Resource available without restriction
To link to this database use: https://libraries.indiana.edu/databases/copa
PLEASE NOTE: Users must register to access. The Commercial Pattern Archive database (CoPA), provides a unique tool for researchers and designers to recreate or date clothing.
Additional Information:
Users can register by completing the free access order form found here.
Commercial patterns are full-scale tissue paper clothing patterns used by the home-sewer to create garments and accessories issued in the States as early as 1854. Originally full-scale patterns were included as supplements in fashion periodicals such as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Magazine and sold through by mail order.
Commercial Pattern Archive contains several collections from the States, Canada and the UK represented in the database which functions like a Union Catalog of pattern collections. The cornerstone of CoPA is the Betty Williams Collection. Betty Williams, a theatrical costumer in New York City, pioneered research on commercial patterns in the early 1980s. She became a leader in the field, establishing a major personal pattern collection and encouraging others to actively participate in the collection and storage of patterns. Betty passed away in 1997 leaving a wealthy legacy of research, and an extensive pattern collection now housed at the University of Rhode Island. The Williams Collection is combined with the URI and Joy Spanabel Emery Collections in the Commercial Pattern Archive in URI Library Special Collections.
Coverage: 1854-2010
Vendor: University of Rhode Island
Producer: University of Rhode Island
Interlibrary Loan Type: Not Permitted
Simultaneous User Limit: Unlimited simultaneous users
