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On this page Eva-Louise Svensson’s account of the restoration project A note by Karen written in 1969 on the flameproofing of the curtain Karen discusses the project as part of an oral history interview Contemporaneous newspaper clippings from the local papers Eva-Louise Svensson’s account of the restoration project Working on…
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Organisation The work on cataloguing the Collection began in 1975 when it was moved from 7 Western Gardens, Ealing to Hampton Court Palace. There were many difficulties to overcome because of the lack of space and inadequate facilities and progress was slow until 1985 when the Warrant of the third…
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At present, in England, we have no accepted course of training for anyone who wishes to work at the conservation of textiles. Indeed there is hardly anyone outside a museum, or without some personal contact with the work, who would even know there is a need for workers in this…
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Mr. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, There is a moment in all our lives when the door opens and lets the future in. For Karen Finch that moment probably came when, as a young girl in Denmark, she stood in the Village church entranced by the embroideries and carvings of a former age,…
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A knowledge of materials used in Textile objects and their history is the basis of sound conservation and is essential to Textile Historians and Conservators alike. This knowledge may be gained in part from tutors and colleagues but in the main the study of books and the examination of a…
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Karen Finch founded the Centre in 1975. Her early training in textile design and conservation at Kunsthåndværkerskolen, Copenhagen, her work with the Royal School of Needlework, and later, from 1954 to 1959, in the Textile Conservation Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, developed her all absorbing, lifelong interest in…
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Part One: Karen Finch – A Tribute Karen was born and raised in Denmark and she has often written and spoken about her early awareness of history through carvings and needlework in the local parish church. Her long-term interest in textile techniques began through her embroidery and needlework experience, gained…
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The retirement of Karen Finch as Principal of the Textile Conservation Centre is a good moment to reflect on her achievement. Her innate talents, fostered by her training in Copenhagen, by her work at the Royal School of Needlework and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and then running her own…
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November 3rd 1976 was an investiture day for some of those honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The weather was bright and sunny but it was rather cold. We had been told to be at Buckingham Palace by 10am and Norman had decided to avail himself of the car-parking…
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In 1974 Rutherford John Gettens, one of America’s pioneer conservation scientists who worked at the original technical laboratory of the Fogg Art Museum, spoke at the American Institute for Conservation meetings in Cooperstown, New York: “To come to the point quickly, I think we should begin to think about collecting…
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