The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         McCoach, Dorothy D.                                    

Title:               Textile conservation papers

Dates:             1985-2006

Call No.:         Col. 877

Acc. No.:        10x83

Quantity:        17 boxes

Location:        11 G 1-3

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Dorothy D. McCoach was a textile conservator based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  A native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a descendant of Baltimore sail maker F. M. Stevenson, she grew up sewing, knitting, crocheting, and embroidering.  She also studied oil painting, fabric collage, millinery, and tailoring.  In 1958, Mrs. McCoach received a B.S. degree in chemistry and biology from Mount St. Agnes College in Baltimore (since merged with Loyola University Maryland).  She moved to the Allentown, Penn., area in the mid-1960s, along with her husband and son.

 

In 1976, the Allentown Art Museum planned to mount an exhibit of a large gift of textiles received from Kate Fowler Merle-Smith.  The local Junior League was asked to lend a hand.  Mrs. McCoach was named chairman of the League’s part of the project.  She helped to sort through the textiles, select pieces for the exhibit, train volunteers to assist with the project, and plan and mount the exhibit.  After this initial exhibit, the Allentown Art Museum hired Mrs. McCoach to assist with the textile collection.  It was during her time at the museum that Mrs. McCoach began to study the conservation and proper mounting of textiles.  She became especially interested in samplers.  She cites as mentors such experts as Susan Swan, Patricia Herr, Betty Ring, Mary Jaene Edmonds, Carol Huber, and others.  Mr. and Mrs. McCoach enjoyed travel abroad, and Mrs. McCoach took advantage of opportunities to study foreign textiles.

 

In 1980, Mrs. McCoach began to provide textile conservation services for private clients. She left the Allentown Art Museum in 1985 to concentrate on her private practice.  She had clients from across the United States, including collectors, dealers, and institutions.  She gave lectures at the Museum of American Folk Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the DAR Museum, and to many historical societies and embroiders’ guilds.  She volunteered considerable time to Historic Bethlehem.  Mrs. McCoach retired from conservation around 2006.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection consists of treatment reports, photos, negatives, and slides.  The reports describe the item being treated and what was done to the item.  In addition, sometimes there is some historical or genealogical information relating to the object being treated.  Rarely is the name of the item’s owner included.  Mrs. McCoach treated many samplers, silk embroidered pictures, and Pennsylvania German show towels, but she also treated coverlets, quilts, Chinese embroideries, and other textiles. 

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The files are in two series: treatment reports (which include photos and negatives), and slides.  The reports are in work number order.  Some numbers are repeated; some numbers are skipped.  The slides are grouped by type of item depicted: show towels, samplers, silk pictures, ethnic embroideries, etc.  Samplers are further divided by place made.  Only slides of show towels are in work number order.

 

There is no index to the collection.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

Most of the materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Dorothy D. McCoach.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

Topics:

            Coverlets – Conservation and restoration.

Needlework – Conservation and restoration.

            Quilts – Conservation and restoration.

            Samplers – Conservation and restoration.

            Textile fabrics – Conservation and restoration.

            Towels – Conservation and restoration.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 11 G 1-3

 

 

Series I: Treatment reports

 

Box 1:             Stationery samples

Treatment reports: 85.101-86.126

 

Box 2:             Treatment reports: 86.127-87.145

 

Box 3:             Treatment reports: 88.101-89.107

 

Box 4:             Treatment reports: 89.109-90.101

 

Box 5:             Treatment reports: 90.113-91.122

 

Box 6:             Treatment reports: 91.127-92.126

 

Box 7:             Treatment reports: 92.127-93.113

 

Box 8:             Treatment reports: 93.114-94.118

 

Box 9:             Treatment reports: 94.119-95.120

 

Box 10:           Treatment reports: 95.121-96.130

 

Box 11:           Treatment reports: 96.131-97.125

 

Box 12:           Treatment reports: 97.126-99.114

 

Box 13:           Treatment reports: 00.101-03.107

 

Box 14:           Treatment reports: 04.101-06.104

                       

 

 

Series II: Slides

 

Box 1:            

 

Folder 1:         Berlinwork and canvaswork [Berlin woolwork and canvas embroidery]

 

Folder 2:         Chinese and ethnic textiles and embroideries

 

Folder 3:         Coverlets

 

Folder 4:         Darning and sewing samplers; coats of arms

 

Folder 5:         Miscellaneous textiles and non-textile items

                        (includes clothing and dress accessories, flags and banners, fabrics, dolls, set of slides from Colonial Williamsburg, buttons, paintings, prints, etc.)

 

Folder 6:         Quilts

 

Folder 7:         Rugs and hooked rugs

 

Folder 8:         Samplers and needlework pictures: American

                        (some arranged by state)

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Connecticut        

 

Folder 2:         Samplers and needlework pictures:  Maine

 

Folder 3:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Maryland

 

Folder 4:         Samplers and needlework pictures:  Massachusetts

 

Folder 5:         Samplers and needlework pictures: New England (no specific states)

 

Folder 6:         Samplers and needlework pictures: New Hampshire

 

Folder 7:         Samplers and needlework pictures: New Jersey

 

Folder 8:         Samplers and needlework pictures: New York

 

Folders 9-10:  Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania

 

Folder 11:       Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Berks Co. (Reading)

 

Folder 12:       Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Chester County, including Westtown School

 

Folder 13:       Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Lancaster County

 

Folder 14:       Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Lehigh Valley and Easton

                        (including counties of Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, and Northampton)

 

 

Box 3:

 

Folder 1:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Montgomery County

 

Folder 2:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Pennsylvania: Philadelphia

 

Folder 3:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Rhode Island

 

Folder 4:         Samplers and needlework pictures: Foreign countries

 

Folders 5-6:    Show towels  

 

Folder 7:         Silk pictures, mourning pictures