These projects explored well-known and forgotten nineteenth century Scottish manufacturing practices by reconnecting material culture evidence from historical artefacts with science and engineering evidence from historical technology.

Last updated: 27 January 2022

About the projects

ReINVENT brought together a unique cross-disciplinary group of academics and practitioners in arts, humanities, science and engineering to share knowledge and practice relating to the 19th-century textile industry. In a series of three workshops, they explored the interpretation and preservation of collections of historical textiles and associated technologies, including through recreations of historical industrial practices.

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ReCREATE further strengthened this interdisciplinary network with four meetings of researchers based in universities and the heritage sector, leading to a public conference. The project aimed to recreate processes in the manufacture of textiles and to put these in the wider context of- the developing experimental culture in Scotland, before and during the Industrial Revolution.

Find out more about ReCREATE

The first of the ReINVENT workshops looked at materials and supplies for textile production; the second, which took place at National Museums Scotland, focused on equipment and tools for textile production; and the third looked at power for textile production.

These workshops were very successful and generated various ideas for further research.

The project also included a public seminar which took place at the University of Glasgow and brought together the ReINVENT workshop collaborators with interested academic, private and public researchers and enthusiasts from museums, archives, and historical trusts and societies to stimulate meaningful research directions for future collaborations and shape a publicly-shared inventory of Scottish industrial heritage as testament to the lasting legacy of Scotland’s worldwide reputation for manufacturing innovation.

These projects tied in well with the work that our Conservation and Analytic Research staff undertook on the museum’s Turkey red textile collection.

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