Collections Snapshot: Armadillo Work-Bag
We have some fantastically unusual objects in our Collections. Here is one of them:

Armadillo Work-Bag
Armadillo Work-Bag
(1920-1940)
In the York Castle Museum Costume & Textiles Collection - In Store
The Armadillo is a timid mammal found only in the Americas. They are not an endangered species, and souvenirs are still made from their shells.
This Armadillo work-bag would have been seen as a novelty when it was brought back to this country in the early twentieth century, however today we would be unlikely to welcome it as a gift!
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially after the expansion of the British Empire and improvements in transport, many unusual items from other countries found their way to Britain. Animals were very much to the fore, either as hunting trophies or as novelties like this bag.
The work-bag is a good example of the types of objects that sometimes used to find their way into museum collections, often because no-one knew what else to do with them!






In store, Castle Museum, Military History Collection

