Vigo County Historical Society

Purses rekindle fond memories

The Vigo County Historical Museum has a small glass case and displayed in the case is an assortment of beaded evening bags. They are just as beautiful to me now as one such bag was to me when my mother permitted me to carry it to my first formal dance. I remember fingering the bag and wishing that I could carry something so elegant. My mother’s bag was made of a soft metal mesh. It draped in folds from the gold rim. I always thought it resembled a rainbow.

I waited until my mother was in a very good mood and then I posed the question. "Could I please carry your evening bag to the Harvest Moon Dance?" When my mother replied in the affirmative, I was ecstatic! Only movie stars carried evening bags that were so elegant; so it is no surprise that thirty-some years later I was drawn to the case in the museum that displayed the evening bags.

I chose an aqua and pink metal mesh floral because it reminded me of my mother’s bag and the Harvest Moon Dance. Barbara Carney unlocked the case so that I could feel the bag and it felt just as I remembered. The metal is so soft to the touch that it seems as though it could not be metal, but of course it is.

The case holds many beaded bags and two caught my eye. One is made entirely of red beads with loops also made of red beads. The other was a wallet. The wallet is made from beads which are beaded into a floral pattern. When we examined the wallet it was tagged. The wallet had belonged to Alice Ijams Benbridge. It was intriguing to learn that another Alice had liked beaded bags.

If you would like to view her wallet, along with many other beaded bags, visit the Historical Museum. It is a great place to bring back memories.