Clothing and Shoes from the Swedish Warship Vasa
The purpose of this project is to complete the documentation of the clothing and shoe finds from the Swedish warship Vasa (sunk 1628) and to make this information readily available to the research community and the public through a variety of digital media. The Vasa collection comprises over 5600 textile fragments and over 6000 leather fragments from a wide variety of garments and footwear. The material is in high demand from an international research community but is too fragile to be handled directly on a regular basis. By making the finds available digitally, they can be used in a wide range of research projects without risking their future preservation.
The collection is unique in its size, variety and contextualization. It is the largest known collection of everyday clothing and shoes from ordinary people in a use context from its period, and is relevant to studies in fashion history, textile production, trade, and the social structure of the Swedish navy.
A team of specialists will record the finds to a level suitable for research across all of these fields. The results will form part of the larger open-access collections database maintained by the Vasa Museum and will be accessible to the public in abbreviated form on the platform shared by many of Sweden’s museums, Digitalt Museum (www.digitaltmuseum.se).
Final report
In19-0897:1
Clothing and Shoes from the Swedish Warship Vasa:
Final scientific report 15 December 2023
Goals and development
During the excavation of Vasa in 1961, thousands of textile and leather fragments were recovered, organized into just over 500 lots, some separated into sublots. After a cursory cataloguing in the 1980s, there was no systematic recording that would make the finds useful for research into the manufacture or use of clothing in early modern Sweden. A few well-preserved garments were displayed, giving a misleading representation of a “typical” Swedish sailor of 1628. A survey of the collection indicated that the clothing displayed much more variation than previously appreciated. As the sailors on board were mostly conscripts who provided their own clothing, the collection represents a significant sample of the everyday clothes of ordinary people from the coastal districts of Sweden and Finland and thus is relevant to scholars in multiple disciplines far beyond the maritime context of a single shipwreck.
The aim of this project was to record the material systematically in sufficient detail that it could be used as source material for investigations into a wide range of archaeological, historical, and social questions, and to make the data accessible to researchers via a digital interface. The project hired five specialists to carry out this work: a senior researcher to assist in the development of documentation criteria, a specialist in early modern footwear, a technical photographer and two documentation specialists with textile backgrounds. One of the textile specialists was also experienced in database development and would assist in optimizing the recording process to make it intelligible via the museum’s primary collections interface, the web site Digitalt Museum (www.digitaltmuseum.se). In addition, the project director and a documentation coordinator were paid by SMTM to provide overall academic/administrative and to manage the day-to-day work with the collections.
Unexpected departures
New staff were hired and started work on 1 March 2020. On 13 March, the museum was forced to close by the covid pandemic, and except for a short period in autumn 2020, remained closed until covid restrictions were lifted in mid-2021. During this period, travel by staff and access to the collections were severely restricted. Progress was much slower than planned for most of 2020, and was not up to full speed until late 2021. The shoe specialist was not able to travel to the museum until 2022, and the senior researcher was on sick leave for much of the period.
The measures taken to deal with this situation were:
• Refined development of the documentation methodology and the database.
• The identification of key finds and key contexts for prioritized documentation.
• Postponement of the footwear documentation to the spring of 2022.
• A detailed survey of earlier documentation to collect information that may no longer survive in the finds themselves.
These measures mitigated some of the effects of the virus, but it was necessary to extend the project schedule significantly to recoup the time lost. This required extending the employment of one of the documentation specialists for a year, partly financed by a generous supplementary grant from RJ and partly by redistribution of funds within the primary grant.
Results
Over the course of the project, a total of approximately 2500 cloth fragments were recorded in deep detail and input into the finds database. This is approximately 50 % of the entire collection, but represents all of the material determined to be diagnostic, in that it preserves information on fibre, weave, finish, cut, and construction. These represent a total of 28 original garments:
• 1 felt hat
• 4 pairs of breeches
• 1 skirt
• 7 jackets
• 3 stockings
• 8 bands
• 4 sewn caps
• 1 nålbunden mitten
A through survey of the entire collection indicates that these provide good evidence of all the different garment types which survive and can be used to characterize the remainder of the collection, which consists of less well-preserved material.
