Ruth Egger

Research Assistant and Doctoral Student

Contact

University of Tuebingen
Department of History
Wilhelmstr. 36
72074 Tübingen
+49 (0) 7071 29-77131

Email: ruth.eggerspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Office hours

After taking contact.

room: Hegelbau, 2nd floor, room 203, alternatively via zoom

Curriculum Vitae

2026

Dr. Liselotte Kirchner Scholarship

of the Francke Foundations in Halle (Saale)

Since 2023

Research Assistant and Doctoral Student

at the Department of Modern History, University of Tübingen
January until June 2025: Erasmus-stipend to stay at Uppsala University

2022-2023

Curator

Parental leave cover for the Curator of Fashion, Textiles and Jewellery, Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) Berlin, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

2020-2022

Assistant Curator

at the Department of Art and Cultural History, Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum)

2022

Internship

at the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie, Aubusson

2020

Internship

at the Department of Art and Cultural History, Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum)

2019

Internships

at the “World Cultures” Department, National Museums Scotland, as well as in the Collections Management Team, Glasgow Museums

2018-2019

Master of Letters (MLitt.)

“Art History: Dress and Textile Histories” at the University of Glasgow. Title of the master thesis: “Mapping Dress and Identity. The Costumed Figures in John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611-1612”

2016-2018

Costume Maker

Salzburger Landestheater (Salzburg State Theatre)

2015

Manager of the Workshop

at “Kids in Fashion”, Vienna

2015

Master’s Examination

for the Craft of Dressmaking, Innung für Mode und Bekleidungstechnik, Vienna

2014-2015

Master School

Costume Design and Making at the Secondary School of Fashion and Creative Design "Herbststrasse", Vienna

2008-2014

Magistra (Mag.)

Diploma programme in Celtic Studies at the University of Vienna. Title of diploma thesis: “Fairies, Witches, and the Devil. The Interface between Elite Demonology and Folk Belief in Early Modern Scottish Witchcraft Trials”

2013

Project Assistant

for the relocation of the museum storage, Wien Museum (Vienna Museum)

2008-2012

Bachelor’s Degree Programme

in History, University of Vienna

Research

Topic of the Dissertation:

Fabricated Geographies: Collecting Global Dress and Textiles in European Cabinets of Curiosities, ca. 1550–1700 (working title)

Research interests

Early Modern Cultural History
Dress and Textile Histories
Visual and Material Culture
Museums and Collections
History of the British Isles

Publications

Egger, Ruth. „Sleeping in a Net Between the Trees. Brazilian Hammocks at the Württemberg Court and Their Transatlantic Knowledge Networks (c. 1600–1800).” In: A Global History of Knowledge in the Early Modern World. Sources from 1500 to 1800. Ed. by Laura Dierksmeier, Anne Mariss, and Philip Hahn. Bloomsbury, 2027, 49-62. [in preparation]
Egger, Ruth. „Early Modern Raffia Textiles from West Central Africa. Reconsidering Technical Variety and Material Literacies of European Commentators.” African Arts 59, no. 2 (Summer 2026): 64-77. https://doi.org/10.1162/AFAR.a.843.
Egger, Ruth. „Tübinger Studierende zu Gast im Museum: Der Bauernkrieg als Ausstellungsthema.“
Freudenstädter Heimatblätter 56, no. 3 (August 2025): 1-2.
Egger, Ruth. “Das Königlich Württembergische Landesgewerbemuseum. Ein historistischer Prachtbau mit geschmackvollen Sammlungen.” Schwäbische Heimat 2022/1: 28-33.
Egger, Ruth. „Das Württembergische Landesgewerbemuseum in Stuttgart.“ Rundbrief des Württembergischen Geschichts- und Altertumsvereins 32 (October 2021): 14-17. http://wgav.de/2021/10/01/rundbrief-oktober-2021/
Blog posts for Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum): https://blog.landesmuseum-stuttgart.de/author/rutheggers/
Blog post „‘Die Ideen kommen aus meinem Inneren‘ – Schmuck von Jan Wehrens“ for Museum and the City, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums): https://blog.smb.museum/die-ideen-kommen-aus-meinem-inneren-schmuck-von-jan-wehrens/

