Veronika Gervers: Research Fellowship in Textiles & Fashion History
Category
About
The Veronika Gervers Research Fellowship was established in 1979 to honour the work and memory of Veronika Gervers, a pioneering textiles and dress scholar. While a curator at ROM – from 1968 until her untimely death in 1979 – Veronika carried out groundbreaking research in Eastern European dress history and built worldclass collections. Her skills as an embroiderer and draughtsperson brought deep insights to her studies, which include The Hungarian Szür: An Archaic Mantle of Eurasian Origin (1973) and The Influence of Ottoman Turkish Textiles and Costume in Eastern Europe (1982). Gervers’ legacy lives on in her influential work exploring Hungary’s material past and in the Veronika Gervers Research Fellowship in Textiles and Fashion History.
The fellowship established in her honour exists to promote innovative research on ROM’s exceptional collection of Global Fashion & Textiles with over 40,000 textiles and fashions from around the world and across time. The Fund supports an annual Fellow to be in residence at ROM, to study a selection of works and develop a public presentation.
Applicants can include scholars, curators, educators, conservators, community members, artists, and makers. Projects must contribute new knowledge on some aspect of textiles, dress or fashion—their past, present or future. Through the support of these activities, the grant is meant to enhance access to, and stewardship of, ROM’s Global Fashion & Textile collections, and advance studies on the importance of cloth and dress in the human experience.
Prerequisites
The award has two components
A study of a selection of ROM'S Global Fashion & Textiles collections. Maximum of $9,000, or residency of 2 weeks.
A public offering which may be a virtual ROM program, ROM Online Collections enhancement, in-person presentation, workshop, podcast, or other. The format will be decided in conversations between ROM and the successful applicant.
Application Materials
Award Selection Criteria
Applicant's demonstrated history of engagement with textiles, dress or fashion
Relevance and significance of the ROM collection to the project
Originality and innovativeness of the project, especially toward new perspectives, sources, or methodologies
Rigour of the project
Care and clarity of objectives and design of the project
The viability of the project within the time frame and budget, and how prepared the applicant is to carry out the project
The contribution of the project to the applicant’s professional or personal development
The impact of the project on wider audiences and communities
Letters of Support
Important dates
March 10, 2025 Call for proposals open
May 30, 2025 Deadline to submit proposals
July 15, 2025 Notice of decision
Sept 1, 2025 Funds made available
About Veronika Gervers
Veronika Gervers was born Molnár Vera [Vera Molnár] in Hajdúnánás, Hungary. She studied art history and archaeology at the University of Budapest, under the historian Zádor Anna [Anna Zádor]. She completed her PhD thesis on medieval central Hungarian churches in 1965, work which was published as volume 4 in the series Művészettörténeti füzetek under the title A középkori Magyarország rotundái (Budapest, 1972). Gervers’ classroom notes were so comprehensive that they were used by Szabó Julia [Julia Szabó] to reconstruct the lectures of Fülep Lajos [Lajos Fülep]. After graduation, she took charge of the excavation of a medieval castle at Sárospatak and the 12th-century rotunda at Karcsa.
In 1967, she moved to Toronto and married Michael Gervers (currently a professor of History and Art History at the University of Toronto). In 1968, she began to work at the ROM as a curator in the Textiles Department, a position she gained through her long-standing interest and competence in studying textile history, in addition to her skill as a cross-stitch embroiderer and reputation as a professional and accomplished draughtsperson. She published The Hungarian Szür: An Archaic Mantle of Eurasian Origin in 1973 as vol. 1 in the Museum’s series on history, technology, and art. In 1977 she edited and contributed to Studies in Textile History: In Memory of Harold B. Burnham, a book commemorating the life and work of a former member of the Textiles Department and husband of Dorothy K. Burnham, the department’s first head curator.
Gervers died in 1979 at the age of 39. Two of her books were published posthumously: The Influence of Ottoman Turkish Textiles and Costume in Eastern Europe (Toronto, 1982) and Ipolyi Arnold hímzésgyűjteménye az Esztergomi Keresztény Múzeumban (Budapest, 1983).
Project Highlights
Veronika Gervers Fellows
