March Artifact of the Month:
Victorian Hair Corsage

SHS1976.22.28 – Gift of Jane, Ruth, and Mary Ann Lemm

Written by Julia Cronin, Curator of Collections & Exhibits

March 3, 2023

Sentimental? Creepy? Somewhere in between? It all depends on your cultural perspective. This hair corsage was made after 1890 out of hair from Louisa (1848 -1939) and Christian (1821 -1906) Lemm’s ten sons. Christian immigrated from Germany in 1848, and Louisa, also of German heritage, was born in Buffalo, New York. They met and married in Chico in 1865. The Lemm Family moved to Shasta County in 1884 and purchased 1,145 acres on North Cow Creek at Salt Creek in what is now Bella Vista. They established a horse and cattle ranch and a stopover for weary travelers on the wagon road that is now Highway 299. The Lemms were a typical hard-working late 19th and early 20th-century ranching and farming family in Northern California. Their home was practical, but they also enjoyed the Victorian styles and décor of the day, including this corsage. 

Saving a family member’s hair, particularly a child’s, is a common practice today. In the museum, we often find hair pressed into family bibles and other donated books. Going a step further and making jewelry and artwork from human hair has been around throughout craftwork history. From the Middle Ages through the early 20th century, memorial hair jewelry was common, with a sharp rise during the late 19th century “Victorian” era when sentimental public symbols of mourning became popular. Unlike many other natural materials, hair has chemical qualities that cause it to last hundreds and even thousands of years, so these pieces survive remarkably well. 

Young women were taught to work with hair in the same way they were taught other needlework skills, and many women began crafting hair in their homes. They learned to make hair bracelets, necklaces, and wreaths. Magazines of the period, such as Godey’s Lady’s Book, offered patterns and starter kits for the consumer. Books of the period, like Mark Campbell's Self-Instructor in the Art of Hair Work, offered full volumes devoted to hairwork and other "fancywork" as predominantly female crafts were known at the time. 

Many wigmakers, who were losing business during the Victorian period with its emphasis on natural hair, turned their skills to elaborate hair art. Hair jewelry for the upper classes was made in cooperation with goldsmiths who produced beautiful pieces. Hair jewelry was so fashionable that commercial makers paid people for their hair! 

Hair art was not just for mourning. People gave each other locks of hair as a token of friendship. This corsage is a celebration of life for Louisa’s sons. We do not know who made the Lemm piece. We know that Louisa taught her granddaughters fine needlework. Did she make this herself? It could be homemade as it is more a piece of fancy needlework using the “Hair Flowers” technique and less a piece of fine jewelry. This piece was probably made after David Lemm’s birth in 1890 and before 1910, as hair art fell out of fashion at the end of the Victorian era. It is, however, regaining popularity, and there are modern sources for learning how to make hair jewelry. Would you make or wear hair jewelry?