Helena Larsdotter Lindelia – what’s new? A follow-up to Inger Estham’s research from 1974 on the Småland Baroque embroiderer. Helena Larsdotter Lindelia is an uncommon example of a named Swedish female embroiderer from the Baroque period. Swedish churches and museums house a significant collection of historical church textiles. These textiles, including Lindelia’s works, fall under cultural heritage protection laws. My objective in tracing Lindelia’s known works over time was to examine how the perspective on shared cultural heritage and practices related to the conservation of culturally protected textiles have evolved over time. Additionally, I have aimed to determine whether the perception of Lindelia's works has changed since the embroiderer was named in 1974. To achieve this, I conducted a comparative analysis of written source materials, images, and textile objects, supplemented by discourse analysis. To perform the comparative analysis, I first conducted a comprehensive inventory of all preserved works by Lindelia.  I have successfully managed to relocate most of Lindelia’s currently known works. A central concept in my thesis is heritage-making, and I view the relocation of several works from churches to museums in the late 19th century as a step in the heritage-making of older church textiles. Moreover, even the works of Lindelia that remain in churches today are now regarded more as cultural heritage objects than as functional items, being out of use. I have been able to state that after Agnes Geijer from the Pietas textile studio drew attention to the "Småland studio" in the 1940s, a small increase in the conservation of Lindelia’s works became evident. Following Inger Estham's research in the 1970s, there was yet another increase in awareness of the cultural-historical value of Lindelia's textile works. However, it is worth noting that she remains largely unknown outside these circles despite her uniqueness as a named female Baroque embroiderer with nearly 50 preserved works, which is quite remarkable.

The interest for doing this study is developed during my time as a student in textile history atUppsala university, Sweden. Textile history, as it is taught in Uppsala, uses both practical andtheoretical knowledge as a base for analysing, understanding and interpreting, textiles as sourcematerial in research. As a student in textile history I have sometimes experienced a lack ofunderstanding for the position it takes in the academic field, both from people within the textilehistorical field and from the outside. In this study, I take the opportunity to explore this position.I understand textile history research as a field in between the practical and theoretical.Knowledge in craft are used as a base for understanding source material, but are then oftenconnected to the theoretical framework of Material culture studies (MCS) for interpretation.But, even though this is an often-used theory, the problems of finding relevant texts and frame-works are difficult.By generating a grounded theory about the field of craft- and practical research in Swe-den, and then moving on to see what kind of literature the field of MCS can offer, I discuss theposition that textile historical research take between them. The generated theory shows that themain concern in the field of practical research are the aim to be an accepted part of the academy.The analysis of the literature in the field of MCS shows that the areas of technology and materialsciences need tools to understand the human aspect of production. From this I conclude thattextile history, as a field that is already part of creating a meeting between practical researchand MCS, could well take up the position to write its own theories. Theories grounded in prac-tical knowledge, but as a part of the field of MCS. Doing that would be of gain for both fields,and for the textile historians inhabiting and creating a meeting in between the fields.