This talk focuses on recent research linked to widening online access the Board of Trade Design Register, a huge collection of nearly 3 million designs and their registration records, dating 1839-1991. It reports on the transcription, cataloguing and online delivery of registers in series BT 44, 1842-1884, and the recording of additional text on or alongside the design representations. It also introduces polynomial texture mapping, an image capture and processing technique which can facilitate online examination of textured surfaces.
Dr Dinah Eastop has a background in textile conservation and material culture studies. She has been working on the multi-stranded BT Design Register project as a research fellow in the Collection Care department of The National Archives since November 2010.