Franz Pariser (21 July 1895 - May 1974)
Born in Berlin, Franz Pariser first worked in his father’s textiles factory which he also took over after his father’s death. As a self-educated man, he began performing research in the area of cultural anthropology, in particular, examining clothing conventions as a means of human self-design in its symbolic and interaction related functions. In 1932 he immigrated to Switzerland and in 1939 to England. After the war he returned to Switzerland, passing through Italy and the USA. He spent his whole life collecting materials for his project and prepared the analysis of these. The collection encompasses documents from every written-heritage civilisation. The original estate is available in the Archive. The acquisition and organisation was financed by the Fritz-Thyssen Foundation and research funds from the University of Konstanz. An index is available.