This list is in no way exhaustive, simply museums with collections we find interesting and helpful in our research.
Museums, libraries and miscellaneous costume collections from around the world, most with an emphasis on fashion from the 18th to 20th centuries.
Antique Pattern Library Catalog – dozens of original needlework books in PDF form – free for personal use!
The Bartos Collection – antique garments, fashion plates, photographs, a hairstyles section
Claremont Colleges Digital Library CCDL – hundreds of period fashion plates from 1789 to 1914
Costume Con Visual Archieve – photo albums of all prior Costume Cons
Hathi Trust Digital Collection – period magazines in digital format
Kyoto Costume Institute, Digital Archives
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
McCord Museum, Montreal
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Museum at FIT, New York
National Portrait Gallery – search portraits by era
The New York Public Library – Digital Gallery
Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Mass. – 1830s living history museum
Prints with a Past – La Mode Illustree fashion prints, France 1875-1886
University of Washington Libraries – Fashion Plate Collection
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Delaware
Do You Have a Favorite Website You’d Love to Share?
Send us a message using the contact form below and we’ll check it out. If it passes our “top-secret test,” we’ll be happy to post it here for the world to see. Remember to send us your personal review as well as the site address/URL so we know exactly where to look.
Whoa, Jennifer, this is some great information to find or learn about victorian fashions!