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PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History
Friday, October 11th, 2019 at 8:00 am – Friday, October 30th, 2020 at 8:00 pm
PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History Overview
Spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, ranging in style from folk art, to contemporary designer to embroidered. Wood’s collection, which numbers into the thousands, is broken up into sub collections of 150 to ~ 600 purses grouped by material, aesthetic elements, and use.
Explore a timeline of handbags, representing the trends of each decade, displayed alongside corresponding fashions and paired with life-sized graphics from fashion advertisements that visitors can pose alongside.
Additional displays at the Kemerer Museum will consider themes of design, innovation, materials, the personal stories of previous handbag owners and eccentric designers, and the local artist section will spotlight bags hand decorated by local artists to participate.
The Moravian Museum displays will focus on a selection of neeedlepoint handbags displayed alongside examples of needlepoint from our collection.
PURSEonality Lookbook
From the Personal Collection of Ilene Hochberg Wood
Art of the Bag
The auction is now closed.
Join our virtual auction to bid on uniquely crafted handbags and a special BSWANKY designer handbag prize draw!
Friday, October 30th – Thursday, November 5th
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites and Ilene Hochberg Wood present a virtual auction of beautiful, one-of-a-kind, handbags crafted by local artists in honor of saying goodbye to the blockbuster exhibit PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History.
The auction features handbags customized by artists, some of whom have work in Ilene Wood’s collection! It will be like taking a part of the exhibition home with you! Enjoy added benefits like access to a live virtual tour with Ilene Wood and prize drawn admission for Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Historic Holidays: Christmas in the Quarter. We are also please to announce the prize drawing of a designer BSWANKY handbag valued at $2,200.
Purchase prize draw tickets for your chance to win at $50 and register for free to bid on all listed bags. We can’t wait for you to join us for this stylish send-off!
Register for free
- Register to bid for free
- Anyone who places a bid will have access to the live, virtual closing tour with Ilene Wood. Learn about what is up next for PURSEonality!
- Tickets to enter the Prize Draw for designer, BSWANKY bag are $50 each.
BSWANKY Designer Handbag Prize Drawing
The drawing is now closed.
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites would like to thank BSWANKY for generously donating one of their beautiful handbags to be a part of our prize drawing. BSWANKY, founded by Gretchen Bauer, crafts handbags in the U.S.A out of their own Sarasota, Florida-based atelier. BSWANKY was born on the principle of uplifting women in the U.S. garment industry, and are committed to not only their employees, but designing the perfect bag for their clients as well.
Inspired by the elegant vintage glamour of cosmopolitan life in cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Milan, this bag brings the party back from the past. Made of fabulous rare screen-printed hide and finished with gator-embossed leather trim and our iconic nickel hardware, only 1 of these one of a kind hand bags can be made! This charismatic and chic handbag has timeless appeal, but won’t be around for long!
- Can be worn as a shoulder bag or a backpack
- Fits a tablet, continental wallet, 500mL water bottle all at once!
- Bag measures 12″ w X 10.5″ h X 5″ d, strap measures 28″ l X 1″ w (includes closure)
- Weight: 2.5 lbs
- Interior hook closure for added security
- Front nickel closure opens to expand the bag
- Two D-ring attachments to wear in backpack form
- Large interior with one zip closure pocket, one open pocket, pen pocket and interior clip key holder
- Convenient swivel snap closures hook onto exquisite grommet details
- Four purse feet to protect base of bag
PURSEonality is on the move!
From the Personal Collection of Ilene Hochberg Wood
Art of the Bag
The auction is now closed.
Join our virtual auction to bid on uniquely crafted handbags and a special BSWANKY designer handbag prize draw!
Friday, October 30th – Thursday, November 5th
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites and Ilene Hochberg Wood present a virtual auction of beautiful, one-of-a-kind, handbags crafted by local artists in honor of saying goodbye to the blockbuster exhibit PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History.
The auction features handbags customized by artists, some of whom have work in Ilene Wood’s collection! It will be like taking a part of the exhibition home with you! Enjoy added benefits like access to a live virtual tour with Ilene Wood and prize drawn admission for Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Historic Holidays: Christmas in the Quarter. We are also please to announce the prize drawing of a designer BSWANKY handbag valued at $2,200.
Purchase prize draw tickets for your chance to win at $50 and register for free to bid on all listed bags. We can’t wait for you to join us for this stylish send-off!
Register for free
- Register to bid for free
- Anyone who places a bid will have access to the live, virtual closing tour with Ilene Wood. Learn about what is up next for PURSEonality!
- Tickets to enter the Prize Draw for designer, BSWANKY bag are $50 each.
BSWANKY Designer Handbag Prize Drawing
The drawing is now closed.
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites would like to thank BSWANKY for generously donating one of their beautiful handbags to be a part of our prize drawing. BSWANKY, founded by Gretchen Bauer, crafts handbags in the U.S.A out of their own Sarasota, Florida-based atelier. BSWANKY was born on the principle of uplifting women in the U.S. garment industry, and are committed to not only their employees, but designing the perfect bag for their clients as well.
Inspired by the elegant vintage glamour of cosmopolitan life in cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Milan, this bag brings the party back from the past. Made of fabulous rare screen-printed hide and finished with gator-embossed leather trim and our iconic nickel hardware, only 1 of these one of a kind hand bags can be made! This charismatic and chic handbag has timeless appeal, but won’t be around for long!
- Can be worn as a shoulder bag or a backpack
- Fits a tablet, continental wallet, 500mL water bottle all at once!
- Bag measures 12″ w X 10.5″ h X 5″ d, strap measures 28″ l X 1″ w (includes closure)
- Weight: 2.5 lbs
- Interior hook closure for added security
- Front nickel closure opens to expand the bag
- Two D-ring attachments to wear in backpack form
- Large interior with one zip closure pocket, one open pocket, pen pocket and interior clip key holder
- Convenient swivel snap closures hook onto exquisite grommet details
- Four purse feet to protect base of bag
PURSEonality is on the move!
PURSEonality: A Stylish Handbag History travelled to Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL for display from September 15, 2020 – January 15, 2021!
Over 250 bags were safely packed up for the transfer, pictured to the right. Some photos from the display in Florida are below!
Want to see Ilene Hochberg Wood’s incredible collection where you live or work? Reach out to Lindsey Jancay to find out more! This travelling exhibition can be customized to fit the needs and mission of your museum space.
Bag Lunch Video Series
Enjoy Bag Lunch, a weekday lunchtime look into Ilene Hochberg Wood’s expansive collection with the collector herself! Each episode explores a different selection of bags or particular designer.
About Ilene Hochberg Wood
“Women love handbags. They are totems, and objects of desire, that convey who we are and what we hold dear, both literally and figuratively. Look at any woman and the bag she carries, and you learn a lot about her, and the image she wants to convey to the world. Empty the bag out and examine its contents, to learn who she really is inside, and what she finds essential to her everyday existence.
I am interested in fashion, and the artistry and history of purses. I am drawn to bags that convey a story about their past, and the women who originally owned them. I appreciate originality, humor, bold statements, and details that give insight into the women who chose to carry them.
My collection is comprised of many categories. ‘It Bags’, evening bags, needlepoint bags, wooden bags, box bags, tramp art bags, and bags that signify their time and era, from the Victorian period through the jazz age, war years, and the ’50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today’.”
~Ilene Hochberg Wood
PURSEonality in the News
Tickets
Free
