About the Museum

The LSU Textile & Costume Museum preserves a vital part of history and promotes the understanding and enjoyment of diverse textile traditions. It promotes conservation, research, teaching, and public service. Research includes studies of the technical, aesthetic, historic, and socio-cultural significance of textiles and apparel. Exhibitions interpret the findings of such research to the University community and the public alike.

The museum is a part of the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising.  It had its beginnings in the 1930s as a teaching collection and has since expanded to include conservation, research, and public exhibition facilities.  The gallery is the only one of its kind in the state and was established in 1992 with a grant from the Louisiana State Board of Regents.  Today the Museum has become Louisiana’s pre-eminent institution for the preservation, collection, and research of textile artifacts.  It is one of the component collections of the Louisiana State Museum of Natural History at Louisiana State University.

Mission Statement: 

The LSU Textile & Costume Museum (TCM) 's primary mission is to preserve fashion and textile artifacts according to four priorities: American fashion, woman fashion designers, LSU histories, and Louisiana histories. TCM also endeavors to collect and curate from an inclusive and intersectional perspective to better represent diverse cultural and social histories. We support and enrich the Department of Textiles, Apparel Design & Merchandising’s (TAM) academic programs and the greater LSU community. As the only R1 institution in the southeast offering M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in historical/cultural aspects of dress, we train future academics, researchers, and museum professionals to pursue engaging careers related to fashion and textiles' comprehensive history and culture. Importantly, TCM is a conduit connecting students, faculty, staff, alums, and other constituents across the state and country through engaging exhibitions, research, catalog dissemination, and a robust commitment to supporting Louisiana-based institutions with loans from our collection.