Commercial Pattern Archive

The Commercial Pattern Archive database, CoPA, provides a unique tool for researchers and designers to recreate or date clothing from 1847 to 2000. There are several collections from the States, Canada, and the UK represented in the database, which functions like a union catalog of pattern collections. Betty Williams, a theatrical costumer in New York city, pioneered research on commercial patterns in the early 1980s. She became a leader in the field, establishing a major personal pattern collection and encouraging others to actively participate in the collection and storage of patterns. Betty passed away in 1997, leaving a wealthy legacy of research and an extensive pattern collection now housed at the University of Rhode Island. The Williams Collection is combined with the URI and Joy Spanabel Emery Collections in the Commercial Pattern Archive in the URI Library Distinctive Collections in Kingston Rhode Island.