Virginia Whelan is a textile conservator in private practice and is sole proprietor of Filaments Conservation Studio, based outside Philadelphia, PA. She specializes in historic needlework and fine textiles offering conservation consultation and treatment of a variety of textiles including samplers, silk-on-silk and painted silk embroideries, needlework and woolwork pictures, flags, and banners. In addition, Virginia provides technical examination and documentation for individual textiles and performs survey assessments for textile collections. Clients include cultural and educational institutions, historic house museums, foundations, and individuals. She has lectured and published on her work with historic textiles.

Virginia received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Art Conservation from Winterthur/ University of Delaware with a concentration in textiles. Virginia completed internships at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Textile Conservation Centre at Hampton Court Palace in England, and The Textile Conservation Center in Lowell, MA. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).

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