The Sacred Hair Wreaths of Mormon Pioneers

When we think of Victorian hair wreaths, we often envision them as the product of middle-class women who had ample leisure time to commit to their fancy work projects, created for display in the cluttered splendor of their refined parlors. However, this narrow view of the Victorian hair wreath ignores their multifaceted history, their dynamic meanings, the diverse environments they inhabited, and, often, the women who created them. Pioneer women across the American frontier also made hair wreaths as they carried domestic traditions into new territories, and the typical image of a velvet-draped parlor gives way to the reality of the unpretentious homes of pioneers at a time when much of the country was still a wilderness. Furthermore, 19th century hair wreaths were also created to be displayed in sacred religious spaces, which came to be particularly significant within Mormon pioneer culture. For Mormon pioneer communities, hair wreaths signified a range of meanings, from simple sentimentality to sophisticated expressions of collective identity, ecclesiastical hierarchy, and beliefs regarding the physical nature of the soul and its eternal restoration.

The tradition of wirework hair flowers finds perhaps its earliest documentation of specific written instructions for the basic techniques used in the art form not in a mass-produced manual or popular women's magazine, but in an 1851 journal entry of pioneer Emily B. Spencer. This is remarkable because the earliest published American primary sources I had previously encountered in my research that include instructions specifically for wirework did not surface in print for more than another decade. For Spencer and her contemporaries, mastering such a meticulous craft in a wilderness setting was not just a way to pass time; it was a physical manifestation of the biblical call from Isaiah 35:1 to “make the desert blossom as a rose.” By choosing to manifest beauty through such delicate and demanding work, Mormon pioneer women transformed the harsh reality of their environment into a space of domestic and spiritual significance.

Portrait of Emily B. Spencer, Mormon pioneer of the American frontier

While some Victorian era family hair wreaths were assembled to depict branching trees, the woven composition of Mormon wreaths frequently depicted the complex, intertwining relationships of their polygamous families. These wreaths functioned as a material collective memory, a tangible representation of the organic nature of sister-wives and their children through the interlocking of their varied locks.

The Manti Temple hair wreath offers a striking example of this symbolism of collectivity. Unlike many hair wreaths where specific flowers are attributed to specific individuals, the Manti wreath features a tight collection of flowers woven from an anonymous mixture of hair from fellow sisters of the local Relief Society. This created a visual sense of a "sisterhood without rank," where the emphasis was placed on the strength of their unified identity rather than on individual distinction. In this light, the wreath stands as a testament to the women’s shared labor and their active role in weaving the social and spiritual fabric of their community.

Manti Relief Society Hair Wreath, c. 1855

Though some hair wreaths created by Mormon pioneer women functioned as mourning objects, hair art was also embedded with specific theological meanings regarding the resurrection. The use of hair from living people within the congregation to create wreaths symbolized a hope for life beyond mortality. This reflected their belief that in the resurrection “even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23). By preserving hair, they were preserving a physical piece of the soul’s eternal journey.

Far from being just a passive domestic pastime, the creation of hair wreaths provided Mormon pioneer women with a tangible form of ecclesiastical agency. Through the intentional beautification of their modest homes and sacred spaces, they moved beyond simple decor to become visual archivists of their communities, translating abstract Mormon doctrines into a permanent material record. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the vast majority of extant 19th-century hair wreaths that remain frustratingly anonymous, Church historians took deliberate care to document the makers and provenance of many of the hair wreaths in their collections of historical artifacts, treating these objects as a foundation for their collective identity that anchored women's labor to the official history of the Church.

Reducing Victorian hair wreaths to a mere 'parlor art' for middle class women ignores the sophisticated role they played in the lives of the many women who created them. For Mormon pioneer women, these wreaths were not solely static decorations created simply to pass the time; they were a resilient medium often used to navigate the upheaval of the American frontier, document intricate family bonds, and anchor a shared spiritual future in a new and promising landscape.

© 2025 Diane Irby. This content may not be copied or distributed without written permission from the author.

To cite this essay:
Irby, Diane. “The Sacred Hair Wreaths of Mormon Pioneers.” Victorian Hairwork by dirby.art (victorianhairwork.art), April 4, 2026. https://www.victorianhairwork.art/journal-research/the-sacred-hair-wreaths-of-mormon-pioneers.

Bibliography
Manti Relief Society. Hair Wreath. c. 1855. Hair, wire, and wood, 35 x 29.25 x 6.5 in. Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Courtesy of the Book of Mormon Art Catalog. https://bookofmormonartcatalog.org/r_h_scripture/hair-wreath/.

Portrait of Emily B. Spencer. Photograph. n.d. FamilySearch, ID KWJ2-3X1. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KWJ2-3X1.

Reeder, Jennifer. “‘To Do Something Extraordinary’: Mormon Women and the Creation of a Usable Past.” PhD diss., George Mason University, 2013.

Spencer, Emily B. “Hair Wreaths.” 1851. In Our Pioneer Heritage, compiled by Kate B. Carter, 2:231–32. Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1959.