The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum: A Tapestry of Art, History, and Culture
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., represents a unique intersection of textile arts and the history of George Washington University and the surrounding area. This museum is the result of a merger between two distinct entities, creating an institution that celebrates both local and global cultures.
Founding and Early Years of The Textile Museum
The Textile Museum was established in 1925 by George Hewitt Myers, a passionate collector and connoisseur of rugs and textiles. Myers, born in Cleveland in 1875, developed an interest in textiles while a student at Yale, initially acquiring rugs to decorate his lodgings. His collection quickly grew, driven by a fascination with the artistry and cultural significance of non-Western textiles.
At the time of its founding, the museum's collection included 275 rugs and sixty related textiles, a collection Myers had built since the 1890s. His initial acquisitions were late-nineteenth century Turkish and Caucasian village rugs, vibrant pieces with geometric designs and strong colors. As time passed and his finances allowed, Myers began to acquire a broader range of textiles, from Ottoman carpets to archeological textiles from Peru. By the second decade of his collecting, Myers methodically set out to create a comprehensive assemblage of non-Western textiles for the purpose of increasing public knowledge and appreciation of textile traditions worldwide.
Myers, a pioneer in the appreciation of handmade textiles as art and collectable objects, was drawn to the fact that non-Western textiles were the products of anonymous artists, and therefore not judged by the name or reputation of a particular person. He believed anonymous non-Western artists had “an unexplained genius for color” that was unmatched by the “‘stuff’ produced by European cultures.” Myers focused on collecting handwoven objects made to be used by their creators. He expressed concern that the best textiles were products of a bygone era and that inferior textiles were being produced in the machine age, although he thought some new textiles were “worthy of note.” Myers felt industrial products could be improved upon to achieve better quality in technique and design. He believed his collection, if studied by industrial designers and technicians, would help the industry to achieve that goal.
The museum was originally housed in two historic buildings in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood: the Myers family home, designed by John Russell Pope in 1913, was a classical Georgian structure. The museum's galleries were housed in an adjacent building, designed by Washington architect Waddy Wood and purchased by Myers in 1915 for this purpose. The former location of The Textile Museum, also known as the Tucker House and Myers House located at 2310-2320 S Street, NW in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
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In its early years, The Textile Museum was overseen by three trustees and a staff of one, and was open by appointment only. In 1928, the museum received its first major news article: "Capital Man has Private Museum", a story about Myers and the Textile Museum. In 1930, Myers traveled with his wife, Louise Stoddard Chase, to Egypt to acquire items for the collection, and the following year lent objects for the first time, for a London exhibition. Myers continued to play an active role in the arts society of Washington, D.C., founding the Independent Schools Art Instructors Association in 1936 and mingling with fellow aficionados and collectors at social engagements around the city.
Growth and Development
By the time of Myers' death in 1957, the museum staff included eleven individuals who worked with a collection of 3,500 textiles and 480 carpets from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Soon thereafter, in 1960, Myers' wife died and the Myers residence was bequeathed to the Textile Museum.
In the next decade, the museum established its conservation lab behind the museum's buildings and launched its membership program with a base of 200 charter members. In 1952, Myers created the United States’ first textile conservation laboratory at his museum. The Textile Museum has made a major contribution to the analysis and conservation of textiles. The museum’s publications, such as Workshop Notes and the Textile Museum Journal, have educated those interested in the preservation of textiles. Likewise, many workers trained at the Textile Museum have gone on to work at other museums, thereby spreading the knowledge. For example, Nobuko Kajitani worked at the Textile Museum and went on to head the Textile Conservation Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the 1970s, The Textile Museum began offering Rug & Textile Appreciation Mornings - informal Saturday morning programs where collectors shared pieces from their own holdings; this traditional series continues to this day on a variety of topics. That same decade welcomed the opening of The Textile Museum Shop, hailed today as one of Washington, D.C.'s best museum stores, and the initiation of the museum's volunteer docents program. In 1972, The Textile Museum's Advisory Council was formed and the museum was awarded its first federal grant, given by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Collection
Myers' initial acquisitions and later gifts and purchases now endow the museum with some of the finest collections in the world in early Islamic textiles, including tiraz, and Coptic textiles. In addition, the museum has significant holdings of Indian, Southeast Asian, Central Asian, Persian, Turkish and Greek textiles. The museum also has holdings of pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles. Styles that are particularly well represented include Ocucaje, Nasca, Huari, Chimu, Chancay and Inca. In addition the collection includes extensive holdings of textiles in the modern traditions that descend from pre-Columbian origins, including those of Guatemala and Mexico, as well as the Andean countries of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
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The intrinsic beauty of Oriental carpets had a profound influence on George Hewitt Myers' early collecting. As a result, the museum has one of the most important research collections of Oriental carpets, distinguished by both its range and depth. Its collection of 15th century Mamluk rugs from Egypt, Spanish carpets and classical Indian carpet fragments are matched by no other museum in the world.
