January 26, 2016

January 26, 2016 — A new Center for Historic Costume Exhibition and Research will feature a permanent gallery to display items from the Fox Historic Costume Collection. The Center, which will also provide a meeting space for lectures and other public programs, was made possible by a recent $2 million commitment from Robert and Penny Fox. By supporting this new dedicated gallery space as well as personnel, including an archives specialist and collections manager, Mr. and Mrs. Fox’s generous gift will “enable us to preserve and grow the Fox Historic Costume Collection, and increase accessibility and outreach so it can educate and inspire future generations,” said Drexel University President John Fry.

“Bob and Penny continue to amaze me with their commitment to making this collection the best educational resource of its kind, for Drexel students and for an ever-expanding community of historians, scholars, artists and designers,” President Fry said.

The museum-quality collection spans more than 3 centuries and 14,000 garments, textiles, and accessories. This gift comes on the heels of Immortal Beauty, the first ever large-scale, retrospective exhibition of the Fox Historic Costume Collection, which was on display last fall in the Pearlstein Gallery. The exhibition attracted thousands of visitors and received rave reviews from the Wall Street Journal and Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.

In March 2014, the collection was renamed in recognition of a $1 million commitment from the Foxes, which was designated to digitalizing the collection’s inventory to create an interactive and searchable database of descriptive text and digital imagery.

Click here for more information about the Fox Historic Costume Collection.