White Beaded Oval Clutch
date: label: Date
content: 20th century
notes: label: Caption
content: 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.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anacostia Community Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Cite As
content: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Anacostia Community Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1997.0020.0007
objectType: label: Type
content: purse
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: glass beads, plastic bead, metal zipper, silk
label: Dimensions
content: 5 7/8 × 7 × 11/16 in. (15 × 17.8 × 1.7 cm)