Spring 2016 - White River Valley Museum

a newsletter of the white river valley museum
April 2016
Featured History
What’s Happening?
Things To Do
From the Back Room
Good News!
Page 1, 4
Small Bags for
Big Events
Page 2
Caring for Family
Treasures
Page 3
Bookmarks &
Landmarks
Page 10
Oldest Newspapers
Now Online
Page 11
Vitally Valuable
Volunteers
FEATURED HISTORY
Small Bags for Big Events:
100 Years of Pretty Purses
An Exhibit
and Article by
Guest Curator Kate Slaminko
On display through June 19, Small Bags for Big Events
is a display of 150 fancy dress bags and purses dating
from the 1860s to the 1960s.
How might one learn about women’s history, experience the
beauty of fabulous design, and enjoy beautiful clothing all at
the same time? Well, by attending our newest exhibit!
Working with the founder of the Seattle Vintage Clothing
and Textile Club, Kate Slaminko, we were able to borrow
fabulous examples of historic evening and special event
purses from a number of privately held collections. When
combined with stellar examples from our own collection,
you get a display of bags ranging from jeweled to satin,
beaded to chainmail, and the gaudy to the divine.
Sculptural, bright red and beautiful, that is how we describe
this purse shown in the new exhibit. It is from the 1950s
and is on loan from Kate Slaminko.
Continued on page 4
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Things To Do
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Things To Do
Small Bags for Big Events
100 Years of Pretty Purses
Evening and special occasion purses on display through June 19!
Don’t miss out on our sparkling exhibit of fancy purses dating from the 1860s
to the 1960s. Guest Curator Kate Slaminko had a hard time selecting only 150
from this museum’s collection and those of regional vintage clothing lovers.
From a small hand-crafted white drawstring bag that was made to carry a
hanky and fan, to a gold brocade clutch in which the increasingly independent woman of the 1950s carried cigarettes, car keys, cash and lipstick, the
purses tell about women’s lives and are just beautiful to behold! We thank
4Culture for sponsoring this exhibit.
Late Play Dates
Preserving Your Family Treasures Protecting Silver and Jewelry
April 23
1 p.m.
Curator of Collections Hilary
Pittenger will share her best tips and
tricks for preserving your family’s
treasures. Bring your questions!
Included in regular Museum admission
or membership, no registration required.
First Thursday of Every Month
Bookmarks & Landmarks
Read the Book, See the History!
May 21, June 18,
and
July 16
10 a.m.
Bookmarks & Landmarks is a new book club event with a local, historic twist. Read one or all of the titles then visit these
historic sites for a program including guest speakers and special tours. Each program will include a group book discussion lead
by a King County Library System librarian. Free, but pre-registration is required.
May 21: Bereiter House
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Guest speakers will include rowing historians, current rowing enthusiasts and a special appearance from Auburn’s own 1952 Olympic bronze medalist for rowing, Al Rossi.
6 - 8 p.m.
Bring the kids to the Museum for themed activities and
crafts perfect for families and community groups with kids
age 3 – 12.
Free, no registration required.
June 18: Mary Olson Farm
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
Farm arborist Robert Sweet will give a tour of the Olson’s century old orchard followed by a special
look at the novel with Green River College professor Dr. Michelle Marshman.
Beaded Purse Workshop
May 14
1-4 p.m.
July 16: Neely Mansion
Looking Like the Enemy by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
Instructor and artist
Teresa Owens will
teach you basic bead
embroidery techniques
to create a fabulous
tiny beaded purse.
Materials and handouts
provided.
$55 per person, registration required.
Author Mary Matsuda Gruenewald and local members of the Japanese American community, who were incarcerated in internment camps during WWII, will recount their
experiences from that time.
This event is sponsored in part by Humanities Washington, the King County Library
System and SoCo Culture.
Register for Museum events online at wrvmuseum.org.
Register for Museum and Farm events online at www.wrvmuseum.org or call 253-288-7439.
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FEATURED HISTORY
Small Bags for Big Events:
100 Years of Pretty Purses
By Kate Slaminko
Continued from page1
It’s Purse-onal!
What makes a bag a purse?
