About the project

This is where you can find out about the project, get advice on what to do if you find a concealed garment, get references for further reading and make enquiries about the project.

Here are some questions you may want to ask about the project and about concealed garments. Click on each of the questions below to find some answers.

If you would like to ask any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

What is a deliberately concealed garment?

What do I do if I find a concealed garment?

What is the Textile Conservation Foundation?

What is a cache?

What is considered to be a garment?

Why were objects concealed?

What is the Deliberately Concealed Garments Project?

The Deliberately Concealed Garments Project  was set up by Dinah Eastop, who continues to lead the project, at The Textile Conservation Centre in 1998. The DCGP was supported by the the L.J. Skaggs and Mary D. Skaggs Foundation and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).  Research was undertaken at the Textile Conservation Centre. The research project was instigated by Dinah Eastop (while Senior Lecturer at the TCC) in 1999. Acknowledgements

The project has four main aims:

1. To encourage deliberately concealed garment finds to be reported and documented.

2. To raise awareness of and develop a better understanding of this folk practice.

3. To advance conservation techniques and practices that can be used to sensitively preserve such finds.

4. To use the garments found and reported to learn more about textile and dress history, and folk traditions.

Read about our research.