Leila's Hair Museum

Leila's Hair Museum is a museum in Independence, Missouri that displays examples of hair art dating back to the 19th century.

Hair art

Hair art was a form of art that began in the 19th century and flourished in the Victorian era. It was used by people wanting to keep a memento to a loved one before the invention of photography.[1] According to the Minnesota history magazine, hair art originated in England and France and than made its way to the United States. This form of art consisted of necklaces, bracelets, rings, lockets, paintings and medallions embellished with strands of hair.[1]

Founder

Leila Cohoon is a retired cosmetologist teacher living in Independence, Missouri. She was a friend of Ronald Reagan and Oliver North and is a member of the Missouri Board of Cosmetology.[2] Leila owns her own school called the Independence School of Cosmetology.[3] She started collecting hair in 1949 and considers it to be her life work.[2] She was always fascinated with hair as a child and believes it is one of the most unusual part of the human body. She opened the hair museum in 1989 in a small room located in her Cosmetology School.[3] She did this because she was running out of space for the collection of hair art that she had built up over the years. Later, she moved her hair school and museum a few blocks from the old location so as to be able to expand.[4] The new location for the museum consists of several rooms with their walls covered with the hair art from top to bottom .[3]

The collection

Leila’s museum has 500 wreaths and over 2,000 pieces of jewelry which includes locks of hair dating from the 19th century and earlier. Her oldest exhibit is a brooch dated 1680.[5] and many framed items are over a hundred years old. These include one which is an assembly of hair from every member of the chapter of the League of Women Voters and two were made from hair shorn from sisters when they entered a convent.[3] This was one of the first items collected by Leila in 1956. She also has paintings that include the hair of babies who have died. There are also exhibits that include the hair of famous people. Elvis Presley is represented by a framed plaque and there is also hair from George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Aaron Burr, singer Jenny Lind and the first U.S Commanders in Chief.[6] Leila is not fond of collecting the hair of famous people but that does not mean she will not have some on display. The museum is open to the public daily.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Castaneda, Erin (7 August 2009). "Hair art history unlocked". LJWorld. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  2. 1 2 Hendricks, Mike (18 February 2008). "Mike Hendricks: Go ahead, Philly, and try to top this". The Kansas City Star. pp. 1–3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Human Hair Ornaments" (PDF). Minnesota History. Minnesota Historical Society collections. 44/2 (Summer 1974): 70–74.
  4. ↑ Kirby, Doug; Smith, Wilkins. "Leila's Hair Museum". RoadsideAmerica. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  5. ↑ "Leila's Hair Museum". Hairworks. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Rombeck, Terry (9 October 2005). "Museum tangled in history of hair". LJWorld. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  7. ↑ Uhlenbroch, Tom (28 April 2005). "Strand by strand, museum dedicated to collecting hair art". St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO). pp. 1–2.

External links

Coordinates: 39°04′34″N 94°24′48″W / 39.0760503°N 94.4134207°W / 39.0760503; -94.4134207

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