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
- Record ID
- acm_1997.0020.0007
