The Hair Receiver ~~~ excerpts taken from Saga of the Sanpitch ~ 1975~~~ by Dorothy Jacobs Buchanan

 

"IN THE GOLDEN, OLDEN GLORY"
Dorothy J. Buchanan
Richfield, Utah
 Saga of the Sanpitch 1975

As an experience in obsolescence, I recently passed a small object
around the room to a group of young married women who were studying Utah
history. Not one of the twenty-one women present had the faintest idea of its name or function, even though a few of them ventured a wild guess or
two. Then I explained that the small crystal dish with a hole in its silver
1id was known as a hair receiver by their grandmothers in the early part of our century. 

After the lady had arranged her coiffure she would place the accumulated combings into the hold and push them down into the dish. Very neat! 

When I was a child and viewed this dish, which always stood on my
mother's dresser, I wondered how those combings could possibly be worth
saving, but mother told me that switches, or hair pieces and braids, could be made from them, as they perfectly matched the owner's hair. 

Every dresser set or "toilet set" of those times consisted of a hand mirror, a comb and brush, a powder dish and a hair receiver. It was standard equip- ment.

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 The following comes from our blog January 2009
 

Porcelain Hair Receiver Many of Early Mt. Pleasant Women made hair wreaths to adorn the walls of their homes. It was a common way to preserve a memory such as we do today by saving the first locks trimmed from a baby's head. During the Victorian Era, 1835 - 1900, this practice was very popular. Long before photography was invented and before portraits were within affordability for the majority of people, it was a common practice to make keepsakes made from the hair of family members, loved ones and friends. 

Since pioneer women wore their hair long, it only required a few strands to supply the amount needed to make a wreath. As women brushed thir hair they collected their hair in what is known as a "hair receiver". Hair receivers were most often very ornate porcelain pieces in the form of a jar and lid. A hole was molded in the lid. After brushing their hair, the women would remove the hair from the brush and place it throught the opening of the receiver for storage. Once enough hair had been accumulated, it could be used to make not only hair wreaths, but also bracelets, watch chains, necklaces, rings and even ear rings. Today Hair Art is highly collectable, and there are hair art socieies that preserve the history and promote this very interesting type of artwork.

 The Mt. Pleasant Relic Home is fortunate to have three hair wreaths, two of which have been beautifully framed and enclosed for safe keeping so that many generations in the future can learn of this very curious and historical art. One wreath represents the Farnworth Family.   Hair from the George Farnworth Family was used to make this Human Hair Wreath by Violet, a daughter. Violet was the mother of Elva Mills DeCamp and wife of Dr. E.G. Mills, an Mt. Pleasant Eye Doctor. All the blonde hair in the wreath was Elva’s. George Farnworth was the Tithing Clerk in Mt. Pleasant for many years and was also one of the original Mt. Pleasant Pioneers.