Before photography became common, many people in Michigan saved locks of hair to remember loved ones or celebrate important relationships. This episode explores the beautiful art of Victorian hair jewelry and memorial keepsakes, showing how these meaningful traditions reflected love, loss, and remembrance before fading in the early 1900s.
This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan History Moment.
Amy Wagenaar:
Before the advent of photography, many Michiganders relied on drawings and paintings to remember friends and family.
ame on the scene in the early:
It was a tangible and colorful reminder of someone held dear. Death was definitely a reason to keep a lock of someone's hair, but it was not the only reason.
A move to another area meant friends might never see each other again. That is where hair came in to assist.
Whether it was coarse, fine, curly, golden, flaming red, jet black, earthy brown, pure white, or aged gray, hair was a touchable keepsake. And it was a part of oneself that was shareable, transportable, and practically everlasting.
It could also be woven into hair work that could be worn or displayed.
Hair was an extremely fine medium with which to work, but artisans could use it to create intricate earrings, bracelets, watch fobs or chains, cufflinks, brooches, or artwork. Hair wreaths, where delicate flowers made of hair were arranged in circular shapes and placed in shadow boxes, were a favorite of Victorians.
The wreaths could display blossoms of a single person or the lineage of an entire family. Those delicate genealogies were often hung in places of prominence in homes.
Hair work was also used to commemorate an event such as a heroic act, an engagement, a wedding, or a death. And it was death that made it so desirable for Victorians.
With their fondness for the romantic and the sentimental, Victorians adopted hair work as a dramatic remembrance of deceased loved ones. Why? It was partly due to the era's namesake. Queen Victoria's lifetime of mourning for Prince Albert made hair art fashionable and popular.
ut of popularity in the early:
Women, the usual artists, now had other priorities to fill their time. In addition, photography was becoming easier and more accessible, as was travel to see loved ones.
Hair work is rarely practiced today, but but the pieces of hair art can still be seen in museums.
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