A Century of Handbags at ESSE

ESSE Purse Museum in Little Rock. A century of women's lives told through their handbags.

Spend an unhurried hour at a small museum in Little Rock's SoMa district that tells the story of American women decade by decade through their handbags and what they kept inside them. Read the little stories next to each case, from beaded flapper bags to 80s statement pieces, and see what's in the rotating exhibit. Choose the one bag you'd have carried in each era. Get a photo of your favorite purse and its contents. Afterward, browse the shop or wander South Main for coffee.

• Adventure
• 1-3 hours
• Easy
• $20-60
• Indoors
• Daytime

Photo prompts along the way

1. The oldest bag you can find
2. The bag from the decade you were born
3. Your favorite purse and what was inside it

Checked November 2026

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