Events Calendar – British School at Athens

Annual Bader Archive Lecture

Ann French (Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester [retired]), “Embroideries and Archives: A Research Journey”

Abstract: In the early twentieth century, a group of BSA students put together significant collections of Greek domestic embroidery.   Many of which are now in museum collections across the UK, in particular the V&A and National Museums Liverpool.  The primary collectors were R M Dawkins and A J B Wace.  As the granddaughter of Wace and as a textile conservator, Ann has been researching how these collections were compiled, studied, exhibited and promoted by them and their colleagues and friends. She has made extensive use of archives in UK museums and collections, family archives, those of the BSA and of the Benaki Museum.  In particular, she has been cataloguing and improving the storage of the archives left to National Museums Liverpool by A J B Wace. The Bader Lecture will cover her findings and how she has been able to make connections amongst institutions via archival material, especially original photographs and surviving labelling systems.

Bio: Ann French worked in the field of Textile Conservation for over forty years for a variety of institutions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Glasgow Museums and finally at the Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester. Just retired, she was responsible for all textile-based material in its collections encompassing post-Pharaonic textiles from Egypt to contemporary art textiles.  She also combined this role with that of Collection Care Manager involving personnel management, collections management, and the delivery of exhibitions and loans. In addition, Ann has taught conservation and collection care for the universities of Manchester, Glasgow & East Anglia and has contributed to conservation’s professional body, ICON, as chair of the Textiles Group, a member of the managing committee and of the accreditation committee. Her personal research project since 2002 involves the collections and collecting of Greek domestic embroidery now in UK Museums – the subject of the Bader Archive Lecture 2026.

Hybrid lecture

photographs: Michael Pollard. ©Ann French