Welcome to the website for our project Thomas Hardy and Clothing: Sharing Student-Led Research.
This research database is a collaboration between the University of Exeter and Dorset County Museum and will form a rich educational resource to anyone researching Thomas Hardy’s literature.
Our aim is to collate references to costume in Hardy’s writing and, in the future, link these to actual images of nineteenth-century dress, including photographs of clothing worn by Hardy, his friends and relatives. The database will demonstrate the importance of dress for suggesting a character’s profession, social status or role in a Hardy plot. It will also create a forum for researchers, students and the public to add their own comments and contribute to contextual discussions.
Our project will also raise awareness of the Thomas Hardy archive and costume collection at Dorset County Museum as well as significant collections in the South West, helping to publicise and interpret this heritage for the future.