Funding for dissertation project

Under the motto "We inspire ideas", the Osnabrück University Society supports young academics and research projects. In the field of textile design, the University Society supports the dissertation project "The Beiderwand Weaving Mill Meldorf as a Textile Place of Remembrance". The dissertation project of Lucia Schwalenberg under the supervision of Prof.in Dr.in Bärbel Schmidt investigates the history and the sample treasure of the museum weaving mill in Meldorf.

Part of this Beiderwand weaving is a historically grown pattern treasure with complex Jacquard card runs, historical looms, machines and devices as well as an archive of fabric drawings and samples. Beiderwand is a complex weaving technique with pictorial patterns using jacquard looms. The aim of founding the museum workshop in Meldorf was to preserve and pass on the knowledge of the complex technique of weaving. The research project focuses on the analysis of the sources on the origin of the museum workshops, the pattern archive and the technical equipment.

The aim is to show what relevance and potential this museum weaving has for the transmission of textile culture. In essence, the aim is to show whether and how textile places of remembrance contribute to the preservation, transmission and future of textile culture and textile knowledge.

Osnabrück has a strong textile-historical connection with its history as a linen laying mill and its proximity to the cloth-making region of Bramsche. The university has excellent technical facilities in the field of textile design, including a historical punched card jacquard with a card punching machine and the latest digital jacquard technology, which is unique in Germany for a subject that trains teachers.

Many thanks to the Universitätsgesellschaft Osnabrück for the approval of the grant application for the archival research in the context of this dissertation project.