While the museum's exhibition past/forward is open to the public, every museum worker, including us volunteer members, has been taking care of their own project.
One of my current projects is organizing information about a collection of lace, and entering it into our digital archive.
The collection is called "The Lillian Rose Perry Collection."
Ms. Lillian Rose Perry was a woman who lived in Nyack, Rockland County. Through a family member, a large number of her objects were donated to the Orangetown Museum.
The lace collection I have been working on, is a part of her large collection.
Most of the objects are the Victorian style (American Victorian Era: 19th CE). Remnant from the era are still often seen in today's Nyack, where Ms. Perry lived.
To work on this collection, I have been obtaining great help from one of our museum members who is a specialist of lace.
She identifies types of lace, usage and handmade/machine made, by studying each piece from this large collection which contains approximately 400 pieces of works.
This is a time-consuming project, but I have been enjoying these fascinating lace works while organizing them as one of our collections.
Here are some examples...
Some are left as a fragment or a piece.
Strip of ecru filet lace with an interesting botanical pattern
Fragment of filet lace with remnant of cotton fabric attached
Uncompleted triangle piece with whitework embroidery
Long piece of Irish crochet
White cotton collar with floral embroidery
White cuff with snap buttons and heavy embroidery
Irish crochet baby cap
Ornamental piece
White doily, combination of embroidery and lace work
Decorative pillowcase with full embroidery and elaborate trimming
Some of the pieces from the lace collection have been on view in one of the museum's past exhibitions.
I am sure these beautiful works will also play an important role to talk about the town's rich history in our future exhibition someday again.
