Highlights Tours
Free docent-led tours of the galleries are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m.
All Programs by Date
September
Book Talk: "Heroes of the Underground Railroad Around D.C."
Anthropologist and author Jenny Masur tells the stories of unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad from her new book.
Book Talk: "Partnership Power: Essential Museum Strategies for Today's Networked World"
National museum leader Marsha L. Semmel draws on her own career and the various case studies in her recent book to explore sustained museum-community partnerships
Film Shorts: "Unravel" and "Occupation: Mill Worker"
"Unravel" follows the western world’s least-wanted clothes on a journey across northern India. "Occupation: Mill Worker" documents the events of February, 1992, when workers forcibly occupied the factories of Mumbai’s New Great Eastern Mill after a four-year lock-out.
Film: "The Man in the White Suit"
Join us for a screening of this 1951 film about a chemist who creates the perfect white suit—which turns out to be very bad for business.
Curator Tour: "Fast Fashion/Slow Art"
Tour the exhibition "Fast Fashion/Slow Art" with co-curators Bibiana Obler and Phyllis Rosenzweig.
Lecture/Show and Tell: Artful African and Asian Garments
Collector Steve Price gives an overview on why clothing exists and its cultural role, followed by a presentation of garments from Africa and Central, mainland Southeast, and East Asia.
Lecture: Rosetta Tharpe: Black Queer Icon
Gayle Wald, author and chair of GW's Department of American Studies, discusses black queer icon Rosetta Tharpe.
Workshop: Beaded Gloves
Embellish a pair of gloves with beads and other decorations, inspired by Jon Eric Riis's contemporary artwork "Hands of the Oracle"
Workshop: Motifs, Migrations, and Misappropriations
Join artist and activist Frau Fiber in this hands-on workshop that reimagines a Syrian tunic from the Textile Museum collections using discarded t-shirts, remnants of our consumer culture.
Member Program: "Ornament: Fragments of Byzantine Fashion" Curator Tour
This exhibition at Dumbarton Oaks Museum brings together complete tunics, parts of garments, and contemporary replicas of ancient dress to evoke the fashions of this now lost world.
Conference: Unveiling Fashion: Textiles, Design, and the New Circular Economy
Join in a collaboration with the D.C. Sustainable Fashion Collective and GW’s Office of Sustainability to understand the relationship between the consumer and the fashion industry and learn about the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
Trunk Show: McKernan Scarves
Located just off the wild Atlantic Way in County Clare, Ireland, McKernan Woolen Mills creates beautiful handwoven scarves that blend quality, functionality, tradition, and skill.
Book Talk: "Larry Felder Candidate"
Join former Washington Post columnist Bob Levey for a talk about his new novel about a big-time newspaper and contemporary Washington-area politics.
October
Consultations: Ask a Curator, Ask a Conservator
Learn more about your own textiles from museum curators and conservators.
Lecture/Show and Tell: From Qing to Xi Jinping: Two Centuries of Chinese Rug Design
Collector Colin England gives a quick overview of 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century rugs produced in China using designs from Chinese, Persian, Turkish, and other sources.
Performance and Sing Along: Songs of the Civil War
Join us for an afternoon of Civil War-era songs performed by the Washington Revels Heritage Voices, and a sing along of familiar melodies.
Lecture: Abraham Lincoln in Words and Music
Claire Jerry, lead curator of political history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, reveals the nuances of Lincoln’s speeches and his use of language.
Central Asia Crafts and Couture Market
Purchase one-of-a-kind, handwoven merchandise from Central Asia at this four-day market.
Film: "Maquilapolis"
This documentary is a collaboration among filmmakers Sergio de la Torre and Vicky Funari, factory workers, and community organizations that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on the frontlines.
Lecture/Show and Tell: Ottoman Rug and Textile Masterpieces in Budapest
Simon Ferenc Toth discusses 15th- to 18th-century masterpieces of Islamic art from the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, which holds the world’s second largest collection of Ottoman Turkish carpets.
Lecture: D.C. Murals: Spectacle and Story
Discover the stories behind many of the public murals that decorate the streets of Washington, D.C.
