I was delighted to turn this up poking through a box at Reininger's flea market in Adamstown, PA--an envelop filled with folded up bits of paper, each labeled with a name and year (all 1850s) and each enclosing a small clipping of hair: a few curled into wreaths, a couple just tied with a bow, and one just a small pile of loose hair. Also enclosed are a couple of business cards, and a note to Mrs. McAllister returning some extra tickets. The envelop is labelled Mrs. McAllister and my guess is that the collection of hair samples was hers, just stuffed into an envelope she had lying around. On one of the bits of paper encasing hair she went so far as to note it as clipped on a Tuesday morning! I love a hair wreath album page displaying hair samples carefully braided into wreaths, but this feels more direct and more special somehow, being all about the act and process of collecting them--170+ years ago!
Envelope itself measures 3 3/4" x 2 1/4". All pictured included, with all of the little notes pretty much readable, and all of the bits of paper--and hair!--in good condition.
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