A preliminary survey of the footwear revealed that it could also be prioritized on similar criteria, with the focus on those finds which still preserved useful information on material, cut and construction. All complete shoes and boots were recorded, as well approximately 30 % of the partial footwear finds.
Research
The documentation served as a foundation for a successful application to RAÄ for funding for the first phase of research based on the finds, the reconstruction of garments from the fragments. This three-year project has ordered the material and explored associations between fragments to develop patterns and reconstructions.
Two applications for PhDs have been developed with the recorded material as the base, one in textile studies and one in maritime archaeology.
The documentation of the finds led to closer investigation of the find contexts. A separate initiative has been developed to look at the containers and related objects associated with the clothing and shoe finds.
Communication
The project and its results have been presented in papers at the following international conferences:
• ICOM Costume Annual meeting at ICOM Three Annual Meeting, Kyoto Japan, September 2019
• The Society for Historical Archaeology 2020 Conference, Boston USA, January 2020
• The Association of Dress Historians New Research in Dress History Conference, London, June 2021 (Digital)
• Center for Textile Research, Copenhagen, June 2021 (Digital)
• Northern European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles (NESAT), Oulu Finland, August 2021 (Digital)
• A paper has been accepted for the next NESAT in 2024.
Since 2021, one of the project staff has been a visiting lecturer in the maritime archaeology graduate program at the University of Malta, using the project as the basis for instruction in the documentation of archaeological textiles from maritime sites.
The project has presented a seminar at Uppsala University and organized two successful full-day digital workshops (November 2020 and May 2021) to inform the international research community of the project and solicit input on potential research directions.
Publications to date:
Silwerulv, Anna, Hocker, Fred, Lindegren Josefin & Aneer, Cecilia. Textile and leather finds from the Swedish warship Vasa: A research program on common people's clothing from the early 17th-century. In Sanna Lipkin, Erika Ruhl, Krista Wright (editors) Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research of North and Central European Archaeological Textiles. The Proceedings of the North European Symposium for Archeological Textiles (23rd–26th August 2021 in Oulu), pp. 193–206. Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland 12, 2023
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Beatas kjol – hur ett kvinnoplagg blev ett par byxor” i Föremålens hemliga liv, Anna Maria Forssberg och Svante Norrhem (red.) Vasamuseet, 2021.
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Två syringar – små föremål med stor internationell betydelse” i Föremålens hemliga liv, Anna Maria Forssberg och Svante Norrhem (red.) Vasamuseet, 2021.
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Common people’s clothing in a military context.” In The Museum as a Cultural Hub: The Future of Tradition. Proceedings of the ICOM Costume Committee Annual Meeting, Kyoto, Japan, 1-7 September 2019. Jean L. Druesedow (red.), 2020.
A monograph now in preparation on the research into the human remains found on Vasa will include a separate chapter on the clothing and shoes, as well as integrating the documented material into chapters on the individual skeletons identified in the excavation.
Integration and maintenance
The project’s results are being embedded in the long-term structure of the museum in several ways. The knowledge is being integrated into the education of museum guides, planning for future exhibits, and was a central feature of digital outreach while the museum was closed during the pandemic.
The maintenance of the database and its relationship with Digitalt Museum is a permanent part of the responsibilities of the Collections Unit of the Vasa Museum. As new information is developed through reconstruction and analysis, it is added to the database, and all collections projects include the updating of the database as a component.
Access
In the initial project plan, it was expected that researchers would use Digitalt Museum as a search device and would then request detailed information from the museum. During the run of the project, improvements in the capacity of the museum’s database software, Primus, and better linking facilities in Digitalt Museum meant that all data could be made available directly, either as entries in existing fields or by linking PDFs of documentation forms.
SMTM is an Open Access institution, and all documentation data (other than personal information) generated by the project are freely available to researchers and the general public. Images produced within documentation projects are available under the CC BY standard, without copyright restrictions. The documentation produced within this infrastructure project is available under the relevant find number on Digitalt Museum (www.digitaltmuseum.se), either as raw data in the fields of the database or as linked images.
