Costume & Textiles - Henry Art GalleryIn the 1930s, faculty in the Home Economics department and School of Drama began collecting costumes and textiles, and in 1958, the Costume and Textile Study Center, the first study center of its kind, was established. Elizabeth Bayley Willis, with help from Virginia and Prentice Bloedel, provided the first major donation – a gift of more than 1,800 textiles and costumes from India— to the Center.
In 1982, the Costume and Textile Study Center and the School of Drama’s historic costume collection were formally transferred to the Henry. Now numbering more than over 18,000 objects – ranging in date from 1000 BCE to the present from countries around the world – these works are an important regional resource for the study of fashion, clothing, and design.