Hairpin Pilfering

[Eleanor Rose]

Apparently there was a new craze in 1883 - hairpin pilfering. According to the Harrisburg, PA Telegraph newspaper in October of 1883, "The boys are all gathering hairpins." It seems the fad started off innocently enough with boys asking favored girls for hairpins as keepsakes, but a prominent Harrisburg gentleman told the newspaper, "But now the idea is to get them without the girl's knowing what you are about. I know fellows who have followed a girl for squares just because a hairpin was sticking out and looked as if it meant to drop soon."

The object of hairpin pilfering was to acquire as many hairpins as possible. Upon acquiring them, the boys placed the hairpins in scrapbooks. The Harrisburg man continued in his interview, "They get scrapbooks and push the pins through the leaves like needles. Then a label giving the girl's name if known, style of beauty, descriptions of her person and estimated age, with the date of securing the trophy, is written below." One young man was reported to have collected 400 hairpins.

One collection that provides a unique glimpse into this craze is The Scrapbooks Collection – 140 scrapbooks maintained by individual students between 1853 and 1967. Among this collections is a scrapbook compiled by William Belcher Whitney in 1887. William created an entire page of hairpins neatly arranged in the shape of a heart with initials and dates next to each.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Between the ring turning and the hairpin pilfering, there were some crazy and creepy stalking stuff going on in those times - just sayin'!
Did Victorian girls have the equivalent of mace?

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Did Victorian girls have the equivalent of mace?

No, but those hairpins could be used as weapons and in some cases I bet they were.

 

[JOHN42768]

Looks like mental unstableness has been with us for a long time

 

[LittleMac]

That's a, uh, disconcerting collection Mr. Whitney accumulated there. Never heard about this before-- thanks for sharing!