Generally, at the UW-Madison, the collecting of textiles, woven objects, and beadwork is the purview of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection , which is part of the School of Human Ecology .

Noteworthy in the Chazen collection is a group of eight textiles produced by artists belonging to the Wiener Werkstätte during the 1920s. Other notable works are a collection of Native American baskets that was donated to the museum in 1984 by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Van Zelst and a range of African objects that the Chazen has been acquiring since the early 1990s. Both are new areas of collecting initiated in direct correlation to pedagogical initiatives in the Department of Art History.

The 82 Native American baskets, for the most part, date from the late 19th through the early 20th century and provide a broad geographic survey of weaving techniques, ranging from the Southwest to the Northwest Coast, the Central Plains and the Northeast, and include examples from Alaska and Canada. The over 40 African objects are mostly Yoruba in origin and include necklaces, crowns, purses, and other ceremonial objects.

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