Having high-quality images has resulted in new scholarly collaboration with colleagues around the globe. Image courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum preserves, exhibits, and makes accessible more than 100,000 words of art and design, including fashion, textiles, sculpture, and paintings. Since 1971, NEH funding has helped the museum open its collections to researchers and the public through fellowship programs, exhibitions, and funding for preservation. Most recently, two NEH grants have helped the RISD Museum undertake major projects aimed at increasing access to its collections: the renovation of and additions to its gallery space and the digitization of a significant collection of Asian textiles.
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In 2005, an NEH challenge grant, which helped RISD raise an additional $1.8 million, helped the museum renovate its historic Eliza Radeke Building. By renovating and adding galleries, the museum was able to expand the number of objects on view as well as create a cohesive interpretive plan for its permanent exhibition. Ultimately, these efforts were aimed at increasing the public’s access to the RISD Museum’s significant collection as well as improving visitors’ educational experience.
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet fellow Tayana Fincher is preparing an object for photography. Image courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.
An additional grant in 2020 helped the RISD Museum retain staff positions during the COVID-19 pandemic while making its Lucy Truman Aldrich collection of Asian textile masterworks more accessible. Donated between 1935 and 1955, these approximately 900 spectacularly crafted pieces of workmanship have been rotated for exhibitions and displays within the museum. By opening the textile collection up to students, scholars, and researchers through high-resolution photographs that are virtually accessible, the RISD Museum has attracted new audiences - researchers have even visited the museum after viewing the collection online. Importantly, making this collection available virtually has also made it accessible for interpretation by researchers in the textiles’ countries of origin.
The NEH funded project significantly improved RISD Museum’s website, making textiles more accessible to students and researchers. Image courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI.
The project has also allowed the RISD Museum to pursue significant partnerships and enrich student learning. RISD students hired through the grant had access to important training opportunities and learned more about the textiles through cataloging them. Additionally, the project has allowed RISD to participate in an ambitious venture launched by the Museum of Art and Photography in Bengaluru in collaboration with Microsoft. This effort is using AI pattern recognition technology to make connections between garments and textiles around the world, ultimately building knowledge about world textiles, showcasing Asian textiles to new audiences, and increasing the tools available to researchers.
