Exhibit tells stories of the colorful lives of these purses
By any name -- handbag, purse or pocketbook -- this essential component of a woman's life is more than a personal possession and container of necessities.
The newest exhibition at the Lake County Discovery Museum, "Pocketbook Anthropology: A Treasure of Handbags," explores the cultural meanings of purses and the emotional attachments women have to them.
"Pocketbook Anthropology," supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council, is touring the nation, and making its only Lake County stop at the Discovery Museum now through Jan. 20, 2008.
The exhibition features 75 purses dating from 1880 to the present. The Discovery Museum has augmented the touring exhibition with period costumes from the Museum's textile collection and fashion postcards from the Museum's Curt Teich Postcard Archives.
The exhibit explores the emotional and cultural significance of purses, and showcases funky, elegant, whimsical and utilitarian examples of these much loved wardrobe items. Visitors will have a chance to view handbags made from a variety of materials, ranging from cigarette packs to silk and beads to precious metals.
Some of the purses have stories to tell. A Necktie Purse was made from the neckties of one woman's late husband. When she carried the purse, she remembered how her husband left for work every day meticulously dressed and wearing a tie. Her daughter collected the ties after her father's death and created the purse as a priceless memento for her mother.
Another purse in the exhibition, called the "Pondorosa," belongs to voice actor Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson, "The Simpsons"; Rufus, "Kim Possible"). According to Cartwright, she carries her "Ponderosa Purse" for "fun dates when I got my boots and jeans skirt on." Nicknamed "Hoss" in seventh grade, she gets a kick out of the connection to the Cartwright family from TV's "Bonanza." When not in use, the purse decorates Cartwright's western-themed guest house. In the exhibition the purse contains a hand-drawn replica map of the Cartwright homestead --instead of the usual brush, lipstick and ID.
The museum's special exhibitions gallery, which in the past has housed exhibit themes as wide-ranging as Star Wars, Walter Payton and the Beatles, has been transformed to a fuschia pink and black satin striped ladies boutique for "Pocketbook Anthropology." Kids interactives included in the exhibition make it fun for "women" of all ages.
For more information on the exhibition and to download coupons for $1 off admission, visit the Museum's Web site at www.lakecountydiscoverymuseum.org or call (847)968-3400.
• Katherine Hamilton-Smith is the director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserve District. The Lake County Discovery Museum, a department of the forest preserve district, is an award-winning regional history museum on Route 176, west of Fairfield Road near Wauconda. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Call (847) 968-3400 for information.