License:
This image is provided under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License. You can download this version for private study or non-commercial use. Our terms, conditions and copyright policy (PDF) contains further information about acceptable usage. If you are seeking permission to publish, please contact us ›
Please click here if you would like to request a larger, high-resolution version ›
Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c1940s-1960s (Creation)
Level of description
Part
Extent
1 image
Content and Structure
Scope and content
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
General Information
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Needlework Development Scheme (NDS) was a collaborative project between art and design education and industry. Originally established in Scotland in 1934, its aim was to encourage embroidery and to raise the standard of design in Britain.
Financed by J and P Coats, the thread manufacturers, the Scheme was organised by the four Scottish art schools, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Its collection of foreign and British embroidery was available to domestic science and training colleges, women's institutions and schools, as well as art schools. By 1939, the Scheme had acquired some 900 embroideries but the outbreak of WWII closed the Scheme and the collection was retained by the four original art schools.
Glasgow School of Art was instrumental in re-starting the Scheme late in 1944. Its aims were the same as its predecessor, but expanded its remit to include other arts schools in the United Kingdom where embroidery was taught.In the years following the WWII, the Scheme became centralised and staffed with a qualified embroidery expert, a secretary and several practitioners. The Scheme commissioned the British designer Mary Kessell to prepare designs to be interpreted by embroidery artists in Britain, as the best needlework examples in the collection were foreign. The result was a touring exhibition of work by the Bromley College in London.
The scheme was disbanded in 1961 when funding was withdrawn, although it was recognised that the NDS had achieved its aims. The NDS had amassed 3000 textile items by this time, which were divided and distributed around universities, art schools, organisations and museums including the National Museum of Scotland, the Embroideries Guild and the V&A.
Archival history
Custodial history
Physical Description and Conditions of Use
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical Description
Finding aids
Related Material
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related materials
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Keywords/Tags
Subjects
Place access points
People and Organisations
Genre access points
Status
Level of detail
Processing information
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Digitised item metadata
Filename
NDS_PUB_0013_v0001.jpg
Latitude
Longitude
Media type
Image
Mime-type
image/jpeg