Hair of the Presidents of the United States with other Persons of Distinction, Washington, D.C., 1853
date: label: date made
content: 1853
notes: label: Description
content: John Varden began to collect these locks of hair in 1850. At the time, he was working as keeper of collections for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science at the US Patent Office, but he considered the hair collection to be his personal property.
label: Description
content: Varden presented his first hair display at the Patent Office in 1853, assembled from donations that he personally solicited, purchased, or may have repurposed from existing collections. The presidential locks are now missing from the 1853 collection; Varden moved them to a separate display in 1855. The remaining “Persons of Distinction” include Samuel F. B. Morse, sculptor Clark Mills, Generals Winfield Scott and Sam Houston, Senators Henry Clay and Jefferson Davis, and other luminaries. Varden’s inscription makes a public appeal: “Those having hair of Distinguished Persons, will confere [sic] a Favor by adding to this Collection.”
label: Description
content: The 1855 display features the hair of presidents from George Washington to Franklin Pierce.
label: Description
content: Transfer from the United States Patent Office, 1883
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Souvenir Nation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PL.016157.a
label: accession number
content: 13152
label: catalog number
content: 016157.a
objectType: label: Object Name
content: hair
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall: frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: hair (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 in x 15 in; 55.88 cm x 38.1 cm