One of the things that we focus on in conservation is how invisible all of our work is, because we want to make these objects accessible to the public in the way that they would be seen in the real world.

So, when we're dressing pieces for an exhibition, sometimes we don't have a full ensemble, but we want to recreate that full ensemble in the exhibition.

So this 19th-century sari is a really great example of that.

The sari itself is all that we have that is maintained in the collection.

The garments that it's dress with have been chosen to recreate the look of who would have originally worn this.

When we dress the sari, we're trying to keep in mind what stress points we're putting on the object.

Because even though the sari is an incredible condition, the embroidery flosses are still bright and beautiful.

They have no abrasion and loss.

We want to keep it that way.

Underneath all of our dressed objects in the exhibition, we have a variety of different undergarments, and these undergarments are kind of serve a dual purpose.

We are using them both to help recreate the historic silhouette, but we're also using them to help support the weight of the object.

So, in the example of the sari, where we're using magnets to help support the weight of the sari, rather than tucking into an underskirt or pinning at the shoulder, we have these small rare earth magnets.

They correspond to additional rare earth magnets that have been sewn into the undergarments, and they help to secure the material of the garment to the underskirt itself.

And then with the sari, what you find is a lot of the weight is being held in those pleats at the shoulder.

That is where they're commonly pinned.

So, we have additional magnets up there that help support that weight.

So this is an 1886 blue taffeta bustle gown.

A lot of our historic pieces come in with both period historic alterations done by the original wearer, but also later theatrical alterations.

And it is the job of a conservator to determine which ones are which.

So this object came into the collection with later theatrical alterations, and what they had done was that they actually removed some of the bustle to create extensions in the bodice, to be able to be worn and fit by the next wearer.

And so when our senior conservator, Alison Castaneda, went to go condition the object, she noted these alterations and she chose to reverse them to put back the original bustle shape that the dress was made with.

Historic garments often have several layers of undergarments.

That is what actually creates the silhouette.

And that is what women would have worn historically, but it is also what we're recreating when we dress them today.

So, we take old bustles and petticoats, and we make new bustles and petticoats in the same construction, in the same shapes, with archival materials that are safe to be dressed with the object.

While the majority of our objects are dressed on a body in exhibitions, we do occasionally mount them with different methods, either in display cases, kind of without a body of any kind, or mounted flat on the wall.

So, these objects were chosen to be mounted flat because our curator wanted them to be seen as artworks kind of flat on the wall in a gallery setting.

So, this is an example of one of the mount that are inside of these objects here on the wall.

It is made up of Ethafoam, which is a closed cell type of foam that is an inert archival material.

This is essentially what you don't see on the inside of each of these objects.

The cuts are where you would see the mount.

And so we create voids in those areas so that the mount is invisible.

We do not want our work to be obvious.

We want it to blend in and be invisible.