My bag collection
It’s an understatement to say that I like bags. This is only part of my collection. I finally bought the coat rack as way to keep them organized, and I keep this coat rack in my office next to my desk.
I know nobody needs this many bags, but I love them all. I blame it on genetics. My mother also loves bags. While, of course, I buy bags even when I’m not on a trip, I often buy a bag when I’m on a trip. My justification for this is that as I like big bags, I can use it as an additional piece of luggage to bring things back. But, I will admit that’s a flimsy justification because I always pack a folding duffel bag just for that purpose.
I don’t remember exactly when it was I first started buying a bag as a souvenir, probably the first time was practical, but I’ve kept the practice up for many, many years. What I love about them is that it’s a way to keep my travels with me in my everyday life. I can go off to do an interview, packing my notebook and other items into a large leather tote I bought in Old Town Krakow’s Sukiennice so long ago I can’t quite remember when I got it. A canvas tote bag, silk-screened with the name of a gallery in Tallin, Estonia, always reminds me of that trip, a trip to the Baltics in February, when it was bone cold, and as we walked around the city, we kept ducking into shops, cafes, and galleries to keep warm.
One of my favorites is a bag made from old kilim saddlebags that I purchased in Urgup, Turkey. Its strap is just made from twined colored rope. I have bicycle panniers purchased in Amsterdam, a grocery store shopping bag from the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. It’s made of orange cotton, has leather handles, and a silkscreened designs making a border at the bottom. Although its embroidery is starting to fray a bit, I never carry my embroidered leather bag found in an out-of-the-way stall in Jaiselmer, India, more than 20 years ago without thinking about how close we came to not visiting that city, and how glad I was that our plans changed and we did.
And, of course, one of my favorite museums is the handbag museum in Amsterdam.
Hooray! Amsterdam’s handbag museum
I’m happy to report that the bag love has extended to the next generation. On a family trip to Paris almost six years ago, I asked Ruby what she’d like to buy as one of her trip souvenirs. “I think I’d like to get a bag,” she said. What a proud moment!
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letizia said:
I love that your passion has been passed down to a new generation; that’s so sweet!
suth2 said:
I had no idea that there was a bag museum somewhere in the world. When you think about how important a bag can be it is logical that there would be a museum.
You have a wonderful collection of memories in your bags. I own four bags. I will need to remedy that situation on our next travels.:-)
djdfr said:
Even without buying any, they seem to accumulate. It can be fun to give a friend something in a bag from a certain store.
Anita Mac said:
What a great way to store your bags! I created a shelf in my office, but they get piled on top of eachother and some get forgotten! While it is fun to find my bags each time I do a cupboard clean up…your system rocks! Well done.
kimber1y said:
Cool post.
megtraveling said:
I also have a large collection of purses and tote bags, and I always bring some back from my trips as “souvenirs”!
mrscarmichael said:
In my youth I actually accepted a job so I could go back to Melbourne (at another’s expense) and buy an Italian handbag I had trembled over when I was on holiday with my mother a fortnight earlier.
jingsandthings said:
I can totally understand your obsession. My father was a cloth buyer (his mother worked in her fathers’s and grandfather’s tailoring shop) so I grew up with people to whom the quality, feel, composition and design of cloth mattered. I have boxes full of materials, bought with only a vague desire to use them, enjoyed for the colour, the design and the feel.
joanfrankham said:
I know the feeling, just did a tidy up of my bags a few days ago!
Browsing the Atlas said:
I like bags, too. Probably not to the degree you do, but they are hard to resist. My mom and daughter are much worse. I blame my mom: she can’t resist buying them and then later weeds through hers and gives all her old ones to my daughter.
touchystephfeeley said:
Oh my god a PURSE museum?! Also I may have to get a coat rack now.
Mary @ The World Is A Book said:
What a great collection! I like that your souvenirs are practical and useable and bring back memories every time you use them. I’ve bought a few but can’t imagine owning that many purses. I can’t believe I totally missed th purse museum. Another reason to go back to Amsterdam.
Profiteroles & Ponytails said:
Sounds like a very practical way to remember your travels! I like to collect plates and pottery, but I’m running out of room to store them all. The duffel bag that you pack when you travel will be our little secret . . .
ExplatLondon said:
Oh, I had to send this to my daughter. She’s been the family “bag lady” since she was old enough to walk. She used to spend her days emptying out her toy box into a variety of bags and carrying them around. Now that I think of it, she still shows up for a visit with a bag over each arm (and then some!). Looks like we’ll have to plan a field trip to the bag museum in Amsterdam.