There isn’t much difference between a drawstring bag and a sack. What
makes them different? Mostly, it’s what’s in them. Are you carrying a
lipstick and a few coins? Or turnips? If the items in the bag are personal
and varied—then it is a purse. If all you have is your knitting—it’s a
workbag. If there are just kittens in your little basket, it’s adorable. But if
you have a hanky, a comb and face powder, it is a purse.
Early purses were usually drawstring bags and made of the same fabric
as the dress—that is they were made to match and you had one for
each dress (if you were rich). But the purse had too much potential for
embellishment and soon handbags were being made in a wide range of
materials.
It All Starts With the Pocket
How did women carry around their ‘necessities’ before they had handbags…you can always tuck a hanky into your sleeve, but what about
other things?
Flashy painted gold tone metal mesh bag, made by Whiting
& Davis, c 1910, on loan from Kate Slaminko.
Well, first there were fewer ‘other things.’ No cell phones, no car keys,
no cigarettes or chewing gum. But for what they did need, there were
pockets. Not the kind we think of—sewn into the clothing—but separate from your garment and tied around your waist under your clothes.
If you wanted access to your tied-on pocket, you left an opening in your
skirt so you could reach through. But if security was your prime goal,
you put the pocket on under your petticoats so no one could easily get
to it—including you!
Another Option Was the Chatelaine
Taken from the French word for mistress
of the house, chatelaines attached to
your clothing by pin or clamp, and the
things you needed (keys, pencil, tablet,
thimble, etc.) hung down on chains. Chatelaines came and went in fashion and
eventually became symbolic of the wellorganized housekeeper often seen with
the household keys hanging from her belt.
Or Miser’s Bags
One of the oldest styles of purse are
miser’s bags. They were usually knitted
or crocheted in a tube shape. The central
slit allows access inside the tube which is
opened or closed by a slide of the rings.
The beaded decoration—frequently
metal—kept the rings from slipping off
the tube. Women crafted the two ends
differently so they could tell them apart
by touch, or without looking. Small miser’s bags were usually just coin purses,
but larger ones could hold many things.
Very long miser’s bags were looped over
the belt to hang outside your clothing.
Miser’s bags were gender-neutral. Dark
colored bags are usually thought to be
men’s, perhaps thoughtful gifts from their
wives, daughters or sweethearts.
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253-288-7433
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Loving Hands at Home
Purse-craft was considered an acceptable occupation
for a well-brought up young lady—instructions and
materials abounded and are on display throughout
the exhibit. Knit, crochet, tat, embroidery, bead work
(both mesh and woven,) macramé, and needlepoint
are all ways that women created something beautiful
and useful in the form of a purse!
Throughout this exhibit are displayed ads and articles
from period magazines housed in the Museum’s
archives. Most women’s magazines from the 1880s
through the 1930s feature articles showing how to
make a bag or purse, not to different from today’s
how-to needlework magazines.
Early Purses Fabric Only, Please!
Purses as we think of them have been around since
the early 1800s, but they hit the mainstream because
of a different fashion trend—the hoop skirt. The large
round skirt (usually supported by a stiff structure)
made pockets, and anything in them, show. A fashion
faux pas! So women switched to the exterior handbag.
Just like today, women’s magazines of the nineteen teens and twenties
tantalized women with the newest fashions. Unlike today however, most
historic women’s magazines included instructions for making those items.
Fashions in years following the hoop skirt era were
not very pocket-friendly, but the final death knell
came not from dress fashion but from “face painting.”
The rise in the use of cosmetics and the simultaneous
skimpiness of dresses in the 1920s fueled an already
booming market in purses. Beaded chiffon just can’t
hide any sort of pocket. The clinging bias cut of the
1930s would have shown every lump. And while the
styles of the 1940s could and did include pockets,
rationing limited their size and number. But along the
way, what a woman carried with her when she exited
her home had increased to the point that pockets
just didn’t do the job anymore. Besides the handkerchief and a comb there were keys and cosmetics,
mints and money, ration books and cigarettes, which
need matches or a lighter as well, and oh my, the list
goes on!
