Detangling Hairwork: A Study of Victorian Mourning Practices

• Author / Creator

  Carr, Emma R.

• During the Victorian Era, it was common for women to use hair from loved ones to create intricate pieces of jewelry and art, particularly for mourning mementos. This thesis endeavoured to answer the research question: “What can an object analysis of a nineteenth-century mourning hair jewelry piece tell us about Victorian mourning practices?” through an object analysis of a hair bracelet located in the Anne Lambert Clothing and Textiles Collection (ALCTC). I used Ingrid Mida and Alexandra Kim’s object-based research methodology and drew on three artifacts in external collections and three primary text sources: Godey’s Lady’s Book from 1830 to 1890, Mark Campbell’s 1867 Self-Instruction in the Art of Hair Work, Dressing Hair, Making Curls, Switches, Braids, and Hair Jewelry of Every Description, and Alexandra Speight’s 1871 The Lock of Hair: Its History, Ancient and Modern, Natural and Artistic. The ALCTC hair bracelet analysis produced a number of conclusions: the object was handmade, its structure lends itself to frequent use, based on other jewelry surveyed and the plaiting techniques, the bracelet was likely made and worn between 1849 and 1863, and it was worn as a mourning or fashion piece. The popularity of mourning jewelry led to an industry of makers who specialized in hairwork and contributed to mourning jewelry evolving into a fashion object. Hair bracelets were considered a second or half mourning custom in 1849 to 1850 but merged into fashionable attire by 1858. Hair bracelets began waning in popularity in 1863, and, by 1871, hair jewelry was being advertised primarily as fashionable accessories rather than mourning jewelry. The research question, which was rooted in mourning practices, thus pivoted to suggest a shift in the use of hair jewelry and may suggest that the growth observed in the popularity of hairwork after the 1861 death of Prince Albert could correspond to the rise of hair jewelry as fashion objects.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • hair bracelet
  • hairwork
  • Victorian
  • mourning jewelry
  • object analysis
  • guidebook

• Graduation date

  Fall 2024

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-9v3r-hm68

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Library with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.