Collaboration
As a result of this project, the Vasa Museum has begun a cooperative arrangement with RAÄ to carry out scientific analysis of the find material, with one of the project staff appointed a guest researcher.
The project encouraged a group of researchers in Australia to invite the museum to participate in a major international research program looking at the Dutch East India Company and how its remains are studied and exhibited; this effort involves researchers in seven countries over a six-year period.
Links
www.smtm.se
www.vasamuseet.se/utforska/forskning
www.digitaltmuseum.se
Fred Hocker, Project Director
Clothing and Shoes from the Swedish Warship Vasa:
Final scientific report 15 December 2023
Goals and development
During the excavation of Vasa in 1961, thousands of textile and leather fragments were recovered, organized into just over 500 lots, some separated into sublots. After a cursory cataloguing in the 1980s, there was no systematic recording that would make the finds useful for research into the manufacture or use of clothing in early modern Sweden. A few well-preserved garments were displayed, giving a misleading representation of a “typical” Swedish sailor of 1628. A survey of the collection indicated that the clothing displayed much more variation than previously appreciated. As the sailors on board were mostly conscripts who provided their own clothing, the collection represents a significant sample of the everyday clothes of ordinary people from the coastal districts of Sweden and Finland and thus is relevant to scholars in multiple disciplines far beyond the maritime context of a single shipwreck.
The aim of this project was to record the material systematically in sufficient detail that it could be used as source material for investigations into a wide range of archaeological, historical, and social questions, and to make the data accessible to researchers via a digital interface. The project hired five specialists to carry out this work: a senior researcher to assist in the development of documentation criteria, a specialist in early modern footwear, a technical photographer and two documentation specialists with textile backgrounds. One of the textile specialists was also experienced in database development and would assist in optimizing the recording process to make it intelligible via the museum’s primary collections interface, the web site Digitalt Museum (www.digitaltmuseum.se). In addition, the project director and a documentation coordinator were paid by SMTM to provide overall academic/administrative and to manage the day-to-day work with the collections.
Unexpected departures
New staff were hired and started work on 1 March 2020. On 13 March, the museum was forced to close by the covid pandemic, and except for a short period in autumn 2020, remained closed until covid restrictions were lifted in mid-2021. During this period, travel by staff and access to the collections were severely restricted. Progress was much slower than planned for most of 2020, and was not up to full speed until late 2021. The shoe specialist was not able to travel to the museum until 2022, and the senior researcher was on sick leave for much of the period.
The measures taken to deal with this situation were:
• Refined development of the documentation methodology and the database.
• The identification of key finds and key contexts for prioritized documentation.
• Postponement of the footwear documentation to the spring of 2022.
• A detailed survey of earlier documentation to collect information that may no longer survive in the finds themselves.
These measures mitigated some of the effects of the virus, but it was necessary to extend the project schedule significantly to recoup the time lost. This required extending the employment of one of the documentation specialists for a year, partly financed by a generous supplementary grant from RJ and partly by redistribution of funds within the primary grant.
Results
Over the course of the project, a total of approximately 2500 cloth fragments were recorded in deep detail and input into the finds database. This is approximately 50 % of the entire collection, but represents all of the material determined to be diagnostic, in that it preserves information on fibre, weave, finish, cut, and construction. These represent a total of 28 original garments:
• 1 felt hat
• 4 pairs of breeches
• 1 skirt
• 7 jackets
• 3 stockings
• 8 bands
• 4 sewn caps
• 1 nålbunden mitten
A through survey of the entire collection indicates that these provide good evidence of all the different garment types which survive and can be used to characterize the remainder of the collection, which consists of less well-preserved material.
A preliminary survey of the footwear revealed that it could also be prioritized on similar criteria, with the focus on those finds which still preserved useful information on material, cut and construction. All complete shoes and boots were recorded, as well approximately 30 % of the partial footwear finds.
Research
The documentation served as a foundation for a successful application to RAÄ for funding for the first phase of research based on the finds, the reconstruction of garments from the fragments. This three-year project has ordered the material and explored associations between fragments to develop patterns and reconstructions.
