Records and textiles of the Needlework Development Scheme, Glasgow, Scotland

Reference and contact details: GB 1694 NDS
Title: Records and textiles of the Needlework Development Scheme, Glasgow, Scotland
Dates of creation: 17th century-1961
Extent: 82 textile items, 1 box of papers
Held at: Glasgow School of Art
Name of Creator: Needlework Development Scheme (1934-1961 : Glasgow, Scotland)
Level of Description: fonds
Language of Material: eng
Published by: Glasgow University Archive Services, 14 May 2002

Administrative/Biographical History

The Needlework Development in Scotland scheme ran from 1934-1939 and was a collaboration between art and design education with industry, with its funding being received from J & P Coats, thread manufacturers of Paisley, Scotland, with the company's main office being located in Glasgow, Scotland. The aims of the Scheme were to encourage greater interest in needlework and to improve the standard of design, the scheme becoming a forerunner of the Needlework Development Scheme (NDS), 1944-1961, also funded by J & P Coats.

The NDS was led by the vision of Colin Martin, and based on the educational philosophies of the time. The Scheme's aim was to improve the standard of design and technique of embroidery by helping both teachers and students. Encouraging embroidery also meant that J & P Coats were creating a future market for their threads and at the scheme's height in the 1950s J & P Coats spent the current equivalent of £1m printing 15 million bulletins which were mostly issued free to school girls.

The NDS was managed from the Central Agency of J & P Coats in Wellington Street, Glasgow. Loan collections of historical and modern embroideries were developed with examples being purchased by, or donated to, the Scheme with some examples being purchased from the Glasgow School of Art. These collections were then exhibited and loaned to schools in order to help teach and promote embroidery as an art form.

In 1961, Coats Patons Ltd, formerly J & P Coats Ltd, withdrew funding for the Scheme and it ceased to function. The collection of over 3000 textile items was broken up and disseminated between around 14 universities, colleges and museums. In Scotland, NDS collections exist at The Royal Museum of Scotland, Paisley Museum, Dundee University, Edinburgh College of Art, Gray's School of Art at Aberdeen, and the Glasgow School of Art. The Glasgow School of Art was one of the places that received material from the NDS and Kath Whyte, the Head of School of Embroided and Woven Textiles at the time, was able to choose the items from the collection that she felt would be useful for use as teaching aids within her department.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of the surviving papers of the Needlework Development Scheme over 100 examples of needlework. Of these examples, 28 are from Great Britain and 54 are examples of non-British work including examples from Greece, India, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and Bosnia. Items include ecclesiatical, domestic, costume, clothing and modern embroideries, tea cosies, funeral pall, clothing, lace work, wall hangings, samplers, linen work and cushion covers.

The surviving papers include a complete inventory of 1012 items that were part of the Needlework Development Scheme prior to its dispersal in 1961. This provides information on the original numbering scheme used for the needlework examples and also provides information on the provenance of each item, although this is not necessarily the creator of the item but the person from whom the item was received, as well as a description of the item itself. There is an inventory of the parts of the collection received by the Glasgow School of Art, insurance details concerning the collection and the correspondence of the Needlework Development Scheme, 1931-1941.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series:

  • NDS GB: Examples of British needlework
  • NDS F: Examples of foreign needlework
  • Administrative papers of the NDS

Administrative Information

Custodial History

Deposited with the Glasgow School of Art in March 1962 and held in the School of Embroidery and Woven Textiles

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Transferred to the care of the Glasgow School of Art Archives in 1999

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

This material has been appraised in line with standard procedures

Accruals

Accruals expected

Access Conditions

Open

Glasgow School of Art Archives are open for research Monday to Friday, 9.30am-12.00 and 2.00-5.00pm, by appointment only

Copyright/Reproduction

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the GSA Archivist

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use & condition of documents

Existence and location of copies

No known copies

Further Information

Finding Aids

Detailed information can be found concerning each needlework item within the collection inventory held within the administrative papers of the NDS

Information concerning each item can also be found in the Textiles Conservation Survey undertaken in 1998 and available in the searchroom

Correspondence concerning the NDS can be found within the Principal of the Glasgow School of Art's letter file (GB 1694 GSAA SEC 1 & SEC 2)

Catalogue of the Needlework Development Scheme textiles by Alex Conway, including photographs of each item, available in the searchroom.

Related units of description

When the NDS was disbanded in 1962 the collection was disseminated around Britain. Part of the collections can be found at the following:

Existence and location of originals

This material is original

Publication note

Needlework Development Scheme, Needlework development scheme : an account of its origin and aims (Glasgow : Needlework Development Scheme, 1951)

Needlework development scheme : And so to sew (London, 1959)

Oddy, Revel A Catalogue of Embroideries given to the Museum by the N.D.S., (Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1965)

Fonds-level description compilation details

Fonds level description compiled by David Powell, Hub Project Archivist, 11 November 2001

Fonds-level description alterations

Updated by David Powell, Hub Project Archivist, 14 May 2002