It is with sorrow that we mark the loss in August 2021 of Editorial Board member, Linda Eaton, following a long-term illness. Linda was the retired John T. and Marjorie McGraw Director of Collections at Winterthur Museum, known worldwide for its preeminent collection of American decorative arts, naturalistic garden, and research library for the study of American art and material culture. Her impact and influence were significant, and she was globally recognized as a leader in the field of interdisciplinary textile scholarship. Over more than 30 years at Winterthur, Linda oversaw the acquisition, interpretation, care, and exhibition of the museum’s textile collections, bringing her specialist knowledge of textile conservation as well as expertise in textile history to her work both in the museum and through her inspirational teaching at the University of Delaware.
Linda curated popular and scholarly exhibitions about embroidery, including Quilts in a Material World; The Diligent Needle: Instrument of Profit, Pleasure, and Ornament; and Embroidery: The Language of Art. She also curated the popular Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes, and she was an instrumental partner in one of Winterthur’s most memorable exhibitions, Costuming THE CROWN in 2019, the only exhibition of costumes from the popular Netflix series. Her publications include Printed Textiles: British and American Cottons and Linens, 1700–1850 (2014), a revision of Florence Montgomery’s seminal 1970 book, and her latest publication, Erica Wilson: A Life in Stitches, co-authored with Anne Hilker, was released in December 2020.
Linda’s students and mentees care for renowned collections at such institutions as the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of the American Indian, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Museum Tongarewa. A founding board member of the North American Textile Conservation Conference and a member of the board of Textile Society of America, she trained at the Textile Conservation Centre and the Courtauld Institute of Art before working for the National Museums of Scotland and – from 1991 to 2020 – at Winterthur, where she rose from appointment as a textile conservator to Director of Collections and Senior Curator of Textiles.
As a long-serving member of the Editor Board for TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, she was generous with her time and expertise, elegant in her responses and responsiveness, and constructive and genuinely interested in being supportive and helpful in the peer reviews she undertook. She is clearly missed by many, and not least by all at TEXTILE.