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Margaret Anderson (Fikioris), founder of Winterthur's first textile conservation lab, passed away on April 26, 2022, surrounded by family and friends.
From Susan Heald (WUDPAC Class of 1990):
AIC Fellow Margaret Anderson (formerly Margaret Fikioris) worked as a textile conservator from 1966 until 1990, and a conservation educator from 1974 to 1990. She had a special interest in preventive conservation throughout her career and served as a mentor and advisor to many conservation students. Margaret received an MA in Art History at Columbia University in the early 1960s; her research focus was on a set of 16th century tapestries. At the suggestion of Sheldon Keck, Margaret trained in textile conservation at The Textile Museum under Joseph Columbus, Colonel Rice, and Louisa Bellinger in the mid-1960s. Florence and Charles Montgomery of the Winterthur Museum recruited Margaret to become Winterthur’s textile conservator in 1967 where she set up the museum's first textile conservation lab in the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Research Building (opened 1969). In 1974 when the Winterthur Museum and the University of Delaware accepted the first class into the Art Conservation Training Program (WUDPAC), Margaret became a conservation educator, serving on the admissions committee and training students in textile conservation. From 1978-1992 Margaret served in the 6-member Harper's Ferry Regional Textile Conservation Group with Kathleen Betts, Meg Loew Craft, Katherine Dirks, Jane Merritt, and Fonda Thompson, which grew from a small regional meeting to an international gathering. The HFRTG held 10 conferences with associated publications on various textile conservation topics. After leaving Winterthur in 1990, she continued to work until 2007 as a consultant for collections assessment and storage planning for institutions and small historical societies with textile collections.
Margaret later became a peace activist focusing on the preservation of the human spirit and Mother Earth instead of the preservation of material culture. Her decades of work within our field deserve to be recognized, especially her encouragement to those who wished to study textile conservation.
Our condolences go out to Margaret's family and friends, and to the many students and colleagues who grew through her encouragement and support.
