Hair Locket

[Jodi Evans, Registrar State Historical Society of Iowa ] This artifact is a gold locket. It has two black stones, front and back, and the front stone is engraved with an intaglio, which is a reverse relief image of a female head. We don't know when the locket was made, but we know that the hair was collected from George Washington and Anthony Wayne in 1775.

[Narrator] Long before photos and selfies, it was common for people to save clippings of their loved ones and heroes’ hair as small but powerful keepsakes.

[Evans] Keeping hair locks was a common form of remembrance, particularly for family members, but also for important figures like General George Washington.

Hair lockets were the first method of keeping hair, but after that, hair work became much more elaborate, being woven into bracelets and necklaces and earrings and things like that, not behind a piece of glass in a locket, but also just by itself. Braided hair watch fobs are very, very common.

[Narrator] This gold locket containing locks of hair from General George Washington and General Anthony Wayne is an artifact that has been living here in Iowa for a very long time.

[Evans] The locket was given to the State historical society in 1897, and it passed down through the Delany family of Philadelphia. The family story says that one evening, General George Washington and General Anthony Wayne were in the home of a Philadelphia druggist named Sharp Delany. Delany's daughter Mary asked very politely for General Washington's hair, which he complied. And not to be outdone, Anthony Wayne jumped up and said, here's a lock of my hair, too.

And then the locket passed down through the family into the Rag family. They were the family who donated it in 1897, and they were prominent horticulturalists here in Iowa.

[Narrator] George Washington is one of the most significant and recognized men in America's history. But Anthony Wayne might not be as much of a household name. Anthony Wayne was a bold and energetic general in the Revolutionary War. His correspondence with George Washington shows a relationship built on trust. Known for his intense style, earning him the nickname Mad Anthony, Wayne was often chosen by Washington to take on the toughest and most dangerous missions. So it's not surprising that the two men would have been together visiting the Delany family on the night Mary asked for hair locks.

[Evans] There are at least 50 examples of Washington's hair preserved at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia. Other types of remembrances, particularly hair from other prominent figures, come up at auction fairly regularly.

But as far as Washington's hair is concerned, most of them are at Mount Vernon.

[Narrator] While it's far less common today, some people still preserve memories with a lock of hair, though it's usually kept quietly in a scrapbook or baby book rather than displayed or worn.

It's been 250 years since George Washington surrendered a lock of his hair while visiting the Delany household. When young Mary asked for it, she likely saw a hero. But she could not have imagined that this same man would become the father of our country, or that her tiny keepsake would one day be treasured in a place not yet even a state, Iowa.

[Evans] This locket is a tangible remembrance of a time, a very important time in American history, and it also humanizes two larger than life figures from that time.