Judges Shortlist Four Books for the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award

The Textile Society of America is pleased to announce the top four finalists for the 2026 R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award for books published in 2025. The award is given annually to the publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of global cultural heritage textile studies. This year’s finalists are, in alphabetical order by author:

Sonia Ashmore, Tirthankar Roy and Niaz Zaman, Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy (MAPIN, 2025); Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa with Coast Salish Contributors, The Teachings of Mutton (Harbour Publishing, 2025); Charlotte Linton, Dyeing with Earth Dyeing with the Earth: Textiles, Tradition, and Sustainability in Contemporary Japan (Duke University Press, 2025); Mei Mei Rado, The Empire’s New Cloth: Cross-Cultural Textiles at the Qing Court (Yale University Press, 2025).

By recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage, the award aims to encourage the study and understanding of global textile traditions. The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee evaluated the nominated books based on the most successful balance of the two main criteria –bringing the highest standard of research and scholarship to a topic of significance to the field of global cultural heritage textile studies; and presenting its material in a manner that is accessible and engaging for the public as well as for textile scholars. This year’s selection committee members are Dr. Julia Hendon (chair), Dr. Kaja McGowan, and Dr. Alexandra Dalferro.

The judges serving on TSA’s R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee are pleased to announce the shortlist of four titles for this year’s R. L. Shep Award, for books published in 2025, chosen from a list of eleven books nominated by TSA members, publishers, and the general public earlier this year.

The books represent the many facets of textile studies and interest of TSA communities. The shortlisted books are, in alphabetical order by author:

The famed Bengal textiles which once ‘clothed the world’ have received little scholarly attention. With the systemic destruction of Bengal’s textile industry, prompted by the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the muslins and Balucharis of Bengal were lost in obscurity. The partition of the Indian subcontinent and the consequent varieties of cultural and social identity in present-day India and Bangladesh have contributed to this neglect. This pioneering publication explores in depth the lost textile traditions of Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century and traces its impact on the historical and cultural aspects of the region.

This book is conceived as a dialogue between historians, anthropologists, art historians, textile practitioners and textile scholars who bring their diverse perspectives and expertise on the fundamental catalysts of change in the textile tradition of Bengal. The book serves as a public history, with engaging chapters presenting a unique perspective on the textiles of wider Bengal supported by superb illustrations of textiles, maps and trade documents from the past, most of which have never been published before. This volume will inspire the reader, reorient scholarly attention and provoke a rethinking of the nature and history of Bengal textiles.

The pelt of a dog named “Mutton” languished in a drawer at the Smithsonian for 150 years until it was discovered, almost accidentally, by an amateur archivist. This book tells Mutton’s story and explores what it can teach us about Coast Salish Woolly Dogs and their cultural significance.

Until now, there has been very little written about the enigmatic Coast Salish Woolly Dog, or sqʷəmey̓ in the Hul’q’umi’num language. According to Indigenous Oral Histories of the Pacific Northwest, this small dog was bred for thousands of years for its woolly fibers, which were woven into traditional blankets, robes and regalia. Although the dogs were carefully protected by Coast Salish peoples, by the 1900s, the Woolly Dog had become so rare it is now considered extinct.

Co-authored with weavers, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders, The Teachings of Mutton interweaves perspectives from Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō, Suquamish, Cowichan, Katzie, Snuneymuxw, and Skokomish cultures with narratives of science, post-contact history, and the lasting and devastating impacts of colonization. Binding it all together is Mutton’s story—a tale of research, reawakening, and resurgence.

In Dyeing with the Earth by Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Ōshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access in the production of Oshima tsumugi kimono cloth, which uses the indigenous technique of dorozome (or mud-dyeing). As global interest in sustainable fashion grows, textile manufacturers on Amami have expanded from kimono production to dyeing garments and textiles for high-profile designers. While traditional craft may appear at odds with the large-scale global textile industry, Linton reveals how Amamian and global producers face similar social, economic, and environmental pressures. Ethical production in fashion, Linton contends, should focus on understanding local everyday practices that sustain direct relationships between people, place, and environment rather than rely on short-term solutions via new processes or materials. Weaving together ethnography, photography, and illustration, Linton underscores the continued relevance of traditional craft and material cultures amid ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss.

A groundbreaking study of textiles as transcultural objects in the Qing court that provides a new understanding of the interconnectedness of the early modern world

In the early modern period luxury textiles circulated globally as trade goods and diplomatic gifts, fostering cultural exchange between distant regions. By the eighteenth century, both China and Europe had developed a splendid tradition of silk and tapestry weaving. While the role of Chinese silk imports in Europe has been well studied, this book reconstructs the forgotten history of the eastward movement of European textiles to China and their integration into the arts and culture of the Qing Empire.

The Empire’s New Cloth explores how Qing court workshops adapted European textile designs and techniques and uncovers the specific uses and meanings of these textiles in imperial military ceremonies, religious spaces, and palace interiors. Through careful study of a wide range of previously unpublished objects, Mei Mei Rado illuminates how these cross-cultural textiles provided the visual and material means for the Qing ruler to convey political messages. By revealing how Qing imperial patrons and artisans responded and assigned meanings to European influences, this beautifully illustrated volume highlights the reciprocity in eighteenth-century Sino-European exchanges and centers textiles within the dynamic global flow of objects and ideas.

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By recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage, the award aims to encourage the study and understanding of global textile traditions. The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee evaluated the nominated books based on the most successful balance of the two main criteria: bringing the highest standard of research and scholarship to a topic of significance to the field of global cultural heritage textile studies; and presenting its material in a manner that is accessible and engaging for the public as well as for textile scholars. The winner of the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award for books published in 2025 from among these four finalists will be announced at the TSA Members Meeting as part of the Fall 2026 Colloquium on October 8.

For questions and further information about the award, please contact the TSA Awards Committee: Vandana Bhandari, Director of Awards and Scholarships (vb@vandanabhandari.com), or TSA Executive Director Ashley Occhino (director@textilesocietyofamerica.org).