Lecture: Mysteries of Cairo’s Magnificent Mamluk Carpets
Scholar Rosamund E. Mack sheds light on the origins and early history of carpets in Granada, Jerusalem, and the Vatican, which has long been a mystery. A collaboration with the International Hajji Baba Society.
Lecture: D.C.'s Fort Reno Community After the Civil War
Learn the history of D.C's Fort Reno community after the Civil War.
Discussion: Presidential Memorabilia in the Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies
Join fellow museum members for a special peek at presidential memorabilia in the museum’s Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection
Workshop: Choosing Fabrics for Your Home
Textile designer and expert in furnishing fabrics Karthika Audinet leads a discussion that will help you select fabrics and furnishings with confidence.
Book Talk: "The Property of the Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President"
Author Matthew R. Costello examines how the memory of George Washington was a deliberately constructed image through the story of his tomb.
November
Publishing Your Collection
Longtime collector and scholar Raoul (“Mike”) Tschebull discusses his new book, "Qarajeh to Quba," a study based on his collection of rural rugs and flatwoven textiles from northern Iran and the Transcaucasus.
Lecture: African Americans Serving in Contraband Hospitals
Learn the story of one hospital in Washington, D.C., that treated black soldiers and civilians during the American Civil War.
Museum Shop Holiday Market
Visit our museum shop and twenty other museum shops in the area under one roof at Strathmore's annual holiday market.
Student Presentations: Art, Sustainability, and Activism
Join us at the Corcoran as graduate students present their semester-long research projects on topics concerning the production and distribution of textiles and clothing.
Consultations: Ask a Curator, Ask a Conservator
Learn more about your own textiles from museum curators and conservators.
Colloquium: New Threads: Recent Research on Egyptian Textiles
Inspired by new exhibitions on the fashion and furnishings of early medieval Egypt, this colloquium features new research from five distinguished scholars that will challenge your concepts of these ancient textile artworks.
Film: "Immortal Egypt: Invasion"
In the final episode of this BBC documentary series, professor Joan Fletcher explores how ancient Egypt's story fits together.
Film: "RiverBlue"
This feature-length documentary chronicles paddler and conservationist Mark Angelo's journey to uncover and document the extensive pollution impacts of the global fashion industry.
Skills and Stories of Moroccan Women Artisans
Anthropologist Susan Davis discusses her award-winning book, which tells the stories of Moroccan women artisans.
Panel Discussion: Masculinity in the Civil War
Join two acclaimed scholars and authors to explore which aspects of masculinity were celebrated and shamed during the mid-nineteenth century.
Gallery Talk: Flax, Fibers, and Fabric in "Woven Interiors"
Join Lori Kartchner from the museum's Education Department to explore the story of linen through works on view in "Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt."
George Hewitt Myers Award
On Thursday evening, November 21, the museum will honor Dr. Thomas P. Campbell with the George Hewitt Myers Award for lifetime achievement in the textile arts.
Lecture: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Band
Join U.S. Marine Corps musician and librarian Charles Paul for a unique history of the President’s Own, America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization.
December
Shop Event: Museum Store Sunday
Visit the museum shop on Museum Store Sunday for special discounts and perks.
Book Talk: "St. Elizabeth’s in Washington, D.C.: Architecture of an Asylum"
National Building Museum Curator Sarah Leavitt traces the architectural evolution of St. Elizabeth's, a mental health hospital since 1852, and the way its specialized architecture and landscape served the mentally ill.
Student Presentations: Art, Sustainability, and Activism
Join us at the Corcoran as graduate students present their semester-long research projects on topics concerning the production and distribution of textiles and clothing.
Consultations: Ask a Curator, Ask a Conservator
Learn more about your own textiles from museum curators and conservators.
Lecture: Creating Opportunities for Coptic Women in Rural Egypt
Nermien Riad, executive director of Coptic Orphans, discusses B’edaya, their microfinance initiative tailored to help widowed mothers claim financial independence through textile and other work.
Student Presentations: George Washington and His World
GW students will share their findings after a semester of in-depth research about George Washington at Mount Vernon.
Gallery Talk: A Closer Look at a 19th-Century Syrian Boy’s Coat
Join Senior Curator Sumru Belger Krody in the galleries as she discusses an extremely rare and exquisitely decorated boy's coat in The Textile Museum Collection.
701 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202-994-5200
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