The historical textile collection contains important textile artefacts (including fabric swatches, rugs, woven pictures, tablecloths and more) as well as objects relating to the history of Reutlingen University and its preceeding institutions. The largest part of the collection is made up of around 1,200 sample books, from 1850-1950.
The collection was created at the former "Technikum für Textilindustrie Reutlingen" (Technical centre for textile industry in Reutlingen) in the second half of the 19th century for educational and illustrative purposes. Fabric samples made from natural materials – including wool, linen, cotton and silk – were systematically collected and archived. A number of the fabrics were even produced at the technical centre as part of the training programme, using the centre's machines.
In 1932, the technical centre received 600 fabric sample books from the “Landesgewerbemuseum Stuttgart” (State trade museum Stuttgart), dated between 1849 and 1908. Alongside the sample books, the technical centre als received an extensive collection of Japanese fabric samples from 1600-1870. These had been brought back to Stuttgart by Erwin Bälz from Japan in 1881 and sold to the Landesgewerbemuseum in 1891.
A further part of the historical collection consists of 70 Peruvian textile fragments, donated by Gerhard Wilhelmi in 1967. These date from the 9th to 15th centuries. The collection also contains ornament folders, point paper, threads, lecture manuscripts and pictures.
