Beverly Gordon

Background & Interest:

Professor Gordon teaches courses in textile and fashion history and appreciation, material culture analysis, world dress, and global perspectives on design and culture. She has been teaching, making objects, curating exhibits, and researching textiles and related aspects of the material world and the designed environment for over 30 years.

Her research interests generally involve the meanings of objects in people’s lives, particularly in relation to women and the domestic environment. This translates to an involvement in the fields of textile and costume history; material culture; and folk, decorative, and design art. She is currently working on a comprehensive volume entitled The Fiber of Our Lives: Why Textiles Matter, and previous books include The Saturated World: Aesthetic Meaning, Intimate Objects, Women’s Lives, 1890-1940 (2006); Bazaars and Fair Ladies: The History of the American Fundraising Fair (1998); Shaker Textile Arts (1980) and Feltmaking: Traditions, Techniques and Contemporary Explorations (1980). Her articles range from studies of individual artists to articles on the history and meanings of quilts, blue jeans, dress-up costumes, beadwork, needlework and crepe paper. Her theoretical explorations include the meanings of souvenirs; the conflation of women’s dress and interiors in the 19th century; the underlying meanings of a “backstage women’s space;” and "The Hand of the Maker: the Importance of Understanding Textiles From the Inside Out."

Gordon is active in inter-college programs including Material Culture, Folklore, and Visual Culture, and is on the Executive Committee of the Arts Institute. Professional service included serving as President of the Textile Society of America for several years.  

Gordon’s graduate students have worked on diverse topics such as Victorian fancywork, knitting, folk dress as cultural identity, Indian baskets, the history and applications of weighted silk, Turkish dowry textiles, the meanings invested in brooms, self-taught artist's environments, and communicating through museum environments.