The historical textile collection contains important textile artefacts (fabric swatches and sample books, rugs, woven pictures, tablecloths and more) as well as objects relating to the history of Reutlingen University and the preceeding institutions. The largest part of the collection is made up of around 1,200 sample books from 1850-1950.
The collection was created for educational and illustrative purposes by the former “Technikum für Textilindustrie Reutlingen” (Technical centre for textile industry in Reutlingen) in the second half of the 19th century. Fabric samples made from natural materials – including wool, linen, cotton and silk – were systematically collected and archived. A number of the fabrics were produced using the technical centre’s machines as part of the training programme.
In 1932, the technical centre received 600 fabric sample books dated between 1849 and 1908 from the “Landesgewerbemuseum Stuttgart” (State trade museum Stuttgart), along with an extensive collection of Japanese fabric samples from 1600-1870. These had been brought back to Stuttgart by Erwin Bälz from Japan in 1881 and donated to the Landesgewerbemuseum in 1891. A further part of the historical collection consists of 70 Peruvian textile fragments, donated by Gerhard Wilhelmi in 1967. These date from the 9th to 15th centuries.
The collection also contains ornament folders, point paper, threads,, lecture manuscripts and pictures.
