purse
date: label: date made
content: 1980 - 1985
name: label: maker
content: Vernon, Lillian
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: One (1) purse
label: Description (Brief)
content: Brown rectangular purse with long crossbody strap made by the Lillian Vernon Company in the 1980's. Initials in gold color "MEM".
label: Description (Brief)
content: Myrtle Money Moring purchased this monogrammed purse or bag for her daughter Mary Esther Moring from the Lillian Vernon catalog in the early 1980s. The initials are for Mary Esther Moring. As Mary Esther wrote of the gift: "After my father retired from 26 years in the Air Force in the early 1970s, my parents returned to their hometown of Abbeville, a small farming community in southeast Alabama. As in many small towns (and even larger ones), the Lillian Vernon catalog was second in popularity only to the Sears Christmas catalog. Lillian Vernon was a welcome source of stylish products unavailable in local stores, especially sought after for its monogrammed items.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In the early 1980s, I was in my late 20s and beginning my career as a nurse when mother ordered this monogrammed purse; the M.E.M. stands for my full name, Mary Esther Moring. It was her birthday present to me. It was always her wish that I could be tidy, organized, and fashion forward as well as practical. I was none of those things but she hoped this purse could help. As you can see by the original credit card place holders, I never used it; but I kept it all these years to remind me of Mother’s good intentions for me."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Retail and Marketing
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0064.1
label: accession number
content: 2023.0064
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0064.1
objectType: label: Object Name
content: purse
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 in x 6 in; 40.64 cm x 15.24 cm