In 1925 George Hewitt Myers founded The Textile Museum with a collection of 275 rugs and 60 related textiles drawn from the traditions of non-Western cultures. At the time of his death in 1957, his collection numbered 500 rugs and 3,500 textiles. Since then, the museum has broadened its holdings to better represent the full spectrum of non-Western textile arts. Today the museum's collections number more than 19,000 objects and span 5,000 years, dating from 3,000 B.C.E.
Merger with The George Washington University
In 2011, it was announced that The Textile Museum would be joining with The George Washington University to become the cornerstone of a new museum on GW's main campus in Foggy Bottom. The affiliation positioned The Textile Museum to educate the next generation and expand on its rich tradition of art, education, scholarship and cultural understanding.
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum opened in 2015. The new museum was created to advance study and appreciation of art, history, and culture. The 53,000-square-foot museum showcases the collections of the Textile Museum, as well as the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection of artifacts that tell the story of our nation’s capital.
The new museum includes dedicated space for The Textile Museum, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library for the Textile Arts, and the museum shop. The Arthur D. Jenkins Library, with 20,000 volumes, is the world’s oldest library devoted exclusively to the textile arts. To preserve and care for the museum’s collections, the university built a world-class conservation facility on its Virginia Science and Technology Campus. In 2018, the museum expanded its scholarly resources when it received the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection, one of the world’s most significant textile study collections.
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Exhibitions and Programs
Exhibitions and programs are presented to the public in a custom-built museum building located at G and 21st streets NW, bearing the names of both The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum.
Exhibitions are designed both to present textiles as art and to place them in a cultural context, by exploring religious, social, artistic, economic and ecological aspects of the cultures in which they were created.
The museum opened on GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus in 2015 as the new home of The Textile Museum, established in 1925, and the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, donated to GW in 2011. Also in 2011, Albert H. Small donated to GW his extensive collection of prints, maps, and ephemera that trace the founding and evolution of Washington, D.C. With this collection as the centerpiece, the university established the Albert H.
The new Textile Museum has added more context to display labels and put up touch screens where visitors can see textiles from other cultures as they relate to what’s in front of them, Wetenhall said. In addition to being more accessible, the new museum aims to make textiles more interesting, shedding light on their artistic merit and cultural significance. The Textile Museum’s collections span the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and include Egyptian mummy wraps from the Pharaonic era and one of the world’s premier collections of carpets from Islamic cultures. Its oldest textiles are fragments from 2500 B.C.
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Admission to the museum is free. The museum is accessible by walking, driving and public transportation. Take the Blue, Orange or Silver lines to the Foggy Bottom-GWU stop and walk about four blocks or take the Red line to the Farragut North stop and walk about six blocks to reach the museum.
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum is a five story building that also has a basement, but exhibits are only located on the second and third floors and in the basement level. The first floor of the museum is the entrance, where the information area, lockers and gift shop are located. If you happen to have large bags with you, the museum has lockers free of charge so that you may explore more comfortably.
Current and Recent Exhibitions
As of a recent visit, the third floor was closed off in preparation of an upcoming exhibit. The second floor featured "Irresistible: The Global Patterns of Ikat", a rotating exhibit that was on view until December 21, 2024. Ikat is a dyeing technique that uses resist dyeing on yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric, hence the pattern is formed on the threads and the final woven product tends to have a characteristic blurriness that ikat is known for. Ikat was independently developed in various places throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas, hence the exhibit showcases a variety of ikat fabrics from various different countries. Visitors can also see videos on how the threads are dyed and the weaving process to make a fabric.
The second floor connects to a different building called Woodhull House, which is where the exhibits that focus on DC history are located. First up is "Treasures From the Albert H. Small Collection", which is a permanent exhibit that details the formation, development and history of Washington DC and the surrounding areas from the 17th century to the mid 20th century, thus visitors can see a variety of historical documents. Currently on display are items relating to military life in Washington DC during the Civil War. There are two more smaller exhibits in Woodhull House, "D.C. Fights for Freedom" and "Washingtonians at Work and Play". Both of these were rotating exhibits and were on view till July 20, 2024. "D.C. Fights for Freedom" highlighted various campaigns and movements for freedom, representation and equal rights, and DC’s role in these events. "Washingtonians at Work and Play" illustrated the daily lives of Washingtonians in the 19th century through various artifacts and historical newspaper illustrations.
The main exhibit on the basement level is "Art Uncovered: Visionary Textile Scholars and Their Archives", which is a rotating exhibit and is on view until April 5, 2025. The exhibit features a selection of textiles along with letters, field notes, photos and videos to tell the stories of the textile pieces. In addition, visitors can learn about the life stories of the textile scholars who helped shaped the field of textile studies. Last but not least is "Textiles 101", an interactive exhibit where visitors can learn how textiles are made.
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