Digital Threads

Opportunities

Collaborative Doctoral Award Studentship
Fabric of Everyday Life: Marianne Straub, Textile Innovation and Design, 1950-1970

The University of Essex, in collaboration with the Warner Textile Archive (WTA) invites applications for a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) studentship examining post-war British design through the life and legacy of Marianne Straub (1909 – 1994), one of the most influential textile designers of the twentieth century.

Through her work with Warner & Sons and other major British manufacturers, Straub sought to democratise access to good design, developing stylish, functional and affordable textiles for everyday use. Her iconic designs featured on the London Underground, London buses, airports, public interiors and homes. Despite her significant contribution to industry and culture, Straub’s work remains underexamined within academic scholarship. This project will reveal an as-yet untold story of the work of a migrant woman designer, a story that intersects with the major themes and debates in post-war British history, including: deindustrialisation and decline; social change; mass consumption and everyday life; gender and labour; national identity; and international power and prestige.

This studentship offers a unique opportunity to conduct original historical research with a nationally significant collection, including design, sample, and costing books, weave trials, small textile samples, power-woven textiles and corresponding rule papers, as well as the business records of Warner & Sons, correspondence and photographs connected to Straub, her designs and details of an exhibition held on her life and work in 1984. You’ll be trained to catalogue the Marianne Straub Collection currently under acquisition – containing her personal diaries and correspondence with other key figures important in the world of industrial design – creating a new combined collection that you will be the first researcher to access.

To find out more about the project and how to apply, please visit: https://www.essex.ac.uk/Postgraduate/Research/Opportunities/fabric-of-everyday-life

Volunteer Library Cataloguing Assistant

This role offers the opportunity to develop practical experience in collections management working on the library and reference collection held by the Warner Textile Archive. The collection includes books, periodicals, and theses on art, history and design. This opportunity is suitable for volunteers and students looking to complete placements or work experience as part of their studies.

As part of this opportunity, volunteers will:

Learn to catalogue to a professional standard.
Gain insight into the Archive’s daily work, including conservation, digitisation, and research support.
Work alongside the Archive team and experienced volunteers.
Help make the collection more accessible to staff, volunteers, and researchers.
Publish a short article on the experience of working with the collection that will feature on the Warner Textile Archive website.

We are able to facilitate a flexible work schedule based on the individual’s existing responsibilities. For a student placement, we require a minimum of 10 days to provide meaningful work experience. Individuals will be able to apply to the Archive’s Digital Threads Bursary Scheme to cover travel expenses.

For more details and how to apply, please download the role description.

Volunteer Collections Assistant (Cataloguing)

This role offers the opportunity to develop practical experience in collections management. Volunteers will be responsible for assessing hand-painted paper artworks depicting patterns that were translated into printed or woven textiles by Warner & Sons during the period of c.1870s-2000s. The project involves evaluating existing data regarding specific items and cataloguing these pieces, alongside photographic digitisation, and making inert conservation polyester enclosures to protect the designs. This opportunity is suitable for volunteers and students looking to complete placements or work experience as part of their studies.

As part of this opportunity, volunteers will:

Learn to catalogue to a professional standard.
Gain insight into the Archive’s daily work, including conservation, digitisation, and research support.
Work alongside the Archive team and experienced volunteers.
Publish a short article on the experience of working with the collection that will feature on the Warner Textile Archive website.

We are able to facilitate a flexible work schedule based on the individual’s existing responsibilities. For a student placement, we require a minimum of 10 days to provide meaningful work experience. Individuals will be able to apply to the Archive’s Digital Threads Bursary Scheme to cover travel expenses.

For more details and how to apply, please download the role description.

Volunteer Paper Conservation Assistant
(Polyester Welder)

This role will offer the opportunity to become part of the volunteer team at the Warner Textile Archive to support the progress of making inert conservation polyester enclosures for the paper artworks within the collection. The role will involve careful handling of historic paper artworks and creation of bespoke inert polyester enclosures to contribute to the long-term preservation of our significant collection.

As part of this opportunity, volunteers will:

Handle fragile historic artworks ranging in date from c.1870-2000s in order produce accurate measurements to make polyester enclosures.
Sort artworks by size and condition to prioritize enclosure creation.
Measure, cut via guillotine and weld polyester to make the enclosures to exact measurements and conservation standards.
Work with the team on any emergency enclosure requirements for vulnerable items.

We are able to facilitate a flexible work schedule based on the individual’s existing responsibilities. For a student placement, we require a minimum of 10 days to provide meaningful work experience. Individuals will be able to apply to the Archive’s Digital Threads Bursary Scheme to cover travel expenses.

For more details and how to apply, please download the role description.