Hope chest
Encyclopedia
A hope chest, dowry chest, cedar chest, or glory box is a chest used to collect items such as clothing and household linen, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life.
The term "hope chest" or "cedar chest" may be used primarily by Midwestern and Southern U.S. women, while "glory box" is used by women in Australia. In the UK the term "bottom drawer" was most commonly used.
was a common coming-of-age rite until approximately the 1950s; it was typically a step on the road to marriage between courting a man and engagement. It wasn't always collected in a special chest, hence the alternative UK term bottom drawer, which refers to putting aside one drawer in a chest of drawers
for collecting the trousseau undisturbed, but such a chest was an acceptable gift for a girl approaching a marriageable age. Such chests may have been inherited from their mother or female relatives. They are still a popular gift from woodworking fathers.
Contents of a "hope chest" or "glory box" included typical dowry
items such as clothing (especially a special dress), table linens, towels, bed linens, quilts and occasionally dishware. As a bride would typically leave home on marriage, hope chests were sometimes made with an eye to portability, albeit infrequently. A 'bridal chest' was given to a bride at her wedding, by her husband, and so is not a 'hope chest' in this sense.
may also be found inside for small items.
as a model, in a campaign targeted at GIs and absentee sweethearts of World War Two. They were particularly well-known for their practice (since 1930) of distributing miniature (12" long) cedar chests to high-school girls as advertising gifts. The Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana
) is the "cedar" used in making moth-repelling cedar chests and drawers, as well as pencils.
" is also the title of a song from the band Portishead. The song is about a woman who is giving up her time as a temptress to commit to a settled life with a man, asking him to take a look from her side every now and then.
In the 2005 movie Me and You and Everyone We Know
, the character of Sylvie collects household items described as her dowry, and stores them in a chest in her bedroom.
In the 1985 movie Back to the Future
, the character Lorraine McFly refers to having placed Marty McFly's pants "over there...on my hope chest" after he had been knocked unconscious. The joke implies her romantic interest in Marty where unbeknownst to Lorraine, Marty is her son from the future.
The term "hope chest" or "cedar chest" may be used primarily by Midwestern and Southern U.S. women, while "glory box" is used by women in Australia. In the UK the term "bottom drawer" was most commonly used.
Social context of a hope chest
The collection of a trousseauTrousseau
Trousseau may refer to:*A dowry*The outfit of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing*A name for the Bastardo grape in some regions*A white mutation of the Trousseau grape, known as Trousseau Gris...
was a common coming-of-age rite until approximately the 1950s; it was typically a step on the road to marriage between courting a man and engagement. It wasn't always collected in a special chest, hence the alternative UK term bottom drawer, which refers to putting aside one drawer in a chest of drawers
Chest of drawers
A chest of drawers, also called a dresser or a bureau, is a piece of furniture that has multiple parallel, horizontal drawers stacked one above another...
for collecting the trousseau undisturbed, but such a chest was an acceptable gift for a girl approaching a marriageable age. Such chests may have been inherited from their mother or female relatives. They are still a popular gift from woodworking fathers.
Contents of a "hope chest" or "glory box" included typical dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
items such as clothing (especially a special dress), table linens, towels, bed linens, quilts and occasionally dishware. As a bride would typically leave home on marriage, hope chests were sometimes made with an eye to portability, albeit infrequently. A 'bridal chest' was given to a bride at her wedding, by her husband, and so is not a 'hope chest' in this sense.
Historical origins
- Cassone of renaissance Italy
- Large decorated and showy chests, forming part of dynastic marriages in 15th and 16th century Italy. These were prized displays of wealth, of even more value than their contents.
- Dutch kast or German schrank chests
- These are tall wardrobe-like chests with double doors. These are larger than most hope chests, intended for regular service in the home after marriage, and so were constructed as to partially dismantle for transport.
- American settlers
- The peak of the hope chest as folk art came with the waves of European immigrants to America. