Collections Spotlight: Hair Wreath

Today's entry is written by Museum Assistant Megan Churchwell, who leaves us on Friday to attend museum school in Seattle. Thanks, Megan, and best wishes!

One of the most unusual pieces we have here in the Bush House Museum is a beautiful handcrafted wreath made of human hair. This unique Victorian tradition is an example of the ladies’ crafts done to occupy their leisure time, which was plentiful.

Most Victorian hair crafts took the form of small jewelry items. Pins or bracelets would be made from a family member’s hair as a sign of mourning. These are the most well-known forms of hair art, because Queen Victoria is known to have worn a piece of jewelry made with her husband Prince Albert’s hair every day after his death in 1861. She held great influence over the fashions of this time, and this type of mourning jewelry remained popular through the end of the nineteenth century.

Other examples of hair art would be made of hair saved from the woman’s own hairbrush in a special dresser jar. Our example, a large wreath, is said to incorporate the hair of over 20 of the artist’s relatives, and was created in 1870. Many of these wreaths featured the hair of a recently deceased relative in the center of the horseshoe-shaped wreath for a mourning period lasting up to a year before their hair flower would be moved to become part of the large wreath.

Though most hair art was made as a sign of mourning, they were also made for sentimental reasons. At the same time hair art became popular, young girls were known to have scrapbooks containing their schoolmates’ hair with a name and verse to identify whose hair it was. Sometimes locks of hair would be glued into postcards or valentines and sent as a keepsake.

This lost art is surprisingly beautiful. If you haven’t been to the Bush House Museum to see our example of hair art, it is well worth an up-close look.

If it's July, it must be the Art Fair!

Coming up this weekend, it's the 60th Anniversary of the Salem Art Association's Art Fair and Festival!

The first fair, called the "Art Mart", was held on the lawn of the Marion County Courthouse in August 1950. The event was the brainchild of David Duniway, past president of SAA, and it was described in the President's Report thusly:

"The artists congregated around the Court House grounds, brought their easels for work and had on display their own pictures to sell. The affair was most unique and highly successful and I doubt if a more foreign scene had ever been enacted in Salem. A small sum was netted from the sales."

Financial records indicate that this first Art Mart brought in $24. The event was relocated to the front lawn of the Bush House after SAA moved into the House in 1953.


By the early 1970s, the Festival had grown so large that it was moved to the portion of Bush's Pasture Park south of the Bush Barn Art Center, where it is still held today.

SAA is celebrating the Fair's history by inviting Art Fair aficionados to share your stories of this beloved community event. What's your favorite Art Fair memory? When you come to the Festival this weekend (July 17-19), look for a green flier and share your story with us. Stories will be read from the Main Stage every day, and fliers will be collected and saved for future historians.

For more information on the Art Fair & Festival, visit our website. See you this weekend!

Margaret Ann "Jody" Bush, 1936-2009

Jody Bush, pictured at left ca. 1940, was the great-great granddaughter of Asahel Bush II and the only child of Asahel "Ace" Bush V and his wife Faye. As a child she spent much time visiting her Aunt Sally, and later her great-grandfather, A.N. Bush, at the family home on Mission Street. In recent years she has been a dear friend to the Bush House Museum.

Jody passed away this past Sunday morning, June 14, 2009 after a long illness. The staff of the Bush House Museum and the Salem Art Association offer our condolences to her family. It has been a privilege for us to know her.

The Museum will host a memorial service for Jody in the coming weeks.

Happy Birthday, Asahel Bush!

Today is the 185th anniversary of the birth of Asahel Bush II, builder of the home that became the Bush House Museum. There are several ways to join in the celebration this year!

Mr. Bush's Birthday Party and Open House
Sunday June 7, 1:00 - 4:00 pm
The Museum will be open this Sunday in honor of Mr. Bush's Birthday, with cake, balloons, and self-guided tours.

Bush Entries in the Oregon Encyclopedia
The Oregon Encyclopedia is an online resource where you can learn about the history and culture of Oregon. The Encyclopedia features articles on Asahel Bush II and on the Bush House Museum. Read these entries to learn more about Mr. Bush and the house he built for his family.