Two applications for PhDs have been developed with the recorded material as the base, one in textile studies and one in maritime archaeology.
The documentation of the finds led to closer investigation of the find contexts. A separate initiative has been developed to look at the containers and related objects associated with the clothing and shoe finds.
Communication
The project and its results have been presented in papers at the following international conferences:
• ICOM Costume Annual meeting at ICOM Three Annual Meeting, Kyoto Japan, September 2019
• The Society for Historical Archaeology 2020 Conference, Boston USA, January 2020
• The Association of Dress Historians New Research in Dress History Conference, London, June 2021 (Digital)
• Center for Textile Research, Copenhagen, June 2021 (Digital)
• Northern European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles (NESAT), Oulu Finland, August 2021 (Digital)
• A paper has been accepted for the next NESAT in 2024.
Since 2021, one of the project staff has been a visiting lecturer in the maritime archaeology graduate program at the University of Malta, using the project as the basis for instruction in the documentation of archaeological textiles from maritime sites.
The project has presented a seminar at Uppsala University and organized two successful full-day digital workshops (November 2020 and May 2021) to inform the international research community of the project and solicit input on potential research directions.
Publications to date:
Silwerulv, Anna, Hocker, Fred, Lindegren Josefin & Aneer, Cecilia. Textile and leather finds from the Swedish warship Vasa: A research program on common people's clothing from the early 17th-century. In Sanna Lipkin, Erika Ruhl, Krista Wright (editors) Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research of North and Central European Archaeological Textiles. The Proceedings of the North European Symposium for Archeological Textiles (23rd–26th August 2021 in Oulu), pp. 193–206. Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland 12, 2023
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Beatas kjol – hur ett kvinnoplagg blev ett par byxor” i Föremålens hemliga liv, Anna Maria Forssberg och Svante Norrhem (red.) Vasamuseet, 2021.
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Två syringar – små föremål med stor internationell betydelse” i Föremålens hemliga liv, Anna Maria Forssberg och Svante Norrhem (red.) Vasamuseet, 2021.
Silwerulv, Anna. ”Common people’s clothing in a military context.” In The Museum as a Cultural Hub: The Future of Tradition. Proceedings of the ICOM Costume Committee Annual Meeting, Kyoto, Japan, 1-7 September 2019. Jean L. Druesedow (red.), 2020.
A monograph now in preparation on the research into the human remains found on Vasa will include a separate chapter on the clothing and shoes, as well as integrating the documented material into chapters on the individual skeletons identified in the excavation.
Integration and maintenance
The project’s results are being embedded in the long-term structure of the museum in several ways. The knowledge is being integrated into the education of museum guides, planning for future exhibits, and was a central feature of digital outreach while the museum was closed during the pandemic.
The maintenance of the database and its relationship with Digitalt Museum is a permanent part of the responsibilities of the Collections Unit of the Vasa Museum. As new information is developed through reconstruction and analysis, it is added to the database, and all collections projects include the updating of the database as a component.
Access
In the initial project plan, it was expected that researchers would use Digitalt Museum as a search device and would then request detailed information from the museum. During the run of the project, improvements in the capacity of the museum’s database software, Primus, and better linking facilities in Digitalt Museum meant that all data could be made available directly, either as entries in existing fields or by linking PDFs of documentation forms.
SMTM is an Open Access institution, and all documentation data (other than personal information) generated by the project are freely available to researchers and the general public. Images produced within documentation projects are available under the CC BY standard, without copyright restrictions. The documentation produced within this infrastructure project is available under the relevant find number on Digitalt Museum (www.digitaltmuseum.se), either as raw data in the fields of the database or as linked images.
Collaboration
As a result of this project, the Vasa Museum has begun a cooperative arrangement with RAÄ to carry out scientific analysis of the find material, with one of the project staff appointed a guest researcher.
The project encouraged a group of researchers in Australia to invite the museum to participate in a major international research program looking at the Dutch East India Company and how its remains are studied and exhibited; this effort involves researchers in seven countries over a six-year period.
Links
www.smtm.se
www.vasamuseet.se/utforska/forskning
www.digitaltmuseum.se
Fred Hocker, Project Director