Talk
Join fashion archivist Sarah C. Byrd in conversation with Mae Colburn and her mother, Carol Colburn, about a collection of 600+ secondhand wool skirts assembled by Mae’s grandmother, Audrey Huset (1922-2022), between 1960 and 2000.
This spring, Mae, Carol and other family members worked together to catalog the entire collection, before moving it from Carol’s home in Duluth, Minnesota to Mae’s rag rug weaving studio in Brooklyn, New York. In the process, they created a striking photographic record of the wool skirts, now viewable on the collection website.
For this event, Mae and Carol will introduce the collection and trace its evolution to date, as well as discoveries made during their cataloging process. In conversation with Sarah, they seek to create a broader platform for discussion about home collections, inter-generational stewardship, and possible futures for this collection and others like it.
Sarah C. Byrd is a textile archivist with a special focus on American designers and the artifacts of daily living. She currently teaches courses related to the history, preservation, and material culture of fashion and textiles at FIT, NYU, Parsons, and the Textile Arts Center, and is co-founder of the Fashion Studies Alliance.
Mae Colburn is a scholar and weaver with a particular interest in textile archives, collections, and legacies. She works as archivist for tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck and collects her own weaving activities under the name Common Loom.
Carol Colburn is Professor Emerita in Theatre, Costume Design at the University of Northern Iowa. Her graduate studies included art history, museology, and textiles and clothing. She currently teaches sewing workshops at North House Folk School and John C. Campbell Folk School.