation events; and Graeme Earl and Hembo Pagi of the Archaeological Computing Research Group of the University of Southampton.

Notes

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³ R. Prouty, The Transformation of the Board of Trade 1830–1855: A Study of Administrative Reorganization in the Heyday of Laissez Faire (London: William Heinemann, 1957), pp. 25–29; H. L. Smith, The Board of Trade (London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), pp. 193–208.

⁴ P. Clabburn and P. Alfrey, The Norwich Shawl: Its History and a Catalogue of the Collection at Strangers Hall Museum (London: HMSO, 1995); V. Reilly, The Illustrated History of the Paisley Shawl (Renfrew District Council, 1996, first published 1987).

⁵ D. Greysmith, ‘Patterns, piracy and protection in the textile printing industry, 1787–1860’, Textile History, xiv, no. 2 (1983), pp. 165–94; E. Kramer, ‘From luxury to mania: a case study of Anglo-Japanese textile production at Warner & Ramm, 1870–1890’, Textile History, xxxviii, no. 2 (2007), pp. 151–64; P. A. Sykas, The Secret Life of Textiles: Six Pattern Book Archives in North West England (Bolton: Bolton Museums, Art Gallery and Aquarium, The North West Pattern Book Project, 2005); S. Tuckett and S. Nenadic, ‘Colouring the nation: a new in-depth study of the Turkey Red pattern books in the National Museums Scotland’, Textile History, xliii, no. 2 (2012), pp. 161–82; S. Tuckett and S. Nenadic, Colouring the Nation: Scotland’s Nineteenth-Century Printed Cotton Textiles (Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 2013).

⁶ S. Levitt, The Victorians Unbuttoned: Registered Designs for Clothing, their Makers and Wearers, 1839–1900 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1986); C. Rose, ‘“The novelty consists in the ornamental design”: design innovation in mass-produced boys’ clothing, 1840–1900’, Textile History, xxxviii, no. 1 (2007), pp. 1–24; C. Rose, Making, Selling and Wearing Boys’ Clothes (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010).

⁷ H. Lyons, Christopher Dresser: The People’s Designer, 1834–1904 (Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2005).

⁸ J. Halls, ‘Questions of attribution: registered designs at The National Archives’, Journal of Design History, xxvi, no. 4 (2013), pp. 416–32.

⁹ R. Samuel, Theatres of Memory: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture (London: Verso, 2012, first published 1994), p. 18; B. Schwartz, ‘Foreword’, in Samuel, Theatres of Memory, pp. vii–xix.

¹⁰ D. Eastop, ‘Exploring the potential of the Board of Trade Design Register’, Text, xxxix (2011–2012), pp. 52–56; D. Eastop, ‘History by design: the Design Register of the UK Board of Trade’, in A. Gerritsen and G. Riello eds, Writing Material Culture History (London: Bloomsbury, 2014), pp. 273–79.

¹¹ G. Riello, ‘Things that shape history: material culture and historical narratives’, in K. Harvey ed., History and Material Culture (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), pp. 24–46.

¹² Eastop, ‘History by design’, pp. 273–79.

¹³ M. M. Brooks and D. Eastop, ‘Linked by design: textile collections of York Castle Museum and the Board of Trade Design Register’, Text, xlii (2014–2015), pp. 78–80.

¹⁴ The National Archives created an online exhibition of the 300 mid-Victorian ceramic designs and other curiosities represented in volume BT43/60 and registered between 1864 and 1871. The exhibition presents images of the representations and transcriptions of the corresponding registration records. See Design Registers (Online). Available from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/designregisters/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015]. For further information about the BT Design Register, including how to search the records, see How to Look for Record of … Registered Designs, 1839–1991 (Online). Available from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/reg-design-trademark.htm [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

¹⁵ I was appointed to a research post within the Collection Care Department of The National Archives in November 2010, thanks to an award from the Clothworkers’ Foundation; my role was to undertake the options’ appraisal and to implement selected recommendations, which I did between November 2011 and March 2014, with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

¹⁶ D. Eastop, A. E. Bülow and A. W. Brokerhof, ‘Design, digitisation, discovery: enhancing collection quality’, Studies in Conservation, lvii (2012), pp. S96–102.

¹⁷ Discussed in D. Eastop, ‘Presenting rough and smooth with innovative technology’, in A. Fairhurst ed., Taking the Rough with the Smooth: Issues and Solutions for Decorative Surfaces: Postprints of the ICON Textiles Working Group Forum, 16 April 2012 (London: ICON, 2012), pp. 41–48.

¹⁸ Eastop, Bülow and Brokerhof, ‘Design, digitisation, discovery’.

¹⁹ Cultural Heritage Imaging (Online). Available from: http://culturalheritageimaging.org/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

²⁰ J. Padfield, D. Saunders and T. Malzbender, ‘Polynomial texture mapping: a new tool for examining the surface of paintings’, Preprints of the 14th Triennial Meeting of ICOM Conservation Committee, The Hague (London: James and James, 2005), pp. 504–08.

²¹ G. Earl, K. Martinez and T. Malzbender, ‘Archaeological applications of polynomial texture mapping: analysis, conservation and representation’, Journal of Archaeological Science, xxxvii, no. 8 (Online, 2010). Available from: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/156253/ [Accessed: 28 November 2010].

²² S. M. Duffy, Multi-Light Imaging for Heritage Applications (London: English Heritage, 2013).

²³ Sarah Duffy has written a user-friendly guide to H–RTI, and to PTM/RTI more generally. See Duffy, Multi-Light Imaging for Heritage Applications.

²⁴ See The National Archives Blog, Capturing and Exploring Texture (Online). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/capturing-and-exploring-texture/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015]; The National Archives Blog, Texture Mapping: Part Two (Online). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/texture-mapping-part-two/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015]; The National Archives Blog, Texture Mapping: Part Three (Online). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/texture-mapping-part-three/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015]; The National Archives Blog, Texture Mapping: Part Four (Online). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/texture-mapping-part-four/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015]; The National Archives Blog, New Light on Old Seals (Online). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/new-light-on-old-seals/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

²⁵ K. Gill, ‘Images can speak louder than words: communicating conservation effectively’, in J. H. Townsend et al. eds, Congress Proceedings The Decorative: Conservation and the Applied Arts, 24th International Congress of IIC, Vienna, Austria, September, 2012 (London: International Institute for Conservation, 2012), pp. S114–S121.

²⁶ 3D–COFORM, Tools and Expertise for 3D Collection Formation (Online, 2007). Available from: www.3d-coform.eu [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

²⁷ D. Eastop, Online Exploration of the Rough and the Smooth, Supporting Research at The National Archives, pp. 2–3 (Online, 2013). Available from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/research-newsletter-autumn-2013.pdf [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

²⁸ R. Gallen, D. Eastop, E. Bozia and A. Barmpoutis, ‘Digital imaging: the application of shape-from-shading to lace, seals and metal objects’, Journal of the Institute of Conservation, xxxviii, no. 1 (2015), pp. 41–53.

²⁹ For information on the tagging facility at The National Archives, see Help us tag records in our collection ... (Online). Available from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/all-tags/what-are-tags [Accessed: 17 November 2015].

³⁰ Brooks and Eastop, ‘Linked by design’, pp. 78–80.

³¹ A. Brass, The Volunteer Experience (Online, 23 April 2013). Available from: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/exploring-bt-design-register-1839-1991-representing-sensory-experience-online/ [Accessed: 17 November 2015].