In 1989, RISD Museum curators of costume and textiles Susan Hay and Pamela Parmal, invited by Laura Tirocchi's son Dr. Louis J. Cella Jr., went to 514 Broadway in Providence, Rhode Island, where the Anna and Laura Tirocchi dressmaking business had been located. They discovered several well-preserved items from different periods of the operation of the dressmaking business, including textiles and garments, tools, photographs, business records, and more. The museum accessioned more than three hundred garments and textiles, as well as some furniture items and all the shop's records.
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The use of certain documents and collections may be restricted. Please consult the Archives staff for further details.
From Providence to Paris Exhibition Audio-Visual Materials. Rhode Island School of Design. Museum of Art. Department of Costumes and Textiles. RISD Archives department.
The exhibition holds textiles and garments from the A and L Tirocchi shop, as well as sewing machines and tools, notions and trims, bottles of perfume, imported linens, costume accessories, a collection of lace, and archvial materials such as business correspondence, papers, ledgers, daybooks, check registers, employee timebooks, client books and bills, suppliers' bills and receipts, programs from couture showings in Paris during the 1920s, photographs, and personal correspondence, curated in 1989 for the RISD museum. There is a box of slides, photographs, negatives, documents, and one VHS tape that document the From Providence to Paris: Fashion, Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers' Shop, 1915-1947 exhibition held 2001 January 12-April 8. The Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art's Department of Costume and Textiles led by Curator Susan Hay organized the exhibition.
Transferred to the Archives from the RISD Museum of Art.
One VHS tape, two folders and four binders of photograph slides, some with slide enlargements included, two envelopes of 4x5 negatives, and one binder of collection database records and photographs.
VHS titled Cultural Tapestry, Channel 12, Ally Bauder.
Envelope of negatives of an exhibit of the Tirocchi collection.
Envelope of negatives of the Tirocchi house interior.
Binder of photograph slides of jewelry and other objects.
Folder of photograph slides of Tirocchi house interiors and exteriors.
Binder of collection database records and photographs.
Binder of photograph slides of fabric patterns and dresses.
Binder of photograph slides.
Folder of photograph slides, copy of accession files, exhibition checklist, slide labels, and slide enlargements.
Binder of photograph slides.