Esse Purse Museum - A Dream Trip in Herstory

I'm so excited to tell you about my incredible trip to the Esse Purse Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas. What a wonderful destination; I highly recommend a visit!

Of only 3 Purse Museums, this is the only one in the United States.

A splendid collection spanning the entire 20th century, there's so much to see. Beautiful displays artistically capture the essence of women through the decades. As if its not enough just to see all these purses collected, they are really the vehicle for exploring the herstory of women.

This is the herstory of the real women, who have been the backbone of the family and society, not limited to celebrities. I greatly appreciate the way this museum brings our women's herstory to life.



The dynamic women who bring us the treasure of Esse are all so creative, friendly and engaging, I know you will enjoy meeting them on your visit.  Here they all are in the captivating gift store. From left, Lara Kahler, Anita Davis (Visionary), Laura Hardy, and Morgan Hill.

Morgan also has a beautiful jewelry line that is featured. Yes, I treated myself to two wonderful purses from the Esse collection, and a wonderful necklace from the Morgan Hill collection.



Owner, collector, and visionary Anita Davis in her beautiful office, which reflects her creativity and artistic appreciation.



This is just the tip of the iceberg of the incredible collection.

This is a different kind of weigh in that's lots of fun.  When you sign the guest book you get to weigh your purse and record the weight.  It's lots of fun to skim through the guest book and see what women are carrying.

The beautiful vision for Esse; a thoughtful tug at your heart.

It's really what's inside that counts, and reveals some of our herstory

Everyday woman on the move

Fascinating!  I have studied about war rationing in England, and am so interested to see the war rationing coupons at the Esse display.

A lovely evening bag, one of many displayed.

I was lucky to be at Esse during a temporary exhibit of vintage hats. Another piece of herstory that I very much enjoyed. 

Here's my favorite purse in the exhibit, although there were many that tied for 2nd place favorites. I hadn't seen a Whiting & Davis before, and it really grabbed me. Can you imagine, this intricate design is on both sides of the beautiful, metallic bag.

Yes, I did buy 2 purses and a pretty necklace, but you'll have to wait for the next blog entry to see the wonderful buys I brought home from the Esse gift shop.  To learn more about Esse, as you plan your own visit, take a look at their web page at http://essepursemuseum.com/

Any of you who have already visited Esse, blog in on what was your favorite purse?