Digital indexing of the costume library Eva Laraß

Cultural history of clothing was the great passion of the Darmstadt graduate librarian Eva Larraß (1917-2005). She collected more than 4.000 books, also a large number of fashion graphics and fashion magazines were in her possession. When she handet it over to the HMF in 2003, it became, together with the museum's own holdings, the most comprehensive library focusing on the region. Now her collection is digitally indexed and can be searched in the online catalog of the Southwest German Library Network (SWB). All of this would not have been possible without the volunteer work of Martina Sichelschmidt.

Eva Larraß created Germany's largest private costume library from 1953 until the 1990s. She was a sought-after fashion expert and anyone who was concerned with fashion, traditional costumes or costumes from antiquity to the present benefited from her knowledge and her unique collection. After her retirement, she devoted herself entirely to her passion and published the book "Zeit und Kleid. 900 Jahre Kostümgeschichte in Darmstadt".

Shortly before her 80th birthday, she decided to give her treasures to the HMF, which had already made a name for itself in the field of dress research. Knowledge and objects were to come together, her library to join the museum's large textile holdings. It was thanks to the textile curator at the time, Almut Junker, that she chose the HMF.