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White Beaded Oval Clutch

Object Details

Date
20th century
Medium
glass beads, plastic bead, metal zipper, silk
Dimensions
5 7/8 × 7 × 11/16 in. (15 × 17.8 × 1.7 cm)
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
Type
purse
See more items in
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Data Source
Anacostia Community Museum
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8c8b247cf-e139-42c2-8610-b3d88c85853a
Record ID
acm_1997.0020.0007
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