On May 23, the Nantucket Historical Association launches its 2025 main exhibition, Behind the Seams: Clothing and Textiles on Nantucket, in the Nantucket Whaling Museum. Showcasing over 150 remarkable pieces from the NHA’s costume and textile collections, this exhibit brings to life the craft, culture, and identity woven into Nantucket’s history, telling stories across centuries.
“So many aspects of island history can be explored through textiles and clothing,” said Michael Harrison, NHA Chief Curator and Obed Macy Research Chair. “The NHA is excited to present visitors with a rare look at some of the most intriguing objects in our collection—the clothing and textiles that people created and used on Nantucket in the past.”
On view through November 2, Behind the Seams features clothing, accessories, household textiles, and tools for sewing and textile production from the NHA’s 2,000-piece costume and textile collections. Rarely seen objects, assembled from more than two centuries of clothing and textiles on Nantucket, will illustrate the skill and artistry of island makers and stories of life on our island.
Exhibition themes will explore textile production and trade—from raw materials to finished garments—as well as the relationships, communities, identities, and values revealed by textile objects created and used by Nantucketers. Clothing brands that reflect the summer resort and products from the island’s robust craft revival movement extend the themes of making and meaning into the twentieth century. The exhibition highlights the persistence of sustainable practices, demonstrating how islanders have cared for and valued clothing and textiles. Together, the themes of making, meaning, and sustainability will reflect Nantucket’s history as a seaport, its shift from a whaling economy to a summer resort, and the legacy of the island’s talented textile practitioners.
Behind the Seams is the first major exhibition of objects from the NHA’s costume and textile collection since completion in 2018 of a major inventory funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This cataloging and rehousing project ensured the long-term preservation of the NHA’s textile collection while increasing access and visibility for research and display. New insights revealed by the inventory are now being realized in Behind the Seams.
“The NHA’s textile collection is a significant one, critically important as a gateway for research into better understanding Nantucket’s history and changing culture. The multi-year effort to catalogue and better care for this collection has led to this point, and we are excited to share this work with our members and the public,” said Niles Parker, Gosnell Executive Director of the NHA.
The guest curator for the exhibition is Jennifer Nieling, an independent costume and textile specialist whose association with the NHA goes back to 2015, when she inventoried the menswear collection and mounted the first of many costumes for NHA exhibition projects. In 2017 and 2018, she led the IMLS-funded collection inventory. A graduate of Boston University and the Fashion & Textile Studies master’s program at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Nieling now specializes in costume mounting and display. She continues to pursue independent research and has published on the history of Nantucket Looms and weaver Andy Oates. On May 20, Nieling will be giving a free lecture entitled The Making and Meanings of the Behind the Seams Exhibition at 5:30 pm in the Nantucket Whaling Museum.
The NHA has organized a special Community Quilt project to correspond with Behind the Seams: Clothing and Textiles on Nantucket. This project invites Nantucket community members to contribute a panel to a conceptual quilt. A celebratory display of works of art will be revealed at the NHA’s Community Day, slated for Monday, August 4. Additional Community Quilt panel contributions and displays will continue into the fall at NHA programs and events and conclude with an exhibition celebration in October that will include an auction of the Community Quilt panels.
Contributors, including individuals, organizations, and businesses are invited to interpret what the Nantucket community means to them. All art mediums are welcome, from fabric to paint and more, with the NHA providing an 8”x8” wood diamond panel to each contributor for their artwork. To sign up and arrange to pickup a panel at Create, 8 Amelia Drive (who has generously donated materials), and to review rules and instructions, visit nha.org/community-quilt-project. Participants must be on-island to pick up and return their finished quilt panels before July 1, 2025.
In addition to community member contributions, the NHA will be hosting Community Quilt projects at many of their programs and events to provide community members with an opportunity to view panel-making in action.
“There is a long-standing history of community quilt-making that our exhibition touches on and that we have examples of in our collection, so we are excited to spearhead the creation of a piece of work that can be in this same spirit and showcase the story of the Nantucket community today,” said Niles Parker, NHA Gosnell Executive Director.
Textiles have long been made by and for communities to express social connection and reflect local identity. From the mid-19th century “album quilts” or “friendship quilts” with their distinctive signatures to embroidered crazy quilts with whimsical designs, many quilts commemorate friendships and community gatherings and are themselves products of communal work. The NHA collection holds many examples of these meaningful pieces, some of which will be displayed in the exhibition Behind the Seams.
Additional lectures, programs, and special events to support the exhibition will feature talks by scholars and artists; scheduled loom weaving demonstrations will be provided by local practitioners; and a range of family-friendly textile crafts will be offered in the children’s Discovery Center. Special community programs and events will be offered, including textile-focused Mindful Memories and NHA on the Road programs, as well as Decorative Arts workshops at the 1800 House. Visit NHA.org for upcoming details on these and other programs.
