Last updated: 10/19/2011
1871 Old Main DriveShippensburg, PA 17257
Monday - Thursday
12 PM - 4 PM
Sunday, Friday - Saturday
closed
Closed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas-New Year's Day, and when the Shippensburg University campus is closed due to inclement weather.
The Fashion Archives' 15,000-item collection, comprised mostly of donations, consists of clothing and accessories worn by men, women and children, dating from the late eighteenth to the twentieth century. Primarily focused on middle- and working-class Americans, clothing from all walks of life is represented in the collection. Visitors to the Fashion Archives can see beaded Charleston dresses from the 1920s, Victorian corsets and Chinese binding shoes. The Fashion Archives takes pride in its pieces from designers such as Chanel, Scaasi, Cashin and Trigere.
Special collections are housed within the Fashion Archives:
The Pennsylvania Collection: This collection contains examples of clothing manufactured in Pennsylvania and related to the history of its garment industry.
The Shippensburg University Collection: Featured in this collection are pieces related to the people and history of the university, including alumni and faculty.
The Reference Collection: The Fashion Archives houses an extensive reference library of fashion-related publications containing hundreds of volumes. The holdings are accessible via the Shippensburg University Ezra Lehman Memorial Library on-line catalog database. Researchers may consult the texts during regular operating hours. As it is a special collection, the materials are non-circulating.
The Ephemera Collection: The Fashion Archives has large holdings of original catalogs, fashion magazines, fashion plates and related ephemera dating back to the 1840s for those wishing to research costume-related topics in original source material.
Collections Policy
Space limitations have compelled the Fashion Archives to freeze large-scale acquisitions on a temporary basis. However, particularly select items can still be housed. Potential donors should contact the Fashion Archives for more information.
The Shippensburg University Fashion Archives and Museum (SUFAM) is a unique educational laboratory and museum that enhances our understanding of society through the study of dress. Since its establishment in 1980, the Archives have served as a teaching, research and exhibition resource for university students, faculty, and for members of the greater South Central Pennsylvania community and nearby states. It operates in association with Shippensburg University's College of Arts and Sciences and the Institute for Public Service. The primary function of the Archives is to preserve and exhibit its collection of clothing and accessories and to make those materials available for teaching and research purposes to persons and groups both on- and off-campus.
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