Historians and archivists at Mississippi State are announcing the discovery of what they believe to be a historic treasure: a hair lock from the 19th century’s best known African American social reformer.
The artifact was found among items in the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Collection, which is housed at the university’s Mitchell Memorial Library. (For more, visit http://library.msstate.edu/USGrant/.)
While carefully combing through notes made by a Grant biographer more than 60 years ago, the researchers recently came upon a folder regarding abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, an icon of Civil War-era and Reconstruction history.
Also an orator, writer and statesman, Douglass (1818-95) lived during a time when giving a lock of hair as a personal memento was common.
To the added delight of MSU’s Grant Collection historians, the folder also contained a detailed narrative of when and to whom the lock was given, as well as personal accounts of Douglass’s visits and relationships with a group of Indiana Quaker families.