Ordinary People, Extraordinary History
6
Pioneer of the (Leather) Handbag
In 1841 Samuel Parkinson, a wealthy English candy maker,
ordered a set of traveling cases and trunks from London-based
trunk maker H.J. Cave, and insisted on a traveling case or bag
for his wife’s ‘particulars.’ Parkinson noticed his wife’s purse was
too small and made from material that would not withstand any
sort of journey. He stipulated a variety of handbags be made
for his wife, varying in size for different occasions, and asked that
they be made from the same leather that was being used for his
cases and trunks.
Cave obliged and produced the first modern set of luxury
handbags including a clutch and a tote (named a ‘ladies traveling
case’). These very items are now on display in the Museum of
Bags and Purses in Amsterdam. Cave did continue to sell and
advertise the handbags, but many critics said that women did
not need them and that bags of such size and heavy material
would ‘break the backs of ladies.’ Consequently, Mr. Cave ceased
promoting the bags after 1865, concentrating on trunks instead.
WWI Affects Purse Design
Like many other things, war changed purses.
From creative solutions needed due to rationing
rules to the ideas and goods returning soldiers
brought with them, not to mention advances in
technology spurred by war needs, we see change
after conflict, especially foreign conflict.
Soldiers returning from WWI brought homebeaded bags made in France, although sometimes made meant assembled. This fueled an
already flourishing fascination with beaded
purses, and the 1920s saw more designs and
more variety than earlier decades. WWII brought
rationing and many a woman turned to her crochet hook or knitting needles to ‘make do.’ After
that, WWII plastics proliferated and of course got
“made” into purses. Even the protest against war
had an effect. As the hippies campaigned against
involvement in Vietnam, they returned to nature
and resurrected the craft of knotting string to
make macramé bags.
Whiting & Davis, 1876 to Today
Pretty Purses Made of Metal Mesh
The story began in 1876 when three men William H. Wade, Edward P. Davis and Louis
Heckman - shook hands and founded a silversmith company known at the time as Wade,
Davis & Co. They opened doors in August of that
year and debuted with a collection of sterling
silver jewelry and popular designs of the Late Victorian era, including stickpins, bracelets, earrings
and bar pins.
A handmade drawstring bag of exquisite ingenuity! Blue handwork
embellished with pearls, c 1920, on loan from J Weiss.
In 1880, an office and errand boy by the name of
Charles A. Whiting was hired for 9 cents an hour.
Within a short ten-year span, he progressed
through the ranks, serving as artisan, salesman
foreman, and by 1890 was serving as the company representative for the New York office.
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One ingenious Renaissance man put the family fortune—
in the form of gemstones—into his codpiece (a pouch
worn in front of the crotch by men of fashion) to keep
them safe, giving rise to the phrase ‘family jewels.’ Wallets were also in use by men, but they were not what we
think of today – early ones pre-date paper money and
looked like large, folding leather envelopes. They served
the same function as the friar’s tote but without a strap.
The Twenties brought in Art Deco and geometric
designs. Whiting & Davis began stenciling applied patterns to create colorful patterns on the mesh handbags.
In the late 20s the company joined forces with Paul
Poiret, a French couturier well-known throughout the
Twenties and Thirties, to create a Parisian-style collection
of handbags. The collection was introduced through a
dramatic full-page ad in The Jewelers Circular, announcing
the colorful, painted handbags featuring Dresden, flat and
Beadlite mesh. The handbags featured Art Deco frames
and were lined with a structured silk fabric, giving them a
more pouch-like shape.
In 1937, Whiting & Davis teamed up with Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli to create a collection of
daytime and evening handbags. The styles were pouchshaped finely crafted in flat and Beadlite mesh, featuring
rhinestone clasps with finishes in gold, studded silver and
iridescent pearl white.
The name Whiting & Davis is synonymous with beautifully made metal
chainmail bags crafted from the 1890s through to today.
In 1892, Charles Whiting wove by hand the first Whiting
& Davis handbag, transforming the ancient art of chainmail into an exquisite fabric. The small purse was crafted
in plated ring mesh, roughly three inches square and
featured a delicate twist closure and a simple leaf motif
on the frame. By 1896, Charles Whiting partnered with
Edward Davis and the name Whiting & Davis was born.
