A Museum of Uncollected Things

Context & Challenge At a point when what belongs in museum fashion collections is increasingly scrutinised and debated, this project explores not what these collections contain, but what is absent from them: what is missing, lost, or was never acquired. Dress is central to human experience, a medium through which individual and collective identities and histories are constructed and performed. Thus, museum clothing collections are sites through which multiple histories are communicated and defined. Yet these collections are only ever partial reflections of dress history; shaped by past collecting policies often predicated upon hegemonic and Eurocentric definitions of fashion, and changing understandings of what merits preservation. Thus, historic clothing collections are rarely reflective of the communities they now serve; a dissonance which can reduce engagement amongst communities underrepresented in museum collections and perpetuate ideas that fashionable historic dress was the preserve of the few. As museums increasingly work to broaden and decolonise their collections through revised collecting policies (see, Museums Association’s Empowering Collections, 2019 and Decolonising Museums, 2022), historic dress presents a particular challenge, because the fragile and disposable nature of clothing means that uncollected historic garments often do not survive. Consequently, museums need novel approaches to the problem of uncollected and now uncollectible historic dress. Aims & Benefits Working with London Museum’s Dress and Textile Collection this project explores how absences inform the ways audiences and museum staff engage with, manage, and care for museum fashion collections. In turn, it asks how museums can address these absences without accessioning new objects and through that engage new and broader audiences. As such the project does not seek to replace or recreate absent garments, but instead asks how making visible what cannot and never will be exhibited, can help us to tell different clothing stories, ones reflective of fashion's diverse histories. It asks; What do we learn about the histories of fashion in museums, and current museum practices by mapping what is absent from museum clothing collections? In the context of a drive for greater physical and digital access to museum collections, what are the benefits to and challenges for museums and audiences of making visible what is absent from collections? What role can audience-led practice-based research play in rebalancing historic collections and informing future museum fashion collection policies and practices? Making visible histories which have been omitted or erased is central to creating a more equitable heritage sector. Building on the AHRC objective of conserving and curating cultural infrastructure, this project tackles the problem of objects which cannot be preserved for the future; garments which due to their fragile nature, have already been lost. Taking London Museum as its central case study, through its combined methods (creative data enquiry, participatory workshops, film-making) and outputs (artworks, exhibitions, publications), the project seeks to inform sector wide approaches to addressing historic curatorial bias in museum clothing collections, asking audiences, communities currently underrepresented by these collections, and museum workers how gaps left by absent garments should be filled. We will share experience, insights, and outcomes from the research through a symposium, conference presentations and KE workshops with regional, national and international museums, and museum organisations (ICOM Costume, DATS), launching a toolkit and ongoing open-access repository of case studies for using audience-led participatory creative practice to address gaps in historic clothing collections.