Pursuing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Collection Development

Abstract

The Textile Museum of Canada (the Textile Museum) is pursuing institutional change with a goal to meaningfully address and redress absences in its permanent collection of over 15,000 textiles. To support this goal, the Textile Museum developed a Collection Development Plan guided by emerging best practices supporting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in museums, research into the institution’s historical and existing collecting practices and policies, and focus group sessions and interviews with members of multiple communities. These actions led to a series of recommendations for the Textile Museum to implement. Being represented within the Textile Museum’s collection matters to people, and our findings encourage the institution to value intangible heritage (not only material objects), and to care for collections in ways that enliven them through connections with people in storage, exhibition, and digital spaces. This case study presents the origins, process, and outcomes of this ongoing work to institutionalize new practices and imperatives holistically across departments.