Skip to main content

CONFERENCES

UPCOMING CONFERENCE

Considering Costume

14th North American
Textile Conservation Conference
October 23 - 27, 2023

CONSIDERING COSTUME: THE CONSERVATION OF APPAREL, ADORNMENT, AND ACCESSORIES

14th North American Textile Conservation Conference October 23 - 27, 2023.

The Early Bird Registration rate has been extended through August 15.

Registration dates and rates are as follows:

Early bird registration (June 1 – August 15): 375 USD

Regular registration (August 16 – September 30): 390 USD

Late registration (October 1 – 27): 435 USD

Student (in person): 170 USD

Virtual/Live Stream Attendee: 120 USD

ABOUT THE 2023 CONFERENCE

Join us for ‘Considering Costume,’ the 14th biennial North American Textile Conservation Conference (NATCC), October 23 – 27, 2023. The meeting will be held in the Hennage Auditorium at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Considered the oldest and largest living history museum, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has a long tradition of studying and collecting historic textiles, costumes, and accessories to inform and create a more authentic costumed living history.

ACCESSIBILITY

NATCC strives to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. For your comfort, we offer wheelchair access to all conference spaces, gender neutral bathrooms, assistive listening devices and telecoil loops in the auditorium, and captioning for our virtual audience. For those with food allergies, catering can offer vegetarian and gluten free options. Please indicate your food preferences when you register. To request any additional accommodations or for inquiries about accessibility, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible.

 

For in-person attendees at Hennage Auditorium there will be assisted listening and translation headsets available.

TRU VUE TRAVEL GRANT APPLICATION

Our long-time sponsor, Tru Vue, has made a generous grant to underwrite a limited number of registration fees for students and for Latin American conservators. The application process will be open June 1 – 30. Application forms, details, and requirements can be found here.

VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE

Note the conference will be simulcast. Closed captioning and simultaneous translation between English and Spanish is offered as part of the virtual program. The proceedings are offered in real time, Eastern Daylight Time (UTC–04:00). No recording will be available or archived.

ACCOMODATIONS

The conference hotel is the Woodlands Hotel & Suites, a Colonial Williamsburg guest property, located at 105 Visitor Center Drive, Williamsburg, VA, United States. Our hotel block is now full, but there are still rooms available at the Woodlands and the other Colonial Williamsburg properties. Please go directly to their website and book at the best available rate.

GETTING HERE

BY CAR
Colonial Williamsburg is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is part of Virginia’s Historic Triangle, which includes Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. We’re located midway between Richmond and Virginia Beach, and 150 miles south of Washington, DC. Parking is free at the Woodlands and the lots located across the street from the Art Museums.

BY PLANE
There are more than 200 flights daily into three nearby airports: Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport (PHF) (20 minutes), Norfolk International Airport (ORF) (45 minutes), or Richmond
International Airport (RIC) (45 minutes).

BY TRAIN
Amtrak serves the Williamsburg Transportation Center with a connecting train from Washington, DC. The center is just blocks from Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area and offers car rentals and taxi service.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE AIRPORT
Taxis, ride shares (Lyft and Uber), and rental cars are available at the airport. Tidewater Transportation is a local transportation company that offers some discounted trips for groups arriving at similar times. Contact them for details.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Visitor Guide

PRESENTATIONS

The list of speakers, presentation titles, and the three-day schedule of talks can be found here.
----------

KEYNOTE
Fifty Years and Counting:  A Retrospective of Costume Conservation at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) / Janet L. Wagner and Renée Dancause; Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, Canada 
----------

