Lace Samples

Lace pattern samples and colour options attached to the front of blue card stock.

Various lace samples by M. Meyer & Company attached to blue card stock. One of the largest is black; the other is white. The others are smaller and in various colours.

Lace pattern samples and colour options attached to the back of blue cardstock.

Close up view of off-white lace sample by M. Meyer & Company and gold foil monogrammed seal with an M in the middle.

Close up view of off-white lace sample and gold foil monogrammed seal.

M. Meyer & Company was a successful lace company founded by Max Meyer in 1874. It was one of many Jewish businesses that helped establish Berlin as a fashion capital of Europe. Jewish talent was prominent in the German fashion industry. This caused the Nazis to target the Jewish fashion and textiles companies for destruction. Between 1938 and 1939, M. Meyer & Company was seized by the Nazi government and transferred to non-Jewish ownership. The Meyer family fled to Canada in June 1939.

Donated to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre by Paul Meyer. 1998.007.001

Assessing the Condition of the Artefact

Transcript

[Text: Conservator Sabina Sutherland describes the materials of the artefacts and the risks for damage. She assesses the condition of the lace samples and details the treatment it required.]

Sabina Sutherland: The materials here are paper and most likely the lace would have been made from cotton, linen or silk at the time. So, this is before synthetics. And so, they have something in common in which they all respond. They're quite sensitive to moisture so you can get if they're left in an environment that is too humid, you can see distortion and then leading up to mold growth. They also are very light sensitive, both paper and textile. The material itself is light sensitive but this having dyes in addition to the raw materials make it all that much more sensitive 'cause the colours are really part of the history as well as the material. The type of treatment that would be considered for something like this is quite minimal, but first you would assess the overall condition of the object. So here we can see that there are some areas of fading and discolouration as well as failed adhesives. Thankfully, a lot of the colours present in the lace are still quite vibrant, so we don't see a lot of fading there which is good. So that's something that we would like to prevent in future. And the minimal amount of work that I did myself on this object was really just to remove some of the surface soiling. And that is done through gentle vacuuming methods and as well as using gentle brushes. And sometimes an eraser can be used on areas of the paper that have a little bit more soiling on them.

Conservator Sabina Sutherland describes the condition of the lace samples. She details the treatment she performed. (2 minutes 4 seconds)

Preserving Emotional Materials

Transcript

[Text: Conservator Sabina Sutherland discusses interacting with artefacts from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. She discusses the emotional experience that comes with this work and the value of preserving the artefacts.]

Sabina Sutherland: Well, as a conservator, I do have, my passion really lies in the materials that are there. And so that's usually the first, the first part that I investigate and that I look into. However, I happen to find this one just particularly beautiful as an object and it is fascinating to look at the mechanization of lace making, of which this is a very nice example, as well as all the different colors that were available. I can't help but be attracted to that as part of it. So it is, I find it very aesthetically beautiful to look at. But also the context is quite profound behind that. And so knowing that does change it for me. It adds more of a, a sort of a, a protective layer and a more of a willingness to protect the object. Normally, I don't like, I am honestly attracted to what something is made out of before I get excited about why it came about and what it means because working on some of the objects at the VHEC can act, can be quite emotionally, you can get emotionally affected by their context. And so part of that is to separate one from the heaviness of why, why it's being collected. But then at the end it really invokes like a real sense of just contributing to the preservation of these culturally important objects. is made out of before I get excited about why it came about and what it means because working on some of the objects at the VHEC can act, can be quite emotionally, you can get emotionally affected by their context. And so part of that is to separate one from the heaviness of why, why it's being collected. But then at the end it really invokes like a real sense of just contributing to the preservation of these culturally important objects.

Sabina Sutherland talks about how she is affected by the history of the artefacts she works with. She discusses the value of preserving artefacts. (2 minutes 8 seconds)

Lace Samples

Image Slideshow