Dear Lace Makers, If you own any books by Levey, please print this *before it goes to Arachne Archives* and becomes difficult to read and the format changes, and then place it in your Levey book(s) for future use. People holding the highest level of positions at museums around the world will mourn the loss of Santina Levey. One textile expert at a well-known American museum has written to me: "I will never forget her taking part in a session I organized for museums in south-eastern England on the identification of lace. She sat at the end of the table, and people brought things from their collections for her to identify which she did with ease, grace, and aplomb! What an amazing scholar and such a wonderful woman." My memory: In 1982, Santina Levey came to New York for a professional reason, and spoke at the October 16th meeting of the (now defunct) Lace Guild of New York on the topic: Rise and Fall of the Lace Industry, 1760-1914. This was just before her famous 1983 LACE book was published. This Guild was held together for a while by members who worked with laces at the Metropolitan Museum, Museum of the City of New York, Cooper-Hewitt branch of The Smithsonian, Brooklyn Museum, and various smaller museums that had ethnic collections of costumes. It disbanded when there were no volunteers willing to serve as officers. What is shared below is the list of books authored in whole or in part by Santina Levey that are on the shelves of my private library, because some of you may not know of them. I have called some books to the attention of visiting lace scholars who had no idea of the scope of her research about other historic textiles. Some of you may want to learn more after reading this list, and searches on the internet will yield useful information. To read these books: Try InterLibrary Loan at your local or university library. 1. Discovering Embroidery of the 19th Century (64-page paperback) 0-85263-398-X, 1971/77/83. Number 99 in Discovering series by Shire. Divided into sections - 1. Techniques, 2. Embroidered Objects, 3. Individual Groups and Individuals. 2. Elizabethan Treasures - The Hardwick Hall Textiles (112-page hardback) 0-8109-6353-1, 1998. First pub. by National Trust; distributed in North America by Abrams. 5 Chapters plus reference information about 16th and 17th C. textiles. 3. Embroideries at Hardwick Hall - a Catalogue (400-page hardback) 978-1-905400-51-5, 2007. National Trust. Divided into sections - 1. Embroidery, 2. Needlework, 3. Wrought Linen, 4. Turkey-work. 4. Lace: A History - a large Art Book (140-pages of text plus a depth of 1" of pages of 500 photographs without page numbers) 0-901286-15-X, 1983. Victoria and Albert. Considered worldwide the go-to book for lace identification, this book contains 10 chapters devoted to lace origins in the 1500's and history up to 1914. 5. LePompe, 1559 - Patterns for Venetian Bobbin Lace. Co-author: Patricia C. Payne. (128-page paperback) 0-903585-16-2, 1983. Pub. by Ruth Bean. Historical background and instructions for making the earliest known set of bobbin lace patterns. This is a reprint of original 1559 book, for today's lace makers. 6. Of Household Stuff - The 1601 Inventories of Bess of Hardwick. Co-author: Peter Thornton. (71-page paperback) 0-7078-0329-2, 2001. National Trust. Contents of each of the Countess of Shrewsbury's homes exceeded in value each home's worth. She lived from about 1527-1608; her life paralleled that of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). 7. Finishing Touch - Lace in Portraits at Frederiksborg. Co-author: Patricia Wardle. (76-page paperback) 87-87237-59-8, 1994. Frederiksborg Museum, Denmark. 16th to early 19th C. history of Museum-owned portraits of lace worn by kings, nobles, courtiers, landowners, ministers, public servants and their wives and daughters. 8. Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress and Lace. By Kay Staniland and Santina M. Levey. (32-page article reprinted from COSTUME in paperback format), Journal of the Costume Society (17:1983). No ISBN. Museum of London. What a legacy! Consulting the internet and bibliographies of these books reveals more books, articles, and anthology entries by Santina M. Levey, or written in partnership with other scholars with whom she worked. If you know details about them, please write to us, so we can add to this listing in a timely manner. An obituary from The Times, London, can be found at the following address. It does not give her the embroidered and laced tribute she surely earned. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pi d=186564968 Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
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