Histories of Furnishing Fabrics- Call for Contributors Univer­sity of Wisconsin-Madison

Neces­sary, Useful, or Desir­able: Histo­ries of Furnishing Fabrics

As a cate­gory of textiles, furnish­ing fabrics embody the range of ​“neces­sary, useful, or desir­able” in both their mate­r­ial and aesthetic attrib­utes. On the one hand, the mate­r­ial prop­er­ties of furnish­ing fabrics can demar­cate space, provide warmth, reflect or shade from light, and gener­ally protect the human body; on the other hand, their design char­ac­ter­is­tics convey personal status, cultural mores, trade rela­tion­ships, and contem­po­rary ideals of taste and beauty. As part of an ongoing explo­ration of a signif­i­cant corpus of furnish­ing fabrics in the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collec­tion, part of the Center for Design and Mate­r­ial Culture at the Univer­sity of Wiscon­sin-Madison, we seek to bring together schol­ar­ship that defines and analyzes this cate­gory of textiles. 

We seek contrib­u­tors in two differ­ent cate­gories: 1) authors who have ongoing research related to furnish­ing fabrics seeking a publi­ca­tion venue for an article-length piece of writing and 2) researchers with an inter­est in this area who would be willing to explore one or more specific textiles in the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collec­tion to write a short ​“object biography.” 

Propos­als for both options are due by 1 June 2024. Please send your proposal to furnishingfabrichistory@​gmail.​com.

For full details please see: https://www.furnishingfabrichi…