Preservation of Textiles
The hat, scarves, bandanas, handkerchiefs, banners, dresses, wearing apparel (ties, stockings and lingerie), which were colorful and direct ways to promote elections and candidates, show evidence of use or display.Bandanas, scarves and handkerchiefs comprise the largest group of textiles and most exhibited sharp creases, folds and wrinkles due in part to storage in small boxes.Some early textiles are quite fragile with tears and losses, and some were mounted with various adhesives or tapes to poor quality mounts. Some textiles had no protection within boxes; others were interleaved with a very thin, non-archival tissue that offered little support. 

Textiles adhered to poor quality supports were removed mechanically and adhesive residues reduced. Humidifying and flattening the textiles to reduce creases and folds greatly improved the physical condition and appearance.New protective enclosures were constructed of museum-quality matboard covered with cotton muslin free of size, optical brighteners, dyes, and bleach. The treated textiles were smoothed into place on the covered boards; no attachment was necessary as the nap bond between textile and cotton muslin holds the textiles, even fragile textiles with tears and losses, sufficiently in place.Each textile was then individually housed in a pH-neutral folder (the recommended folder for textile collections containing cotton, silk and wool) and stored in archival boxes by size. With the new enclosures, the textiles are fully supported and protected and direct handling is greatly reduced since the covered boards can serve as supports during research and scanning. To date 77 textiles, ranging in size from 8 x 10 to 24 x 30 have been treated and rehoused.  Work remains on oversize textiles and wearing apparel.

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