Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design

Margaret Ordonez, Ph.D., Florida State University, 1978.
Quinn 211A, (401) 874-5481. mordonez@uri.edu

Dr. O teaches courses in textile conservation and historic textiles and costume.  She is the director of the Historic Textile and Costume Collection. Her research interests include archaeological textiles and problems in the conservation of historic textiles and costumes. She co-edited the book Down By the Old Mill Stream: Quilts in Rhode Island with Linda Welters. Margaret also manages the Textile Conservation Laboratory and the Textile Gallery at URI.

Analysis of fifth-century Early Classic Period Maya textiles from Copán, Honduras is Dr. O's newest research project. Samples taken during summer 2004 are revealing a wide variety of fabrics.  She is continuing her research on late eighteenth- to early twentieth-century weft-twined bags at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Dr. O is active in the Costume Society of America, the International Textiles and Apparel Association, and the New England Conservation Association.  She was named a Fellow of the Costume Society in 2004.

Recent Publications:

• Welters, Linda, and Margaret T. Ordoñez.  "Blue Roots and Fuzzy Dirt: Archaeological Textiles from Native American Burials."  Chapter 10 Perishable Material Culture in the Northeast, pp. 185-96.  Penelope B. Drooker, ed.  New York State Museum Bulletin 500. Albany, NY: University of the State of New York, 2004.
• Ordoñez, Margaret T., and Linda Welters.  "Textiles and Leather in Southeastern New England Archaeological Sites."  Chapter 9 in Perishable Material Culture in the Northeast, pp. 169-84.  Penelope B. Drooker, ed.  New York StateMuseum Bulletin 500.  Albany, NY: University of the State of New York, 2004.
• Gale, Mary Elizabeth, and Margaret T. Ordoñez.  "Eighteenth-Century Indigo-Resist Fabrics: Their Use in Quilts and Bed Hangings."  Uncoverings 2004, Volume 25 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, 159-179.
• Ordoñez, Margaret.  ”Textiles."  In Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (Vol. 5, pp. 1817-1823).  Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire, 2004.
• Walker, Reneé, and Margaret Ordoñez. "Plastics in Twentieth-Century Costume Collections."  In The Postprints of the Textile Specialty Group, pp. 125-130. Vol. 14. Julie Randolph, Kathleen MacKay, and Robin M. Hanson, eds. Washington, D.C.: American Institute for Conservation, 2004.
• L. Welters and M. Ordoñez.  “Early Calico Printing in Rhode Island.” Uncoverings 2001: Valume 22 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, 65-85.
• L. Welters and M. Ordoñez, eds.  Down by the Old Mill Stream: Quilts in Rhode Island.  Kent, OH: Kent State Press, 2000.
• M. Ordoñez. Your Vintage Keepsake: A CSA Guide to Costume Storage and Display.  Lubbock:  Texas Tech University Press, 2001.
• M. Ordoñez and L. Welters, "Textiles from the 17^th-century Privy at the Cross Street Back Lot Site," Historical Archaeology, Vol. 32, No. 3 (1998): 81-90.
• M. Ordoñez and L. Welters. "New England Calico Printing Reflected in Rhode Island Quilts: 1820-160." What's New England about New England Quilts? Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village, 81-91.
• M. Ordoñez and L. Welters, Nineteenth-Century Album Quilts in Rhode Island," What's American About American Quilts - A Research Forum on Regional Characteristics, II: 10-17. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1997.
• L. Welters, M. Ordoñez, K. Tarleton and J. Smith, "European Textiles from Seventeenth-century New England Cemeteries" Historical Archaeology and the Study of American Culture.  Winterthur, DE: Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum, 1996, 193-232.

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