George Hewitt Myers Award: An Evening With Honoree Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Join a livestreamed event honoring Elizabeth Wayland Barber with the 2022 George Hewitt Myers Award for lifetime achievements in the field of textile art. Dr. Barber, who is one of the world’s leading authorities on ancient textiles, will share reflections on her decades of research on the origins and history of textiles across Eurasia and Europe, and particularly the role and innovations of women.

About the Award

The George Hewitt Myers Award honors lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions in the field of textile arts. The award, named for The Textile Museum’s founder and given by the board of trustees, is recognized as the highest international accolade in the field of textile arts. Learn more about the award

About the Honoree

Elizabeth Wayland Barber is an archaeologist, linguist, weaver, folk dancer and choreographer. She is author or co-author of eight books, including Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times and The Mummies of Ürümchi. She is professor emerita at Occidental College, where she taught for 37 years before retiring in 2007. She has also served as a research associate at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. She teaches and choreographs for Occidental's Folk and Historical Dance Troupe, which she founded in 1971. Dr. Barber’s years of research into the history and pre-history of cloth, weaving and clothing has revealed vital information about the movement of people across Eurasia and Europe, the origin of cloth and weaving and women’s participation in the inventions of weaving, cloth and textile arts in general.

Speakers

Elizabeth Wayland Barber, 2022 George Hewitt Myers Award recipient

Eric Cline, professor of classical and ancient Near Eastern studies and of anthropology, The George Washington University

Laurel Gray, artistic director, Silk Road Dance Company; adjunct professor of global dance history, The George Washington University

Lyssa Stapleton, program and policy analyst, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA; former curator of the Cotsen collections, Cotsen Foundation for Academic Research

How to Participate

This program will take place on Zoom. To participate, please register online, and we will email you a link and instructions for joining. Simply follow that link at the time the program starts (7 p.m. EDT / 4 p.m. PDT). When you register, you can also request to receive a reminder email one day before the program with the link included.

Limited in-person seating for this event is reserved for The Textile Museum Council, the museum’s patrons group. To join The Textile Museum Council or learn more, contact Eliza Ward, director of development, at [email protected] or 202-994-5438.