This survey and annotated bibliography consists of 444 references to periodical articles and papers drawn from conference proceedings on the literature of costume conservation and restoration, and documentation published in English between 1980 and 1996. The main objective of the survey was to identify subject areas that were receiving most coverage and, at the same time, to unearth topics receiving minimal attention. As academics and professionals report on new developments in their field in periodical articles and conference papers, the author has been able to identify the most recent information and findings.
The survey uses a thesaurus of terms describing material culture developed by the Getty Information Institute, in California, which enabled the author to divide articles into 15 main subject categories. Results of the survey show that areas of research receiving most attention are conservation, costume before 1700, and technical content. Less attention is currently being paid, however, to non‐Westem costume ‐ at least not in the English language.
The entries themselves include full bibliographic details and a short abstract describing the content of the article/paper. There is a fairly detailed subject and illustration index, which would be of greatest use to those researching this subject. There is also an index by author and appendices detailing journal and title proceedings titles listed and also frequently cited authors.
A survey such as this intended to be useful to professionals and academics would need to be supplemented by referral to literature published since 1996. As a study of documentation, it has been meticulously researched with much attention paid to small details.
