The Things They Carried
What can we learn about the culture of flappers by knowing what kinds of little handbags flappers put their lipsticks and cigarettes in? Answer that question at Clutch It, the new exhibit at MOHAI.
Where: MOHAI, the Museum of History and Industry
What: Clutch It! The Purse and The Person: A Century of Women’s Purses looks at the things women carried in the twentieth century and asks what it says about us that cigarettes were packed in lacquer boxes or lipstick in beaded bags. Exactly what kind of statement does a fashion statement purse make in times of war, hardship, boom, bust, love, marriage, new freedoms, and frozen dinners? The 3,000-item exhibit goes from Edwardian matron to the how-does-she-do-it-all mom-executive of present day, using handbags as a window into daily life.
Don’t be surprised if you, after the exhibit, you begin staring at giant hobo bags on the bus and in the grocery store and wondering what the next century will say about us packing our increasingly small all-in-one digital devices in increasingly large leather sacks.
Clutch It!, a nationally touring exhibit, was developed and managed by an exhibition tour company in Kansas City, Missouri.
When: Opens this Saturday, November 20 and runs through February 14, 2011. May I suggest that an experience — a day of historical purse survey and lunch, perhaps — is oftentimes a nicer gift than anything that can be fit into a box and tied with a bow?
