There were three main types of questions that arose from the analysis of the brush sets: questions of class, sexuality, function, and meaning.

Questions of class:

Mid-Victorian hairstyle (DeCourtais 125)

Is there a link between class and thickness of the bristles? Did a thicker bristle create more shiny hair? How does the brush function as a private tool, which creates a public personal? How do hidden/domestic sphere practices of hair brushing act to reinforce class differentiation? How did motifs on the hairbrush serve to naturalise the purposeful act of class differentiation?

Questions of sexuality: How strong is the link between the everyday hair brushing of Victorian women and the fairytales, sayings, and myths that connect women's identity to their hair? Why does the design of the hairbrush incorporate domestic sphere and private sphere iconography and whore and angel iconography?

Questions of function: What is the difference between the function of a comb and the function of a Victorian lady's brush? How are Victorian lady's brushes different from today's brushes?

Questions of meaning: At what moment in a girl's life was she given a hairbrush and why? How did this moment of transfer change as the brushes were passed down and what does this say about important life changes? When and why do brush sets become family heirlooms? As heirlooms how does the meaning of the brush change? How does the meaning of the heirloom change when passed matrilineally and patrilineally?

Narrowing the topic

For next term's research project, the researcher plans to focus solely on hairbrushes. The first two sets of questions, those of class and of sexuality, will be the major focus of second term research. The study of the middle, and upper middle class brush sets will prove useful for the second term project. These combined with the study of the upper class Japanese ivory set will be the main focus of the study.

Class emulation and class distinction as portrayed through hair and hair brushing will be the major topics discussed in the second term paper. In order to establish the 'chase and flight,' 'trickle down,' or 'naturalization' of class distinction through hair, the researcher will study the iconography of the brushes themselves, fairytales involving hair, women's advice books about hair, and advertisement depictions of brushes. This research will indicate what types of information women received about how their hair was an identifier of sexuality and class. The researcher will question whether the information from each medium gave the same message, and how and why these messages may have differed depending on the medium. Did one medium, create an equation between sexuality, class and hair, where other mediums only suggested there may be a connection?

Mid-Victorian hairstyle (DeCourtais 125)

Tentative Thesis

Victorians believed that there were links between class, sexuality and hair type. Some saw this link as an equation; others believed it to be a tentative hypothesis. In either case, the class and sexuality distinctions that depended on hair were not natural; rather, they had to be policed by popular myths, advertisements, and advice books. Furthermore, the 'natural' hairdo that reinforced the identity of the upper class woman as superior and sexually pure was maintained with constant grooming and attention. Since women prepared themselves in the private sphere, this beauty work was hidden and portrayed as a natural element of class and sexuality when women appeared in public.

Possible Primary Sources

The researcher has not yet used the Wellesley Index, an index of primary Victorian sources, or the Nineteenth Century Index, an index of primary sources from the British Library, but plans to use these sources in the second term. The primary sources found to date are as follows:

Advertisements

For advertisements of vanity sets and electric brushes see 1890s The Graphic, and Illustrated London News especially around Christmas.

Montgomery Ward Catalogue (see 1895 for the sale of celluloid combs).

Eaton's Catalogue (for brushes bought by Victorian Canadians)

Mid-Victorian hairstyle (DeCourtais 125)

Fairytales and Victorian opinions of hair

Ovid. The Erotic Poems. (see p. 182 and 95)

Honore de Balzac. "Autre Etude de Femme." Les Secrets de la Princess de Cadignan et Autre Etudes de Femme. Paris: Gallimard, 1980. (see for story of hair embroidered handkerchief)

Yaeger, Lynn. "Hair Jewelry." The Village Voice, 28 March 1889. (see page 41)

Proust, Marcel. Remembrance of Things Past. New York: Random House, 1934. (see for story of aristocracy using natural hair metaphors)

See paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti for hair symbolism.

Nessler, Charles. The Story of Hair. New York: Bino and Liveright, 1928

Rowland, Alexander. The Human Hair. London: Piper Bros., 1853

Rowlandson, Thomas. Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders. London: S. Leigh, 1820.

Sparrow, Walter Shaw. "Hisute Adornments and their Lore," Magazine of Art, 1902.

Speight, Alexanna. The Lock of Hair. London, 1871, 1872. (see pg 71)

Ellis, Havelock. Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Volume 5 Erotic Symbolism. (see pg 74, 194 for nineteenth century sexologist's view of hair and sexuality)

Advice books

Samuel and Sarah Adams. The Complete Servant; Being a Practical Guide to the Peculiar Duties and Business of All Domestic Servants. London, 1825. (See list on page 5-7 which describes servants from lavish estates, none are hairstylists in their own right. Recipes for hair are given on pg 162-164, 168, 170-171, and 241 which shows that servants did their master's hair, valets in particular.)

Mid-Victorian hairstyle (DeCourtais 125)

Child, Theodore. Wimples and Crisp Pins: Being Studies in the Coiffure Studies in the Coiffure and Ornaments of Women. New York: Harper Bros., 1985.

Lafoy, John B. The Complete Coiffeur. New York: Privately Published, 1817.

Halford, William, and Charles Young. The Jewellers Book of Patterns in Hairwork. London, 1864.

Godey's Lady's Book, 1860.

Art of Beauty. Edited by 'Isobel', London: C.A. Pearson, 1899.

Campbell, Mark. Self Instructor in the Art of Hair Work. New York and Chicago: M. Campbell, 1867.

Habits of Good Society: A Handbook of Etiquette for Ladies and Gentlemen. London: J. Hogg and Sons, 1859.

How to Arrange the Hair. by one of the Ladies' Committee of Almanacs London: Partridge, 1857.

Lafoy, John B. The Complete Coiffeur. New York, 1817.

A Cavalry Officer. The Whole Art of Dress. London: London: E. Wilson, 1830.

Wilson, Erasmus. "A Popular Treatise on the Skin and Hair," Westminster Review, 1854.

Wilcox, R. Turner. The Mode in Hats and Headdress. New York and London: Scribner's, 1959

Other possible sources

Look for comics about women's hair in Punch.

Young, Sidney. Annals of the Barber-Surgeons. London: J.C. Hotten, 1876

Journal de la Coiffure.

La Mode Illustrée.

British Census (to find out how many hair stylists there were, to find out when the profession boomed)

Barber's Journal.

Lady's Pictorial.

Stages for work in the next term

January:

Mid-Victorian hairstyle (DeCourtais 125)

Comprehensive notes will be taken on the relevant secondary sources. The social meaning of hair is the most relevant category for this element of the assignment. A methodological analysis of the ivory hair bruses will be done. The middle, upper middle, and upper class brushes will be compared and draw conclusions about differences and similarities will be drawn that may affect the tentative thesis. As books come in through inter library loan the annotations on this website will be updated.

February: More primary sources will be found through the Wellesley Index and Nineteenth Century Index. The researcher will find out if the University Library System has the primary sources that are needed. Other relevant books will be gotten through the inter library loan office. Primary research will be done during this month. At the end of the month a review of the primary and secondary research will be undertaken. The researcher will ask what new questions have arisen? How do these new questions affect the tentative thesis?

March: The researcher plans to continue primary research according to the revised thesis statement. She will be sure to pursue mainly the areas of interest that have not been fully developed. At the end of the month a plan will be written outlining the final assignment. A navigational plan will de developed for the final website. The researcher will think about how the website and written assignment will differ in content, style, and analysis from one another.