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The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives at #Cornell University’s ILR School @cornellilr

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Denim was once made for labor. Today, it walks the runway. What changed?

Now on view at Catherwood Library, “Weathering the Storm: The Role of Labor in an Era of Climate Change” explores the connections between clothing, labor history, and environmental change through historical photographs, environmental reports, and garments selected by Cornell students.

Featuring archival materials from the Kheel Center (@kheelcenter) at the ILR School (@cornellilr) and garments from the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (@cornellhumec), the exhibit traces the evolution of workwear, from red bandanas worn by striking coal miners to clothing that has become everyday fashion and luxury.

On view through August 2027.
Learn more at the link in bio.

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In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez loaned her campaigning shoes to our student-curated exhibition, “Women Empowered: Fashions from the Frontline.” Their worn-through soles made visible the physical labor of political participation: walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors, and working to be heard.

That exhibition was not only a celebration of women’s achievements, but addressed #MeToo and included other works confronting sexual violence and misogyny—recognizing that a history of women’s empowerment must also address the inequalities and harm that make such struggles necessary.

On Sunday evening, September 27, we attended Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall in Ithaca, where she addressed the horrifying allegations of sexual violence involving Cornell students and called for accountability.

Hearing those remarks here, in the community where we presented Women Empowered, brings the exhibition’s questions into the present. What does empowerment mean if the right to learn, to participate, and to move through the world safely is not protected?

As a university collection, we cannot treat women’s empowerment only as a story to tell about the past or a quality to celebrate in public figures. It must also inform what we ask of our own institution.

We stand with survivors and support the demand for safety, care, and meaningful accountability. Every student deserves an education free from sexual violence, just as every human being deserves a life free from violence of any kind. No one’s clothing, identity, or circumstances diminish that right.

Women’s empowerment cannot end at the edge of a display case.

Confidential support is available through the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County. Its 24-hour hotline is 607-277-5000.

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Celebrating Catherwood Library’s annual Cookie Day! 🍪📚

Each year, the ILR community comes together to enjoy cookies, connect with one another, and take home free books. We hope everyone enjoyed this iconic tradition! Students smiling and holding free cookies from the ILR School's annual Cookie Day at Catherwood Library

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We are humbled and honored to care for such an important part of fashion history.

In 2002, Chado Ralph Rucci became the first fashion house established in the United States to be invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture to present on the official Paris haute couture calendar. When you encounter the garments in person, you’ll understand why.

The archive documenting Ralph Rucci’s extraordinary design practice, process, and métier is now preserved at @cornelluniversity 🖤 Nearly 500 individual garments and accessories are stewarded by the @cornellfashioncollection in the College of Human Ecology and 125 cubic feet of sketches, patterns, textile swatches, photographs, and other documentary records are held by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives within @cornell_library

The Ralph Rucci Collection preserves not only the finished garments, but the ideas, processes, materials, labor, and extraordinary skill behind their making — for students, designers, researchers, and generations still to come.

#ralphrucci #fashioncollection #americancouture #fashionhistory #cornellfashion @ralphrucci

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Save the date for the sweetest day of the year: Cookie Day! 🍪

Join the ILR School in Catherwood Library this Thursday, ✨September 17✨ for free cookies (and free books)! 📚

Stop by early (starting 9am), because the cookies disappear fast! Vegan and gluten-free options will be available.

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Inside a long-unopened garment bag was a fashion time capsule. ✨

As Cornell fashion design students carefully lifted out an intricate bolero, porcupine quills tinkled, revealing one of nearly 500 garments by legendary American designer Ralph Rucci that now have a new home at Cornell.

For the first time in more than a decade, pieces from Rucci’s acclaimed haute couture and ready-to-wear collections have been brought together under one roof in the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC), alongside thousands of his original sketches, patterns, swatches and other archival materials preserved by Cornell University Library’s Kheel Center.

