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Victorian Era
A commemorative hair and yarn wreath from Wisconsin, ca. 1879.

A commemorative hair and yarn wreath from Wisconsin, ca. 1879.

This decorative object framed on white silk combines two popular handcrafts of the Victorian era. It was made in the 1870s by Margreta Severin Tiedjens in New Holstein, Wisconsin. The outer wreath showcases “yarnwork”—wrapping colored yarn and beads around a wire frame to form leaves and flowers. The inner cluster, tied with a blue ribbon, was made out of blonde and pale brown human hair. Victorians often memorialized the death or absence of a loved one by saving locks of hair, crafting them into jewelry, or incorporating them into a piece of wall art.

Citation Information
Tiedjens, Margreta Severin, “Hair and yarn wreath attributed to Margreta Severin Tiedjens, New Holstein, ca. 1879,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/7746d7498788f92bd9a3707833f787f5.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society via Recollection Wisconsin.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 8 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Victorian Era

Previous ItemNext Item
A photograph of a Victorian home interior in Kenosha, Wisconsin, ca. 1890.
A tortoiseshell calling card case from the mid-nineteenth century.
A chromolithograph print called “Making the Scrap Book,” 1868.
An African American family record chart, 1880.
An excerpt from The Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility, 1859.
A print depicting a Victorian couple in love, 1850s.
A photographic portrait of Queen Victoria.
A commemorative hair and yarn wreath from Wisconsin, ca. 1879.
A post-mortem photograph of Samuel Charles Stowe, son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1849.
A photograph of Victoria Terminus Railway Station in Mumbai (Bombay), India.
An excerpt from the London Exhibition’s “New Crystal Palace Polka,” 1851.
A dedication and poem from Victoria Regia: a Volume of Original Contributions in Poetry and Prose, 1861.
A photograph of the University of Pennsylvania cricket team, 1887.
An advertisement for Dr. Scott’s Electric Corset, 1883.

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