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Hirox microscope is set up to look at a cotton embroidered vest in Agnes's collection at the Art Conservation lab, Queen's University. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Conservation and Science in History Is Rarely Black or White

Conservation and Science in History Is Rarely Black or White

History Is Rarely Black or White is an exhibition grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Exhibition curator Jason Cyrus, and conservator Anne-Marie Guérin, have examined the material culture of  Agnes’s antique cotton garments through archival research, conservation, and scientific analysis. Guérin worked closely with Megan Creamer and Dr. Emy Kim at the Queen’s University Department of Art Conservation to investigate cotton elements in the garments selected for exhibition display. 

 Guérin then worked with Evelyne Leduc and Dr. Dan Layton-Matthews, analysts at the Queen’s University Facility for Isotope Research, to locate the geographic source of the cotton. Based on these findings, Cyrus and Guérin have mapped a supply chain that connects garments at Agnes to resource extraction, Indigenous displacement, the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Underground Railroad. 

Locating Cotton in Historical Garments

Cotton permeated all aspects of the clothing industry in the 1800s. It was used in notions, linings, fabric blends, and to create entire garments. Many of these elements are difficult to identify with the naked eye. The scientific examination of garments allows us to verify the presence of cotton and where it came from.

Image taken by the Hirox microscope of a waistcoat from around 1790–1820. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Image: Hirox microscope is set up to look at a cotton embroidered vest in Agnes's collection at the Art Conservation lab, Queen's University. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Microscopy

Garments from the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress were examined using a Hirox microscope to identify fibers, methods of construction or alteration, and other potentially useful information.

Image: Hirox microscope is set up to look at a cotton embroidered vest in Agnes's collection at the Art Conservation lab, Queen's University. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Conservator Anne-Marie Guérin carefully extracts tiny threads from the weft weave for analysis. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Investigating the Geographic Source of Cotton in Historical Garments

Agnes collaborated with the Queen’s Facility for Isotope Research (QFIR) to determine the origin of the cotton fiber used in the 1800s cotton garments of the Queen’s University Collection of Canadian Dress. Testing of the garment cotton threads has finished and the raw data generated is currently undergoing analysis. Results are to be announced shortly.

Image: Conservator Anne-Marie Guérin carefully extracts tiny threads from the weft weave for analysis. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Isotopic analysis

 Isotopic analysis refers to the measurement of certain stable isotopes from various chemical elements within organic and inorganic compounds, with comparison to the natural abundance expected in nature from a known substance. Isotopic analysis can be used to reconstruct past environmental and climatic conditions, investigate human and animal diets in the past, conduct forensic analysis in criminal cases where human identification is needed, and many other applications.  Evelyne Leduc, an analyst at the Queen’s Facility for Isotope Research, conducted tests on the Agnes cotton garments, while the data was interpreted by Dr. Dan Layton-Matthews, co-director of the Facility

Image: Conservator Anne-Marie Guérin carefully extracts tiny threads from the weft weave for analysis. Photo: Anne-Marie Guérin
Preparing Historical Garments for Display

In the vault, the curator and conservator view the cotton garments. Together, they make a preliminary selection of garments based on curatorial significance and their overall condition. 

Unknown Maker, Day dress, 1825, cotton. Photo: Bernard Clark
Image: Conservator Anne-Marie Guerin unboxes a garment. Photo: Jason Cyrus
Assessing the Condition of the Garments

 

Image: Conservator Anne-Marie Guerin unboxes a garment. Photo: Jason Cyrus
Footnotes
Image Credits