Money well spent

The Brooklyn Museum received a $4 million grant from the Mellon foundation to catalog and photograph its costume collection, which has been out of public view for 15 years.

Formed in 1903, the collection was built in part through donations from the closets of the grand ladies of Brooklyn and Manhattan. As it grew, a number of noted American designers, including Charles James, gave their own archives to the museum, and it acquired pieces dating as far back as the 16th century. The collection includes many outstanding examples of work by legendary designers like James, Charles Frederick Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Norman Norrell, Christian Dior and Paul Poiret. It also has considerable holdings of 18th-century accessories.

Because of space and other considerations, the Times reports, the Museum is considering donating the collection to either the Metropolitan Institute of Art or the Fashion Institute of Technology.