The Enduring Links Between the Feminine and the Domestic: A case study of the development of the textiles collection at Broadgreen House in Nelson, New Zealand

Textiles in heritage collections are marginalised because of their inextricable link with women and the domestic, and the outdated idea that textiles as ‘women’s work’ are mundane and interest in clothing is superficial and frivolous. Previous research has addressed this marginalisation in the field of fashion studies, and other research has observed that the material culture of women’s history and public history in general was only collected and explored by New Zealand museums after the Second World War and thus has only recently been valued by the traditionally masculine museum. However, the link between textiles as objects of material culture being used to portray women’s history in the domestic realm of historic houses has not been investigated and this is the focus of this thesis.

This study examines the relationship between textile collections in New Zealand and historic houses through a case study of the textile collection at Broadgreen Historic House in Nelson. It asks the following question: What can the Broadgreen Historic House textile collection tell us about how women’s history is conveyed through material culture, specifically textiles, in a domestic setting outside the professional setting of the institutional museum?

Interviews with past and previous staff, archival analysis of collection documentation and internal archives, and material culture analysis of objects in the Broadgreen collection illustrate several key things. The research shows that by combining these methods, a more historically accurate and nuanced account of this collection emerges, which shows who values the Broadgreen textile collection and how it is supported, cared for, and shared with the community.

This study highlights the ongoing value of textile collections in sharing the history of the ‘every day’, and women’s history, which is made more accessible to the public via the familiar setting of a historic house. It reinforces the value of historic houses and smaller heritage institutions in New Zealand and is an example to museum professionals to build relationships with institutions like these, rather than seeing them as old-fashioned and unprofessional. It concludes that textile collections, as objects of material culture, play a unique role in sharing stories of women’s history that are left out of the mainstream historical narrative, and that these collections are enhanced by their placement outside the professional setting of the institutional museum.