“Pasado de Moda: Historias de una Colección”: Soluciones de Montaje para una Exhibición de Vestuario en el Museo Histórico Nacional (Santiago, Chile) / Isabel Alvarado, Mabel Canales, and Emilia Müller; Museo Histórico Nacional, Santiago, Chile
--
Spotlight on the Spattered Jama: Examination and Conservation of the Jodhpur Court Ensemble at the Victoria and Albert Museum
/ Annabelle Camp and Ekta Sunil Raheja; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
--
Preparation of a Tengujo Adhesive Support for Use on Painted Silk
/ Chuance Chen; Heritage Conservation Centre, Singapore
--
The Role of a Significance Assessment in the Replacement of Plastic on a Stephen Sprouse Dress
/ Kris Cnossen; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA / Annika Blake-Howland; National Park Service Historic Architecture Conservation and Engineering Center, Lowell, USA / Amanda Holden; Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, USA
--
The Devil is in The Details: Adventures in Mannequin Production from CNC Router to Dress Form
/ William Donnelly, Heather Hansen, Heather Hodge, Gabrielle Intenzo, and Katherine Sahmel / Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur, USA; Katya Roelse and Brooks Twilley / University of Delaware, Newark, USA
--
Strike a Pose: The Overhaul of Fiberglass Mannequins and their Mounts
/ Emily Freese, Amanda Holden, and Erinn Bessler; Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, USA
--
Degrading Fashion: Long-Term Anoxic Storage Solutions for Synthetic Materials in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute
/ Kaelyn Garcia and Christopher Mazza; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA
--
Deep in the Woods with “Couture Fantasy”: How One Institution Fought its Own Demons and Installed a (Post-Pandemic) Record-Breaking Show
/ Laura Garcia Vedrenne, Amy Andersson, Erin Algeo, and Mike Lai; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA
--
Facets of Feathers in a Fashion Collection:  Case Studies in Storage in the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
/ Bethany Gingrich and Shelly Tarter; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA
--
Chinese Dress in Detail
/ Elizabeth-Anne Haldane and Nora Brockmann; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
--
Membrane Metal Threads and Deteriorated Silk: The Conservation Treatment of a Unique 13th – 14th Century Aumônière from the Cathedral of Como, Italy
/ Kristal Hale; Tracing Patterns Foundation, Berkeley, California, USA
--
Printing Lace: Evaluating Visual Compensation Treatments for Bleach Damaged Lace
/ Heather Hodge; Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport, USA
--
Bringing Costume to Life: Exhibiting the Mary D. Doering Costume Collection
/ Neal Hurst and Jacquelyn Peterson-Grace; The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, USA
--
Around the World in 80 Ways: Conservation of Elizabeth Hawes’ Geographic
/ Chandra Obie Linn; The Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, USA
--
La Conservación de la Parka Karakoram y la Chaqueta Skyliner creadas por Eddie Bauer
/ Iliana E Lopez Salado; Práctica privada, Seattle, EUA
--
Assessing Costume Storage: A Collaborative Approach
/ Sara Ludueña; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, USA
--
Safe, Lower Cost Techniques for Displaying Historic Clothing
/ A. Newbold Richardson; The Costume and Textile Specialists, Alexandria and Richmond, USA
--
Repatriating Chief Crowfoot’s Regalia from Exeter, UK to the Siksika Nation: Considerations from a Cultural and Conservation Point of View
/ Gail Niinimaa; Niinimaa Enterprises Inc. Calgary, Canada / Sasheen Wright; Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Siksika Nation, Canada
--
Problematic Heels: The Identification, Characterization and Treatment of TPU Top Pieces in the Museum at FIT’s Collection
/ Callie O’Connor; The Museum at FIT, New York City, USA
--
Piecing Together the Past: Reconstructing a Closed Front Sacque Gown
/ Margaret O’Neil; Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation Class of 2023, Wilmington, USA / Laura Mina; National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, USA / Katherine Sahmel; Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, and Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, Wilmington, USA
--
Starch Struck: Preliminary Investigations into Factors Impacting the Wet Cleaning of Starched Textiles without the Use of Enzymes
/ Anna F Robinson; University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
--
An Overview of Shrinkproof Wool Treatments
/ Isabella Rossi; Rossi Conservation, Scotland, UK
--
Towards a New Consideration for the Wearing of Historic Costume
/ Sarah Scaturro; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA
--
An “Olympe-ic” Marathon: Technical Study and Adhesive Stabilization of a Madame Olympe Ensemble
/ Elizabeth Shaeffer; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA
--
Black Culture Made Visible: The Challenge of Mounting Garments without Contributing to Prejudice
/ Joel Stephenson; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, USA
--
Moving Mannequins
/ Chris Swan; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, USA
--
Racing to the Finish: Dynamic Mannequins Riding Historic Machines!
/ Zenzie Tinker and Ania Gołębiowska; Zenzie Tinker Conservation Ltd., Brighton, UK
--
Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Mannequins
/ Lilia Prier Tisdall; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 
--
Collaboration and Creativity in the Curatorial Practice and Mounting Solutions for the McCord Stewart Museum’s Exhibition Parachute: Subversive Fashion of the ‘80s
/ Alexis Walker and Caroline Bourgeois; McCord Stewart Museum, Montreal, Canada
--
New Meets Old: Using Modern Materials to Stabilize a 19th Century Military Hat
/ Meredith Wilcox-Levine; Textile Conservation Workshop, South Salem, USA

