Season 1, Episode 7: The Casket of Hair


 


 

In this episode, we are taking a close look at an artifact known as the casket of hair. Join us as we speak with MHS president Catherine Allgor about this little wooden box displaying the hair of First Lady Dolley Madison and Presidents George Washington, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams. We’ll also learn about the larger collection of hair held at the MHS and explore what is like to encounter hair in the archive.

Episode transcript

Episode Special Guest:

Catherine Allgor is the president of the Massachusetts Historical Society and is the author of Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government (University Press of Virginia, 2000) and A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation (Henry Holt, 2006).

This episode uses materials from:
Psychic by Ketsa (Commercial non-exclusive license through Ketsa)
Curious Nature by Ketsa (Commercial non-exclusive license through Ketsa)
Exlibris by Kosta T (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)

All Episodes

Season 4, Episode 4: Unlocking Winthrop's Tomb
Season 4, Episode 3: "Neither Shall There Be Any More Pain"
Season 4, Episode 2: "In the belfry arch Of the North Church tower"
Season 4, Episode 1: 1154 Boylston Street
Season 3, Bonus Episode: Inside Andersonville
Season 3, Bonus Episode: Eben Horsford's Nordic Nostalgia
Season 3, Episode 8: The Mortal & Everlasting Life of Frederic Augustus James: Enduring Life Behind the Deadline of a Civil War POW Camp
Season 3, Episode 7: Events That Did Not Happen
Season 3, Episode 6: Relics, Part 2: One of a Kind
Season 3, Episode 5: Relics, Part 1: Corporeal Remains
Season 3, Episode 4: Egyptomania and the Art of Egyptian Revival
Season 3, Episode 3: The Branded Hand
Season 3, Episode 2: Gouverneur Morris and the History of Disability
Season 3, Episode 1: “Holding the Atlantic World In His Mouth”: George Washington, an MHS Portrait, and the Culture of Teeth in the 18th Century
Season 2, Episode 9: The Roots of Liberty?: An MHS Mystery
Season 2, Episode 8: Illuminating Illuminated Manuscripts
Season 2, Episode 7: To Live Like John Quincy Adams
Season 2, Episode 6: Stories Told in Wax
Season 2, Episode 5: Small Objects
Season 2, Episode 4: Furnishing Foreign Relations: Benjamin Joy’s Sea Chest
Season 2, Episode 3: Thunderbolt: A World War II Bomber Pilot’s Canine Companion
Season 2, Episode 2: Who Were the Bucks of America?
Season 2, Episode 1: Daniel Webster's New England, Daniel Webster's Union
Season 1, Episode 11: Treasures Within: The Recovered Letters of Margaret Fuller
Season 1, Episode 10: The Letters of Phillis Wheatley
Season 1, Episode 9: The Many Lives of the Lusitania Medal
Season 1, Episode 8: The Ledger Art of Ft. Marion
Season 1, Episode 7: The Casket of Hair
Season 1, Episode 6: A Petition for Rebecca Nurse
Season 1, Episode 5: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the "Lowly Hotdog"
Season 1, Episode 4: A Miniature Portrait of Elizabeth Freeman
Season 1, Episode 3: The Relics of Nora Saltonstall
Season 1, Episode 2: The Lost Sword of the MA 54th
Season 1, Episode 1: A Letter from Paul Revere

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