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Catalog Data

Medium:
glass beads, plastic bead, metal zipper, silk
Dimensions:
5 7/8 × 7 × 11/16 in. (15 × 17.8 × 1.7 cm)
Type:
purse
Date:
20th century
Caption:
Glass beads spiral into a white whorl on this oval clutch. In contrast to the tiny seed beads, a larger plastic bead resembling a freshwater pearl pulls a zipper on the fabric pouch that supports the beading. A simple ladder stitch in undyed thread secures the beads to the pouch. Beige silk lines the purse’s interior. The purse belonged to renowned scholar-librarian Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995), who organized and developed an unparalleled collection rooted in African American history that would become the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC. The elegant clutch provides a contrast to aspects of Porter Wesley’s persistent pursuit of archival materials, which included purchasing books, but also rescuing records destined to be discarded in the trash.
Accession Number:
1997.0020.0007
Restrictions & Rights:
CC0
See more items in:
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Data Source:
Anacostia Community Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8c8b247cf-e139-42c2-8610-b3d88c85853a
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:acm_1997.0020.0007