15 Dec long-forgotten 1915 woman’s change purse rediscovered long after garrick theater’s demolition in 1960

after sharing objects i discovered in the attic of congress theater (1926) with john vinci the other day, he told me about finding an old coin purse under floorboards of the garrick theater’s upper balcony while salvaging plaster ornament in 1960.

note:the adler & sullivan- designed building – built as the schiller building – was handed a death sentence earlier that year. richard nickel, john vinci, and david norris worked with atlas wrecking to salvage any and all ornament for distribution to interested institutions across the world.  

thankfully john held onto the purse since the time he found it, so i was thrilled to see it person where i closely examined the contents that i then documented in the images below. while small, the leather change purse contained a fair amount of coins dating from the 1880’s. the diminutive purse, coins, and single silver dollar bill remain in great condition, considering age. judging from the dates, the purse was lost by a theatergoer in 1915.