Until 1909, ring mesh was crafted entirely by hand,
the technique was very slow and laborious. By 1912,
Charles Whiting improved the factory’s efficiency by
introducing automatic machines for making mesh. At the
speed of 400 rings per minute, these machines were
able to perform the cutting, splitting and joining - all
tasks formerly done by hand. The increase in production made the bags less expensive and sales increased.
During World War II, Whiting & Davis experienced the
shortage of brass and aluminum and as a result, shifted
the focus from designing metal mesh jewelry and accessories to assist with the war effort. Whiting & Davis also
produced mesh for Navy seamen to throw overboard
and divert enemy sonar systems. Throughout that time,
the Whiting & Davis also created jobs in the country by
designing promotional dainty mesh handbags for 25 cents
through Home Journal magazine.
Transitioning into the Fifties, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower was spotted carrying a Whiting & Davis mesh handbag
- a sight not all uncommon after Charles Whiting began a
tradition of gifting a handbag with gold mesh and exquisite diamonds to every president’s wife. Whiting and
Davis bags are still being sold today.
[It should be noted that much of the information on
Whiting and Davis was taken from their company
website which is still selling pretty purses to the modern
world at www.whitinganddaviscollection.com.]
Ordinary People, Extraordinary History
8
The fashionable woman of the early 1950s embraced the New Look
which emphasized a small waistline and flaring hemline, and was
completed by high heels and a clutch bag.
Rationing During WWII
Leather was rationed during WWII and while this had
the greatest effect on the manufacture of shoes, purses
were not immune to a decreased supply. There was also
a patriotic sentiment against conspicuous consumption,
and as shoes were sometimes replaced by fabric and
cord espadrilles, fabric also replaced leather for purses—
cord thread, and fabric all got pulled into war-time duty,
making purses during this era simple and often highly
functional—even evening bags.
The most purse-like of male accessories is the Sporran.
Still part of the traditional Scottish Highland dress, the
Sporran is a leather or leather and fur bag that hangs
from the belt in front of the kilt, and while it may have
held a coin or two and nowadays probably has his cell
phone, traditionally the most common item in a man’s
Sporran is…a sandwich.
In closing, we wish to thank Kate Slaminko for this
trip into the world of vintage fashion, the lenders
for sharing beautiful treasures from their
collections and 4Culture for financially
supporting this exhibit.
Lastly, What About the Men?
Simple male belt pouches—leather circles with holes
punched around the edge for a drawstring—are ancient,
easy to make, and had the advantage of keeping one’s
coins in one place.
But bags in which a man carried things other than just
money have also been in use for a very long time. During
Medieval times scripts (think tote bag) were used by
monks and friars. Besides carrying paper they frequently
held lunch.
This 1960s bag is of bright green fake fur and would have looked
swinging with a pair of Go-Go boots! On loan from the Tacoma
Goodwill Vintage Fashion Program..
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FROM THE BACK ROOM
Good News!
Saving Historical Newspapers
By Curator of Collections Hilary Pittenger
Newspapers are one of the most valuable collections a historical archive can have. For most of
the 19th and 20th centuries, a town’s newspapers
were the focal point of public discourse: they
recorded both the large events in a town’s life and
the small society news, votes, debates, business fortunes, births, deaths, and anything else of note that
happened within a certain geographic area. Advertisements in historical newspapers show which
businesses were in town and what kind of services
or goods they were choosing to sell.
They certainly are not a perfect record. Publishers and writers were often biased or completely
incorrect in their reporting, and most historical
newspapers especially failed to fairly report on
news related to people of color and immigrant
communities. However, by comparing newspaper
accounts with other historical documents, researchers can begin to understand these biases
and figure out which statements to take at face
value and which to call into question.
The other problem with historical newspapers is
they were usually printed on very thin, cheap paper. This was great for the budget of the newspaper printers, but bad for newspaper preservation
– this cheap type of paper is highly acidic and very
easily damaged by light, water, and regular handling.
Even with careful preservation, most newsprint
becomes extremely brittle and even disintegrates
after about 100 years.
