Material Culture Resources

Dress bodice, late 1850s.

Museum Collections With Good Clothing Selections

Met Online Collections- Both the Met and MFA have gorgeous bonnets and dresses.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston Some truly stunning garments, but the search function is underwhelming.

Los Angeles County Museum- Fewer items than MFA or The Met, but gives multiple views of most garments
Victoria Albert Museum- A large collection, and easy to search. Lots of 1851 items from the Great Exhibition, as well as some very early stuff.
UK National Trust- Hit or miss on costume, but the search functions are great, and there's a variety of housewares and portraiture as well.

Colonial Williamsburg Art Museum Collection- Best selection of 18th century, but interesting pieces into the 19th as well. I didn't use it often because the old site had eclectic search functions and no ability to save/link results, but the new site looks very promising.
Wisconsin Historical Museum Online Collections- At one point, my go-to for children's clothing.
The John Bright Collection- Costume pieces only, 18th-20th century. Beautiful photographs.

The Henry Ford Museum Mix of costume and material culture; fewer items than The Met, but some get very thorough write-ups.
Budapest Museum of Applied Art
Museum of History and Industry- Seattle-area material culture (1850 and later, mostly 20th century).

Henry Art Gallery- Smaller collection; includes the Blanche Paine folk costume specimens.

Kent State University Fashion Archive- A major US collection; more pieces being digitalized.

Kyoto Costume Institute- Thoroughly lovely, includes some unique artifacts like the Devereux bodice. The didn't previously to have many items online, but appear to have recently expanded that number.

New York Historical Society- Recently improved their website, I look forward to exploring it more.

Europeana Fashion Project- Collaboration between ~30 museums across Europe. Some amazing pieces, but the search functions were formally very poor. It's also not all in the same language.

Museum of London- Best source for medieval and earlier periods; more recent collections do include a fair number of costumes (and a lot of 17th century and early 19th century fashion plates). For better details of medieval finds, see their published books.

Other Material Culture

Amsterdam Below the Surface. Everyday objects from pre-history to 2005. Great search functionality, with chronological and thematic browsing, as well as a text search option.

Steamboat Arabia Pictures, More Pictures, Even More Pictures and the Virtual Tour- A favorite resource for housewares c. 1856.
Steamboat Bertrand (official site)- Fewer pictures, but some good close-ups.
Historic New England- Has wide variety of housewares and furnishings, including bandboxes

International Quilt Museum Study Center- Has the largest collection of quilts online

Portable Antiquities Scheme-Database of archeological finds from the United Kingdom.   

Fashion Plates and Images

The Graceful Lady- Pictures of original garments, fashion plates and CDVs.
Barrington House- CDVs
Originals by Kay (Research Corner)- Short articles illustrated with original fashion plates and pictures; also, the research behind Simplicity #2881 and #2887.
La Couturiere Parisienne- Fashion Plates & CDVs, original patterns from the 1850s.
Demode Couture- Extensive list of pictures of original garments, from the 17th-20th centuries
The Fashionable Past- A few original items c. 1820-1910, but with lots of good close-ups showing the construction details.