“I remember feeling a combination of awe, responsibility and urgency, because I immediately wanted students to be able to see what I was seeing – to understand that fashion can be this complex, this demanding and this moving,” said Denise Green, director of the CF+TC and Lau Family Associate Professor in Fiber Science and Apparel Design.

For students, the collection offers a rare opportunity to study couture from the inside out, examining everything from hidden seams, intricate handwork and structural construction to Rucci’s unexpected use of materials including porcupine quills, horsehair, feathers, gemstones and glass beads. Thousands of sketches, patterns and fabric swatches preserved alongside the garments also allow students to trace his designs from initial idea to finished piece.

“Getting to experience Ralph Rucci’s work up close reminded me of the endless possibilities to innovate in the field of fashion,” said Tabitha Mueller-Schrader ’26.

Three Rucci garments are currently on view in “Approaching America: Myth, Dress, and Belonging” through Sept. 16 in the Gold Gallery in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall.

Looking ahead to spring 2027, “Ralph Rucci: Taking Dictation,” a retrospective of Rucci’s work, will open at the Johnson Museum.
Read the full story at the link in bio.

Photo Credit: CF+TC/Galib Braschler/Bil Donovan/Provided

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We have incredible news to share: the Ralph Rucci archive has found a home at Cornell, where it will be preserved as one of the most comprehensive archives of an American fashion designer. It includes nearly 500 garments alongside more than 8,000 original sketches, 3,000 patterns, thousands of textile swatches, hundreds of photographs, and other records documenting Rucci’s design process and métier.

The archive is stewarded across two Cornell repositories: the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection in the College of Human Ecology and the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives in Cornell University Library. It is an extraordinary record of an exceptional couturier — arguably America’s greatest — alongside the atelier he built and the remarkable clientele for whom he created. It reminds us of what American-made fashion can be: breathtaking, sumptuous, glamorous, chic, and beautifully constructed.

Here in the CF+TC, nearly 500 garments representing more than 350 looks preserve Rucci’s exacting approach to design — and they will take your breath away.

We begin and end this first glimpse with Bil Donovan’s watercolors, which highlight a selection of Rucci’s designs now in the Cornell archives.

A major retrospective, Ralph Rucci: Taking Dictation, will open at Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in 2027. It brings garments, archival materials, and Rucci’s own artworks into conversation with the Johnson’s collections to explore Rucci’s inspirations and design practice. We are thrilled to welcome you to the opening in the first week of May.

For now, this is only the beginning.

The archive lives.

#ralphrucci #fashionarchive #bildonovan #americancouture #americanfashion

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Labor Day, through the archives.

This Labor Day, we’re looking back through selections from the @kheelcenter collections that offer a glimpse into the history of labor and the workplace.

The Kheel Center, part of Catherwood Library, is home to special collections documenting the history of the workplace and labor relations.

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10 days till Ithaca!

I'll be talking with author Jill D. Swenson (The Land of Everlasting Sky) about my new book.

Looking forward to connecting with readers.

#laborhistory #biography #laborrights #womensrights

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📕 If you haven’t stopped by Catherwood Library in a minute, here’s a quick glance at the current Catherwood Library/Kheel Center staff picks display!

This selection of books was debuted during Reunion week, and guests are invited to flip through the 1971-85 ILR Alumni Directory, The ILR School at Fifty or any other titles that catch your eye. 📖

Check the Catherwood Library website for summer library hours!

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Summer hues and views 🎨🖼️ Photo of stacked books in the Catherwood Library and Kheel Center staff picks display. Pantone-style rectangle shows a square of dark red labelled "Cornell Red"

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Can't wait to head to Ithaca at the end of the month to talk about my new book "For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman," with author Jill Swenson at Buffalo Street Books.

When: Saturday, Aug. 1, 4:00 - 5: 30 p.m.

Where: 215 N. Cayuga Street
Dewitt Mall
Ithaca, NY 14850-4329

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