Coming Up: Oregon Historical Quarterly
The Summer 2009 issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly includes an article about Asahel Bush II and his role in territorial politics as Oregon became a state. The article was written by Barbara Mahoney, who made use of the Museum's archives in her research. The Summer issue will be sent to Oregon Historical Society members this month, or you can purchase a copy from OHS when it becomes available.

Your Photo Here!
The Bush House Museum and Bush's Pasture Park have been beloved resources for generations of Salem residents. If you have a photograph of yourself or a family member taken in the Park or around the Museum, we invite you to submit it to our upcoming exhibit. Photos will be on display in the Museum through August 9; please visit our website or call us at (503) 363-4714 for more information.

Kid Stuff

At this time of the year, Museum staff and volunteers are kept busy hosting groups of school children from Salem and surrounding towns. While it's always fun to have the kids here, what's even better is receiving thank-you notes from them after their visits.

"I can't believe it, Ashel Bush really built that beautiful house! And ten fireplaces! Oh my gosh! I still have one question, how come Sally and Eugenia shared a room and how come there was only one bed and no foutone?"
-- Amber

"I enjoyed the tour a whole lot! I liked Sally and Euginia's room best! Good luck on that donation box!"
-- Maya

"You are really great at teaching about the Bushes. I have learned as much as you did. It was a big house! All the rooms are fine. Guess what - I saw some cracks."
-- Jayden

"I learned a lot about Bush House and its residents. I thought the bed was really beautiful. But it didn't look too comfertable!"
-- Lauren

"Thank you so much for giving us a tour of Bush House. I learned so much I think my head is going to exploed right off my neck."
-- Wyatt

Before our heads explode with gratitude, we'd like to thank the volunteers who have given tours to a dozen school groups already this year: Jean S., Kathy P., Jane S., and Nadine H. In the words of a fourth grader, "You are awesome!!!"

Worth a Thousand Words?

Here's a great photo to make up for all the entries I haven't written in the past three months:


The photo comes from the Museum's archive. It has a handwritten caption on the back that reads, "The new house in 1878."

Can you imagine the day, about 131 years ago, when Salem's banker, Asahel Bush II, stopped by the studio of one F.A. Smith on Commercial Street and paid him to take a photograph of the new house out at the south end of Church Street? It must have been early spring, before the oak trees leafed out.

Mr. Bush sent copies of this photo (50 cents each!) in letters to his son and daughter who were in college in Massachusetts at the time, and described the location and purpose of each room in the house. He had already asked his daughter Sally to travel to Boston to make the final selection of furniture for the parlor, and you can still see that furniture in the parlor today.

If you look closely, you can see the original configuration of the front of the house, which included a second staircase and a smaller front porch.

Recollections of the Rickreall

We came across a lovely book in our library today, Recollections of the Rickreall, by Harriet Nesmith McArthur. Born in 1851, Harriet was the daughter of James W. Nesmith and his wife Pauline, close friends of the Bush family.

Harriet's little memoir was published in 1930, when she was almost 80 years old, but she recalls vivid moments from her girlhood:

The fashioning of playhouses was a favorite occupation, and the simple construction was an easy matter: a few boards securely fastened to a tree or fence corner, with a fragrant thatch of fir boughs. The edifice was adorned with bits of broken china, glass or quaint bottles. Decrepit cups and jugs minus handles, past their use in the kitchen, were thankfully received. My elder sister was fortunate in having a tiny set of dishes from the Hudson's Bay Company store. Our dolls would make a sad showing by the side of the sophisticated beauties in present day shops, but we loved them, with all their ugliness. We each had a gift of what seemed too wonderful for daily use, dolls that came from San Francisco, and were kept in a Chinese camphor chest covered with leather, painted red, and rarely opened for inspection.

The chest also housed two gold dollars of my sister's, and three of my own. I do not quite grasp the meaning of surplus, deposits or capital that our moneyed institutions now so cheerfully announce to the public, nor were our funds in circulation, but stayed right there in the bank. As a means of barter, trade, cajolery, or gaining unwilling cooperation in some daring scheme, those five gold dollars put modern money in the shade.