“I soaked them in big bins on a sunny hot day and stirred them every so often.”

Faye Snyder knows her recipes – for textiles, that is.

The collections chairman for Lincoln County Historical Association has been working with her committee to preserve LCHA’s aged and frail cloth items, often bringing stained and marked ones back to a fresher, new life.

It’s been a challenge because LCHA has an impressive collection and they are responsible for everything in it, not just the textiles. She is the right person for the job since she is an antique dealer and has her own private collection of historical clothing.

The earliest textile in LCHA’s collection is “fine Indian cotton embroidered with tambour work” as an LCHA publication explains. The fabric dates to around 1790 and was re-styled for the wedding dress Hannah Norris Bowman wore in the 1820s.

There are at least 15-20 dresses in the collection which also includes children’s clothing and accessories. Many of them are on display at the Chapman-Hall House in Damariscotta between June and early October. 

“During the 1950s LCHA started to take things in and in the 1970s, volunteers were cataloguing the items,” Snyder explained. About 10 years ago, LCHA president John Reinhart asked her to help the collections committee due to her expertise.  

The committee worked its way through the collection and carefully tended to the items. Snyder said it’s “remarkable how things have held up,” although the humidity causes whites to develop coffee-colored spots known as “foxing.”

When a large number of the collection’s textiles were found to be discolored about eight years ago, Snyder put them in big bins on a sunny hot day on her back porch and added hot water and a chemical similar to OxiClean.

She let the items soak, stirring every so often and then washed them on the delicate cycle in the washing machine. After drying, each one had to be ironed. The work took two summers.

Last year, the collection earned a $5,000 grant from the Georgia-based Costume Society of America. The collection had to meet strict rules, including having “a significant clothing collection” and having items from the collection published, according to Snyder.

LCHA’s collection met the requirements both for its clothing and sampler collection. CSA sent 25 volunteers to Lincoln County to photograph, describe and pack the collection in conservator boxes and log the information onto computers.

Although CSA focuses on clothing, “It was our sampler collection that really caught their eye,” Snyder said. The 19 samplers are expensive to maintain and LCHA started an “Adopt A Sampler” program last year to help pay for framing. Since the samplers can’t be washed, a special vacuum cleaner is used to remove dust from the textiles. Fogg Art Restoration & Custom Framing has helped with the framing.

Snyder credited the collections committee with the success of the program.. Fellow members are Perry Palmer, George Keyes, Judith Sutter and Jeff Miller. “(Each) brings their own expertise to the table.”

The committee reviews the collection and makes recommendations about items for accession and de-accession. As an example, LCHA has just given “the Tarbox sheet” to the Westport Island Historical Committee for its collection.

To donate to LCHA or find out how to join, call Kerry Cushing at 882-6817.