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History, technology and hard work: A field guide to digitising a large garment collection at a small institution
Journal of Digital Media Management,
11
(3),
271-283
(2023)
Abstract
The Fashion Archive at Mount Mary University is a treasure trove of 10,000 garments and accessories spanning over two centuries. Throughout its history it has supported the fashion design degree programme at Mount Mary, and the digitisation and online exhibition of its contents continues and broadens that tradition. This paper describes the grant-funded process that was developed to digitise a portion of the Fashion Archive and make it available online as the Digital Fashion Archive. The process includes selecting, preparing, photographing, improving the physical storage of, creating metadata for, and uploading images of garments and accessories. It also addresses the significant preparatory steps underpinning current workflows, including the setup of photography equipment and software and the process of choosing an online exhibition platform.
Keywords: digitisation; garments; fashion; fashion archive; 360° photography
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Amanda Cacich has a Master of Science in museum studies with an emphasis on dress and textile histories from the University of Glasgow. She has worked with textile collections in the USA and the UK, with experience as a registrar, exhibition specialist and curator.
Marshall Lee has worked as a product photographer, a photography wet-lab manager, audio and video setup technician, and currently shoots archival photography of live theatre, dance, music and fashion events. He has a degree in technical theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Professional Theatre Training Program.
Laura Vavrosky received her master of arts in library and information studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Digitisation, metadata and repositories are a few of her favourite things.
Dan Vinson is an archivist at heart, who earned his Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, as well as a certificate in Archives and Records Administration.
