Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Research Center

MARJORIE RUSSELL CLOTHING AND TEXTILE RESEARCH CENTER

The Nevada State Museum has a separate facility dedicated to storing and preserving historic costume and textile collections. The Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Research Center includes the Marilyn J. Horn fashion library and a large collection area of 19th, 20th, and 21st-century garments, quilts, flags, and accessories. The collections are used in exhibitions at the Nevada State Museum, the Nevada Historical Society, and the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

The collection is comprehensive, focusing on Nevada and the Great Basin. Significant artifacts include Nevada’s First Ladies Inaugural Ball gowns, entertainment costumes, wedding attire, everyday and formal wear, military, religious, railroad, and fraternal garments.

The Nevada State Museum’s Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Center is curated by Jan Loverin. She assists the public in identifying and dating historic costumes, as well as with preservation and display problems and techniques. Staff also provides historic costume programming on various aspects of fashion history.

The Center is named after Marjorie Ann Guild Russell, a former Nevada First Lady and longtime Board of Trustee member. The Marilyn J. Horn Library is named after University of Nevada-Reno professor Dr. Marilyn Horn Bohmont, whose work and endowment provided digital cataloging for our collections.

The Nevada State Museum’s Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Center is open to the public for research, programs, and tours by appointment only.

Please call 775-687-6173.