Orkney and Shetland Textiles
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 368 assorted objects from the Orkney and Shetland islands. This collection includes 170 items from Orkney and 198 itesm from Shetland. Among these itesm are examples of the islanders’ textiles. The existing collection of textile objects is very small. There is one only Orcadian jumper, but more examples of Shetland’s textiles including two jumpers, one shawl, a rug, a cocktail dress, and a cardigan. The collection is important as is shows what islanders looked like, how resources were used and how the industry has developed. Furthermore, the collection also allows for gender studies to be developed to represent women and men in the museums, and how life was lived on the islands in terms of indigenous dress, and textiles made for export and tourism. Glasgow Museums begun to collect this material in the 1880s and continued to develop it into the 1940s, 1950s and into the 1980s. Among the earliest related accessioned objects were spindles, which were later joined by a woolcarder to reflect the museum’s concern to show methods and tools of textile production.
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