CPaCE News
CSULB Grads Cut from the Same Cloth Are Helping Preserve History
When the world went into lockdown mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, time seemed to pass a little slower for some, allowing many people to examine the past and take stock of the present. That was certainly true for Rusty Jenkins and JoAnn Peters, graduates of CSULB’s Collections Management for Costume and Textiles professional designation program. The two colleagues were already well-acquainted with vintage clothing, sewing techniques, and cataloguing historical items in their home state of Idaho when they enrolled in the program in Fall 2019. Their online courses, plus fieldwork completed in a closed museum, provided the perfect opportunity to weather the storm of a global crisis while they became experts in the preservation of valuable artifacts.
Rusty and JoAnn first worked together in early 2019 on a project at the Bingham County Historical Society Museum in Blackfoot, ID, where they cataloged a collection of historical costumes and textiles, adding them to a database at Brigham Young University Idaho (BYU-I) to benefit students studying fashion history and design. While learning on the job, Rusty began researching the proper methods to handle and care for these delicate items.
“That is when I stumbled across the Collections Management for Costume & Textiles program at CSULB,” she said. ”I knew that this course would help me gain the necessary knowledge and skills to properly help small museums and private collectors in our area.”
As both students were simultaneously juggling busy professional lives—Rusty as a seamstress/tailor/business owner, and JoAnn as a sewing teacher and BYU-I faculty member—the CSULB course’s flexible online schedule helped them continue working while connecting with classmates from many different backgrounds.
“I found it interesting and important to document the different techniques used in vintage clothing,” said JoAnn, a faculty member at BYU-I. “So much has been lost in the mass production of today. The CSULB program gave me the knowledge needed to be a professional while working with small museums and historical societies.”
Collections Management instructors Tawny Sherrill and Fionn Zarubica provided the expertise that helped students gain a broad perspective of the industry, and also learn specific insider terms for textiles and other materials. Rusty recalls being told that “everything in this class is a dress rehearsal for the professional arena.”
“When I began, I did not know what I did not know,” Rusty continued. “My eyes were opened.”
The learning process culminated in the program’s fieldwork module, which provided the opportunity for Rusty and JoAnn to work closely together at the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls from September through December 2020. As the largest museum in the state, with origins dating back to historical societies founded in 1898, the Museum of Idaho maintains an extensive collection of costumes and textiles.
The duo chose to focus on military uniforms, which had not been properly stored or catalogued. While the museum was closed to the public due to the coronavirus, the empty halls and storage facilities provided plenty of room for them to tackle such an imposing and time-consuming task.
“My main job was that of photographer,” explained Rusty. “I took photos of each object including front, back, and side views, as well as close up details of insignia, closures, interesting styling, and any identifying marks that would help in researching the provenance.”
Through their combined efforts, Rusty and JoAnn spent over 120 hours making padded hangers and dust covers for vintage uniforms, sewing ID numbers into each garment, and meticulously entering each one into a database. Of course, Covid protocols meant that the two continued their work while masked, tested, and distanced from the few other employees present.
“Working with the computer software was very helpful to understand how objects should be documented, tracked, and stored properly,” said JoAnn. “I loved seeing the end product of our work, it was so satisfying to know we had the knowledge to do it right!”
This project turned out to be the perfect experience for the next steps in both Rusty’s and JoAnn’s growing careers. Soon after graduating from the Collections Management program at the end of 2020, JoAnn was assigned as Manager of the Vintage Clothing Collection at BYU-I, while also teaching classes in Fashion Design, Apparel Construction, and Home Décor. She is is currently working with several other museums to document and digitally record their collections, and hopes to use this experience to inform future courses in Pattern Making and Fashion History.
Meanwhile, Rusty continues to volunteer at the Museum of Idaho and will complete a similar project at the Bingham County Historical Society Museum in September 2021. Looking ahead, she plans to combine her recent experiences with an extensive knowledge of genealogy in order to help other museums, private collectors, and families to identify the historical provenance of their heirlooms.
“Connecting a person to the object is so important,” Rusty stated. “It brings the clothing to life.”
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