The things she carried: a cultural history of the purse in America

Abstract

"At first glance, the purse appears to be nothing more than a mundane accessory. However, The Things She Carried explores the social, cultural, and political roles purses have played in American history. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Americans marginalized by their gender, race, and sexuality used bags, pocketbooks and purses as instruments to help them insist on their autonomy. This book argues that purses have served as versatile toolkits, functioning as portable arsenals, offices, powder rooms, and a miniature version of the home for many Americans. Most importantly, it illuminates how the purse became feminized and argues that purses offered women control and privacy in public spaces that otherwise denied them these rights" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents

"This sack so full": Enslaved women's use of bags in Antebellum America -- Purses and pathbreaking women at the turn of the century -- Space, privacy, and the pocketbooks of working women -- The bag and the body: Purses and personal hygiene, 1920s-1940s -- Pickets, protests, and purses in the civil rights movement -- "Keith carried a clutch": Queer communities and purses in the late twentieth century.