The collection comprises material from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. It was assembled largely from the donations of the teacher Jelka Miš and from the former federal government, which in 1954 gifted the Exhibition of the “National Art of Yugoslavia” to Dubrovnik.
The popular attire and parts of it derive from the period from the end of the 19th to the first half of the 20th century. The material from Macedonia stands out for richness, which particularly inheres in the nineteen bridal shirts that together represent all the diversity of the decorative needlework of that country.
Especially prominent for their beauty of workmanship and richness of materials are the examples of costly srmeni pokrivki, large silk head scarves worked with gold and silver thread and long oriental waistcoats worked with metallic thread.