The following has been reposted here from the Textile Specialty Group’s mailing list, TSG-Discuss, with the author’s permission.
Having been a textile conservator at the MMA for over 30 years, I confess that in some ways I kept to myself and did not always participate actively in the Textile Specialty Group endeavors,(though maintained my membership throughout my professional career.)
Now that I am preparing to teach a course on Textile Conservation at the UCLA/Cotsen/Getty Villa program on archaeological conservation, I would like to sincerely thank all of you who have put so much time, energy, professional thought and your personal and intellectual experience into what has become the WIKI– TEXTILES project.
It is a tremendous service to the field, and all of us can benefit from it.
Christine Giuntini, Susan Heald, Meridith Montague, Mary Ballard, Lucy Commoner, Kathy Francis, Deborah Trupin, Sarah Stevens, Jane Merritt,Susan Mathisen, Denyse Montegut, Sara J. Wolf and EVERYONE who contributed in the past untold hours to make this project what it is, and to those who continue to contribute now their time and effort into this project — all deserve a huge thanks and recognitition of the work that has gone into the project.
I personally and professionally truly appreciate what you have done, and think it is a great project. It is so useful on so many levels, designed with forsight and integrity, filling a big need for the profession.
I just wanted at this time to thank you all for your efforts. It is and will be a great resource for so many.
Best,
Elena
Elena Phipps
President, Textile Society of America (2011-2014)