New Years is a time for self-improvement and that goes for the museum too. We are always looking to improving how we care for objects. This doll’s trousseau was stored in an archival box and protected from dust and light, but the items were just stacked together with accessories on top. We can do better than that! So the box came to the textile conservation lab. Our textile conservator made a new archival box with slide-out shelves for all the clothes and a shelf with individual trays for the accessories.

The clothes were humidified and pressed and interleaved with tissue before being laid out neatly on their shelves. The hats got tiny foam hat mounts to protect their shape. The set of clothes will go back to storage for now, but in their new and improved storage box.