Tech museum houses large clothing and textiles collection

Quilts and clothing and accessories, oh my! The Texas Tech Museum is the home of the largest collection of clothing and textiles at a university in the country.

Compared to metropolitan museums that have more than 30,000 pieces, they have a full staff and a separate wing just for clothing and textiles; the Texas Tech Museum has one person – Marian Ann Montgomery, the curator of clothing and textiles.

Montgomery said the main purpose of the collection was intended to provide inspiration to the Tech design students and be more of a classroom tool.

Betty Mills founded the clothing and textiles collection at the museum and retired in 1986. Coming from the home economics department, Mill’s students married well and were able to purchase fashion designer pieces then donate them to the museum.

“She brought in a good collection and brought in things I will always be grateful to her for doing,” Montgomery said.

Out of the 350 quilts, Mills brought in one of the most important in the country, Montgomery said, since it is one of the very few that represent the Southern point of view on the Civil War. The family that gave the quilt to the museum has a reunion in Lubbock every three years. With the quilts being stored in rolls, Montgomery takes it down and unrolls it for the family to view when in town for the reunion.

“They’re learning family history,” Montgomery said. “For a curator, there’s really very little that’s better than seeing something you’re taking care of being enjoyed by the family that gave it, and realizing that they did a good thing.”

With 33,000 pieces, majority of what the museum has collected over the decades is clothing, even pieces dating back to 1830. Now that the collection is 95 percent full, Montgomery said she only takes objects if it is clean and is not a duplicate of another piece they have, unless someone famous in history wore it. She said they do not have the funds for cleaning or to buy any articles, so it is mostly from people who donate.

“People donate because they’re too beautiful to throw away,” Montgomery said. “What comes in is really so beautiful, so unique. They want it to be preserved, or they want their family’s story to be preserved.”

Even with the passing of family members, she said they will live on forever because the pieces they made are at the museum. When collecting articles, Montgomery said she tries to document as much information as possible about it to get the overall picture.

The clothing and textiles collection is the only division at the museum that does not have a gallery since all the pieces need to stay in dark and covered with a white tieback because the light deteriorates things. On occasion, the museum will host exhibits that will feature pieces from the clothing and textiles collection. Some exhibits in the coming years include the feed sack collection, an embroidery exhibit and a 100-year anniversary of the Miss America Pageant.

Alyssa Stewart is one of the two graduate students in museum studies. Montgomery said she is one of the best students she has ever had. Part of her education is working with the collection. Montgomery said the more students interact with the objects and learn about life in the museum business, then the better prepared they are.

“Basically when I was in college, I figured out it was someone’s job to put together exhibits and take care of this. I knew that was my future job,” Stewart said.

Sally Logue Post, the marketing director of the museum, said the clothing and textiles collection is very broad and represents a variety of time periods.

“You don’t need to like or particularly know fashion. It’s the history that comes with the fashion that I think is the most interesting,” she said.

Montgomery is a nationally known expert on quilting, Post said, which has been great for growing their assortment of quilts and learning the history of the collection as a whole.

“I think it sets us apart from other museums. A lot of museums are either art or they’re science; they’re one thing. We’re multi-disciplinary,” Post said. “We have a variety – from art, to history, to science. This collection fits into a lot of those areas.”

The clothing and textiles collection is available for the public to view, but they have to make an appointment in advance with Marian Ann Montgomery. The museum, located at 3301 4th St., is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and is closed Mondays. 

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