Public Programs @ The Institute
Series: Praska Lecture
Textiles in the Historic Interior - A Look at Curatorial, Conservation, and Interpretive Issues
Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 6:00pm
Lecture by Deborah Trupin
Textiles play an important role in historic interiors, contributing to the authenticity and legibility of these spaces. This lecture considers how conservators approach textiles in historic sites, house museums, and period rooms.
It examines three key questions: does textile conservation for historic interiors differ from textile conservation in art or history museums? How are decisions made about which textiles are appropriate for a particular interior—and who decides whether and when they may be displayed? What options are available for introducing textiles or soft furnishings when they are not part of an institution’s collection?
Drawing on work with historic house museums in New York State and NYU’s Villa La Pietra in Florence, I will present case studies that illustrate how colleagues and I have addressed these challenges in practice. Because there is rarely a perfect solution, the talk invites discussion about the decisions, compromises, and judgments involved in each project.
Deborah Lee Trupin, Textile and Upholstery Conservator and Principal of Trupin Conservation Services, LLC, received an MA in Art History and an Advanced Certificate in Conservation from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, Conservation Center. From 1986 to 2015, she was Textile and Upholstery Conservator for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Bureau of Historic Sites, where she was responsible for the conservation of textile and upholstery collections at 35 state-run historic sites. Since 2015, Trupin has been an adjunct in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s MA program, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, and Museum Practice. She has lectured and published widely on textiles and upholstery in historic houses. Trupin is a Professional Member and Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation.
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