WHAT DOES YOUR PURSE SAY ABOUT YOU?
Seven Sundays Program Examines “The Purse and the Person”

WHEELING, W.Va (July 13, 2009)- -Purses, like all fashions, reflect both the society and aesthetics of their time. From elegant clutch bags of 1920s to carefree shoulder bags of the 1960s’ counter culture to the larger briefcase-style purses carried by the “superwomen” of recent decades, purses’ shapes, sizes, materials and the contents inside them serve as barometers of changing fashions, culture, economics and social mores.

The next program in Oglebay Institute’s Seven Sundays to Remember Lecture Series looks at purses from the inside out, examining the day-to-day life reflected in a very personal, very female artifact cache- a woman’s handbag.

“The Purse and the Person” takes place at 1p.m. July 26 at the Mansion Museum in Oglebay and is presented by Melissa Leventon, principal of Curatrix Group, a west coast-based firm of museum consultants and appraisers specializing in costumes, textiles and interiors. She is curator for “The Purse and the Person: A Century of Women’s Purses,” an exhibition developed from a private collection of more than 3,000 purses and accessories. She also has curated exhibitions and collections for some of the premier art and history museums in the United States and Britain.

“We are thrilled that Melissa was willing to travel all the way to Wheeling to be part of our lecture series,” Museums director Christin Byrum said. “We are equally as excited about the topic. What woman could live without a purse, or rather, several purses?”

She added that purses are fascinating from a historical and social perspective and that in additional to providing beautiful examples of period design, they are private repositories of the stories of women’s everyday lives.

“They gives us a glimpse into the lives, personalities, customary activities and concerns of women over the past 100 years,” she said.

Specific purse contents may bring to mind the demands of wartime, the excitement of travel or the paraphernalia of motherhood. While some women may be defined by what’s inside their purses, others may be defined by what is absent. For example, the rouge of a 1920s’ flapper denoted youth and freedom, while the absence of make-up may be an expression of freedom for the counter-culture of a later generation.

The July 26 program will examine the evolving shapes, styles, materials and contents of purses carried by twentieth-century woman from Edwardian matrons to flappers, wartime workers, suburban housewives, hippies, fashionistas and contemporary businesswomen.

Titled “Passion for Fashion” the 2009 Seven Sundays Lecture Series celebrates historic and contemporary fashion and serves as a companion program to Dressing Wheeling From the Inside Out: 1840-1910, current exhibit on display in the Mansion Museum. A complete list of lectures, speakers and dates follows:

July 26: “The Purse and the Person,” presented by Melissa Leventon, Curator of the traveling exhibition The Purse and the Person, and principal of Curatrix Group, a firm of museum consultants and appraisers specializing in costumes, textiles and interiors.

August 23: “Hats Off - to the Artistry of the Milliner Past and Present,” presented by Amy Hamilton, owner/artist Granville Millinery Company, Granville, OH

Sept, 27: “Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Foot,” presented by
Elizabeth Semmelhack, Curator, Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada

October 11: “Petticoats, Pantaloons and Painters: Costumes in Art,” presented by
Nancy Huth, Curator of Education, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH

The admission fee is $10 per person, which includes admission to both the Mansion and Glass Museums. All guests are invited to continue on and browse through either or both of the museums after the lecture. Members of Oglebay Institute receive a discount.

For more information or to register for any of the programs, call the Mansion Museum at 304.242.7272.