Conservation of Printed Textiles: to Preserve what is Established

Printed textiles form a long-standing tradition in Indian textile history. The museums like Victoria Albert Museum in London, Crafts Museum, National Museum in Delhi, Indian Museum in Kolkata, Calico Museum in Ahmedabad, to name few, are the repositories of these heritage articles. There are various old and fragile printed textiles in various museums all over the world that requires immediate attention in term of cleaning and preservation for our future generations. They are a knowledge reservoir for students of textiles, conservation, art historians and art enthusiasts. Therefore it is necessary to conserve these artifacts through various processes of mechanical cleaning that increases the life expectancy of textile objects. This review paper is an attempt to study various methods and techniques that are used in conservation of printed textiles. The aim of the review paper was to document the various available resources to further efforts in research and development in conserving printed textiles.