Presentations

Egger, Ruth. „‘Sachen, so zur Kleidung gehören‘. Die Kunst- und Naturalienkammer der Franckeschen Stiftungen im internationalen Forschungskontext.“ Francke Foundations, Halle, Research Colloquia of the Dr. Liselotte Kirchner Scholarships, 3 September 2026.
Egger, Ruth. „Sewing Skins for Survival in the North. Inuit and Sámi Clothing in the European Kunstkammer.” Stockholms Universitet, Tidigmoderna seminariet, 29 April 2026.
Egger, Ruth. „Die Welt im Kleiderschrank. Neue Perspektiven auf Bekleidung und Textil in der Kunst- und Naturalienkammer der Franckeschen Stiftungen.“ Francke Foundations, Halle, Conference „300 Jahre Neugier. Perspektiven der Wunderkammerforschung“, 27-28 November 2025.
Egger, Ruth. „From the Tree onto the Body and into the Chamber. Collecting and Reinterpreting Palm Fibre Textiles from West Central Africa in the European Kunstkammer, c. 1550-1750.” University of Glasgow, Workshop “Commodities of Empire. Threads of Empire”, 8-9 September 2025.
Egger, Ruth. "Materials of Conversion. Global Dress in European Cabinets of Curiosities between Accommodation and Replacement." 12th Cambridge-Tübingen Workshop on Early Modern Religion, Cambridge, 15-16 September 2025.
Egger, Ruth. "Rethinking 'Othering'. Collecting Global Dress for Cultural Comparison in the European Kunstkammer, ca. 1500-1700." European University Institute, Florence, Conference "Connections, Conflicts, and Convergences: Exploring 'othering' in global visual and material cultures, ca. 1500-1800", 27-28 February 2025.
Egger, Ruth. “Soft as Silk and Woven like Italian Velvet. European Collections and Representations of Palm Fibre Textiles from West Africa, c.1500-1700.” UCLouvain, Conference “Textile Materiality in the Early Modern Period”, 25-26 September 2024.
Egger, Ruth. “Shells, Feathers and Ahouai. Collecting and Reinterpreting Ritual Dress from the Americas in Early Modern Europe.” 11th Cambridge-Tübingen Workshop on Early Modern Religion, Tübingen, 16-17 September 2024.
Egger, Ruth. “‘Etliche von Bast gar künstlich gewirckte Kleider / Küssen und Tapeten.‘ Zur Sammlungspraxis von westafrikanischen Textilien und Kleidung in frühneuzeitlichen Kunstkammern.“ University of Jena, Forschungskolloquium zur Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, 20-21 June 2024.
Egger, Ruth. “Dressed in Sealskin. Greenlandic Inuit and the Gottorp Kunstkammer.” University of Cambridge, Workshop “Material Culture in the Early Modern World”, Lent Term 2024 “Identity, Performance and Dress”, 20 February 2024.
Egger, Ruth. “Translating Objects? Re-interpreting Dress and Textiles from Africa and the Americas in European Cabinets of Curiosities.” University of Tübingen, Workshop “Knowledge & Translation in the early modern Atlantic World”, 9 February 2024.
Egger, Ruth. “From Weave to Print. The Revival of a 14th-Century Motif on an Evening Cape by Maria Monaci Gallenga.” CIETA Congress 2023, “Renaissances and Revivals,” 2-5 October 2023.
Egger, Ruth. “Mapping Dress and Identity. The Costumed Figures in John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611-1612.” The Association of Dress Historians, New Research in Dress History Conference, 7-13 June 2021.

Exhibitions

unschwäbisch-pompös. 125 Jahre Landesgewerbemuseum
16.09.2021–12.04.2022 at Haus der Wirtschaft Baden-Württemberg.
A Matter of Taste. Exemplary Design around 1900
18.11.2021–01.05.2022 at Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum).
Google Arts & Culture: A Matter of Taste. Exemplary Design around 1900 https://artsandculture.google.com/story/aAVR45VtadjCXQ
Google Arts & Culture: Fashioning Bodies and Gender. A Journey through Time at the Fashion Museum at Ludwigsburg Residential Palace https://artsandculture.google.com/story/MAWxj5UgkkfbUg

Professional Memberships

CIETA (Centre International d’Etude des Textiles Anciens), FR
The Costume Society, UK
The Association of Dress Historians, UK
Netzwerk Mode Textil, DE