Laces: a case study of preservation of the UFRGS Fashion and Textile Museum collection

In this paper,the course of the Lucy Niemeyer Lace Collection belonging to the Fashion and Textiles Museum of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, is presented. The aim is to present the strategy followed, the interventions and the results of the preventive conservation activities. The activities comprise characterization of materials, records, cleaning, packing, cataloguing and disclosure of knowledge aiming at the collection preservation. The conservation methodology is based on the practices and theories used in national and international museums that deal with textile collections. Reference is made to the importance of virtual space to make knowledge available, since it facilitates access, enhances investigations and provides a form of preservation. It is a research with practical application, based on a qualitative approach, employing the case study as technical procedure.