They can be large or small, shallow or deep and any color of the rainbow. Almost every woman owns one. Purses have traveled through time with women, and “The Purse and the Person: A Century of Women’s Purses” exhibition at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum in downtown Baton Rouge showcases the progression of purses through the decades.Pam Rabalais Vinci, human ecology professor and curator of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum, will guide a tour through the exhibit Sunday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. “[LASM] tells me this has been one of the most, if not the most, popular exhibits they’ve had,” Vinci said. “This is certainly an educational exhibit.”The exhibit displays a selection of 167 purses from the early 20th century Edwardian era through the “Fashionista” era of the ’90s. Spread among the purses are their contents, including make-up compacts, lipstick, cigarettes, fashion magazines, birth control and other purse essentials. “When I look at the purse … and when I look at the contents, I see the era,” Vinci said. “[During the tour], I’m going to move chronologically from the Edwardian turn-of-the-century female’s purse and contents to the turn of the 21st century and point out aspects of purse design as well as … how [the contents] relate to women’s history.”Vinci said LASM asked her to speak at the exhibit. She said she will point out how purses and their contents relate to social, technological and political changes of the time; for example, the plastic purses of the ’50s showcase the history of technology while the size of purses in the 1980s represented a social change in which women re-entered the work force but also managed their children and home at the same time.Kami Savoie, general studies senior, said she carries her wallet, money, hand sanitizer, body spray, glasses and a book in her purse. She said purses represent the added expectations females have.”[Purses] have a lot to do with gender roles,” said Savoie. “Women are expected to look and smell a certain way, so they’ll carry perfume with them. It has a lot to do with physical appearance.”Vinci said designers began to label their designs in the ’70s, and the trend blossomed in the ’80s and ’90s.”Initially [designer purses] became popular because women could afford them,” Vinci said. “They were working and had expendable income to be able to afford designer logos.” Vinci said designer labels, such as the Louis Vuitton signature monogram canvas design, have been around for 100 years and won’t lose their popularity anytime soon. Andrea Drobish carries her Marc Jacobs purse around campus. She said she likes subtle designer labels and doesn’t like people who flaunt their designer bags to show their social status.”A label doesn’t say who you are as a person,” said Drobish, business management sophomore.The purses are from the private collection of Anita Davis. Davis is from Little Rock, Ark., and has collected purses for more than a decade.Elizabeth Tadie, LASM marketing director, said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille, LASM policy wouldn’t allow her to provide the values or purchase prices of the purses displayed as a security measure for the owner and the museum.While the downstairs portion of the exhibit travels through the eras, the upstairs area showcases more unusual purses, including travel bags and purses made of unique materials, such as gum wrappers.The exhibit ends Sept. 13. The lecture is free and open to the public. —–Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]