Helen Farrar

Curator of Textiles
Bradford College Textile Archive

Helen Farrar is Curator of Textiles at the Bradford College Textile Archive, a repository for the local educational and industrial textile heritage artefacts. Previously, she was a freelance designer/maker of costume and props for the television industry. Today, when she's not engrossed in old pattern books, journals and newspapers, she can be found drawing, painting and knitting for her fine art textile installations.

Abstract

We spent the whisky money!

As the 19th century came to a close, the student workbooks from the Department of Textile Industries at Bradford Technical College appear to herald a golden age in education; the students received the most comprehensive technical instruction under the Head of Textile Industries, Professor Aldred Farrer Barker, with evidence that they were absolutely being prepared with the necessary skills to be useful to industry. But was everything in the College garden so lovely? Let's take another look.