[In June 2021, CSA spoke] with Curator Emily England (above, left) and Volunteer Consultant Linda Westergren-Muhr (above, right) from the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. Ms. Westergren-Muhr has been a consultant with the museum since the early 1980s when the museum was expanding. Her knowledge of costume and specifically Swedish folk costume comes from costumes/clothing since she was a high school student in the late 1960’s/early 1970s. Ms. Westergren-Muhr also has a personal collection of costume.

     Ms. England came to the museum in 2019 after completing her master’s in Museum and Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois – Chicago. Over the course of her museum career, she has worked and interned for a number of museums of varying sizes, including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

     Both describe the work they are currently doing as their passion. For Ms. Westergren-Muhr, she points out “this is not my full-time profession, but a passion. I find the study of period clothing very interesting in how it relates to people, history, economics, politics and religion—the total aspect of how clothing can show who you are, the time period you lived in and the influences of those times.” Ms. England is primarily interested in the storage of collections.

     In June 2021, Ms. England and Ms. Westergren-Muhr were featured in a Dress & Drinks webinar that can be seen on our YouTube channel. You can check out all of our Curator Profiles by clicking here.


~Profile written by Lauren Clark

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