To prevent our oldest newspapers from crumbling
into unusable dust, the White River Valley Museum
began a project to digitize and preserve our oldest,
most vulnerable newspapers. This project was supported by a grant from 4Culture. Our newspaper
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Our Annual Volunteer Training
in January was a huge success
with many new recruits joining
the veteran volunteers. So
far we have added Marlene
Anderson, Judy Erickson, John
Hewitt, Kathleen Hoppenrath,
Nancy Huber, Linda Keil and
Georgia Kinkade to the roster,
scheduled and ready for
volunteer work, for which we
are very thankful!
collection goes back to 1893, and it includes titles
that document the history of the whole White
River Valley, including Auburn, Kent, Algona, Pacific,
and many of the smaller towns and settlements
that used to lie between them, like Thomas, Christopher, and O’Brien.
Digitizing our newspaper collection has several
benefits, both for the newspapers themselves and
for researchers wishing to access them. The most
important benefit is that the information written
about in the newspapers will now be preserved,
even if the newspapers themselves should suffer
future damage from their inherent acidity. Now
that there are digital versions, we have been able
to pack the newspapers away in long-term storage where they will be handled very little, which
will also prevent unnecessary damage to the actual
papers themselves.
For researchers, this means they can now access
some of our oldest, most in-demand newspapers
right from our website! Not only have the newspapers been scanned so that the original layout and
design of the page is intact, but we have used OCR
(Optical Character Recognition) technology to
make each page fully searchable by keyword. This
will allow museum researchers and staff to make
quick, simple searches of the information in our
newspapers to find references to a person, place,
or event, rather than the painstaking work of going
through each page individually.
Thanks to gift from volunteer
Scott Gibbons you too have
a chance to own a vintage
Hair Tonic bottle (empty)
for only $3.95! Interestingly
this treatment contained
50% alcohol and “promoted
hair growth”! Other vintage
bottles offered in the gift shop
come complete with labels for
Modified Brown Mixture (52%
alcohol,) Aromatic Cascara,
and Medicated Alcohol that
is labeled Poison. Special gifts
abound in the Museum Shop!
Currently, the Museum has digitized issues of The
White River Journal and The Kent Advertiser from
1893 to 1899. To begin your search, visit the White
River Valley Museum website!
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White River Valley Historical Society
918 H Street SE
Auburn, WA 98002
NONPROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
AUBURN, WA
PERMIT NO. 193
253.288.7433
Address service requested
2016
Board Officers
Mike Weibel
 President
Toya Turner
Vice President
Bill Greene
Treasurer
Ronnie Beyersdorf
Secretary
Kim Perry
Past President
Send us your email address to [email protected]
if you wish to receive our monthly e-newsletter, thanks!
Jack Swanson
Muckleshoot Tribal
Representative
Board Members
Jeff Black
Tim Carstens
Ruby Elwood
Dave Larberg
Doug Lein
Joan Mason
Bill Sundqvist
Museum Staff
Patricia Cosgrove
Director
Linda Lester
Bookkeeper Administrative
Assistant
Rachael McAlister
Curator of Education
Ashley Rust
Education Assistant
Hilary Pittenger
Curator
of Collections
Janet Wells
Volunteer and Facilities
Coordinator
White River Journal
is a quarterly
publication of the
White River Valley Museum,
which is
supported in
large part by
City of Auburn.
Rhinestones, OOO! LA LA!
Just shy of 500, that is the number of pieces
of jewelry borrowed for a special showing.
On display to complement a larger exhibit of
evening bags, this grouping of rhinestone jewelry easily outshines all other displays. When
the anonymous lender brought in about 100
pieces, Museum Director Cosgrove realized
that to fill an exhibit case of this size, more
items would be needed. When she said, “Any
chance you can bring us about four times
more?” The collector got a satisfied look and
said, “Why, yes!” Don’t miss seeing them.
White River Journal is edited by Patricia Cosgrove, designed by Jan Hoy Design
White River Valley Museum | 918 H Street SE | Auburn, WA, 98002 | Tel. 253.288.7433 | Fax 253.931.3098 | wrvmuseum.org
Museum Open: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, 6 to 8 p.m. first Thursday and by appointment for group tours and research.
Admission: $2 for children and seniors, $5 for adults. Museum members free. First Thursday and third Sunday free.
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Support