WORKSHOPS

Workshops will be offered two days before (October 23 – 24) and the day after (October 27) the paper and poster presentations. A detailed description of each workshop can be found here

Stain Reduction Workshop for Textile Cleaning
Monday, October 23, 2023, 9 am – 5 pm, and Tuesday, October 34, 2023, 9 am – 4 pm
Instructors: Laura Mina and Laura Garcia Vedrenne
Bruton Heights Wallace Collection Building, Textile Lab
Limited to 12 participants, includes lunch
350 USD
--

“Scrappy” Torsos
Monday, October 23, 2023, 10 am – 3 pm
Instructor: Shelly Uhlir
Bruton Heights Wallace Collection Building, Preventive Lab
Limited to 12 attendees, includes lunch
150 USD
--

Paper Hair Crafting
Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 10 am – 4 pm
Instructor: Carolanne Tkach
Bruton Heights Wallace Collection Building, Preventive Lab
Limited to 12 attendees, includes lunch
150 USD
--

The Hands of the Maker, an Exploration of 18th Century Gown Construction
Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, or Friday, October 27, 2023, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Instructors: Mistress Janea Whitaker and Colleagues
The Margaret Hunter Shop in the Historic Area
Limited to 10 attendees each session
100 USD

TOURS

A variety of tours will be offered two days before (October 23 – 24), during (October 25-26), and the day after (October 27) the paper and poster presentations. A detailed description of each tour can be found here.

Costume Collections in Richmond
Friday, October 27, 2023, 9 am – 4 pm 
Lunch not included, but available for purchase at destination
95 USD
--

Focus Tour: Highlights from the Colonial Williamsburg Textile Collection
Monday, October 23, 2023, 10 am or 10:45 am
Bruton Heights Wallace Collection Building
Limit to 15 attendees per tour; advanced reservation required
15 USD
--

Focus Tour: Less Stressed About Pests: Integrated Pest Management in Historic Structures
A walking tour
Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 10 am – 12 pm, or Friday, October 27, 2023, 10 am – 12:00 pm
Joel Voron, Integrated Pest Management Specialist
Limited to 30 attendees per tour
30 USD
--

Focus Tour: The Mary D. Doering Collection
Wednesday, October 25, 12:35 – 1:05 pm, or Thursday, October 26, 2023, 12:05 – 12:35 pm
The Colonial Williamsburg Museums, Mary Turner Gilliland and Clinton R. Gilliland Gallery
Cost: Free
--

Explore and Discover Colonial Williamsburg
Take advantage of the reduced rate length-of-stay tickets that come with your Woodlands Hotel booking. This self-led tour is best started at the Visitor Center where you can view ‘Story of a Patriot,’ learn about the day’s events, and ride the free shuttle bus into the Historic Area. Consider eating at one of the Taverns. Preview the galleries at the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Near sunset the Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street is lit by cressets to light up the early fall darkness. Stroll down DOG Street to find storytellers and musicians.

Colonial Williamsburg is one of several historic sites that comprise the Historic Triangle. Jamestown and Yorktown are each short excursions from Williamsburg.

NATCC represents an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences among conservators and students from the Americas and the world, by using the same language: textile conservation.

Lorena Román, Mexico
SAN FRANCISCO / 2013

For further inquires, please send an e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.