Greek embroidery "Folk handicraft" purse; Denison House, Lowell, Mass. branch. A drawstring purse, three sections of plain weave linen, joined by faggoting, top and bottom ecru, middle peach with Greek embroidery in shades of rust and ecru, bottom section has some Greek embroidery and is folded to come to a point with a 7" tassel, top section has four buttonholes, rust color, for twisted cord drawstring, purse is completely lined. It is finished with buttonhole stitching around top, and embroidery over side seam. Worked by Greek women in the Lowell, MA. Branch of Denison House.
Denison House was a settlement house run by women, founded in 1892 as part of the College Settlements Associaiton, a Wellesley College alumni-based group. It was modelled on Jane Addams Hull House, to provide social services and education to local residents, mostly poor, and mostly recent immigrants. An exhibition of handicraft made at Denison House, exhibited at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art in 1917, included "the work of Italian, Syrian, Greek and Armenian craftsmen and craftswomen, in silver, leather, linen, silk embroideries, etc., from old designs copied in part from treasure pieces in palaces, museums and private collections in Europe and America." (cited in Wikipedia)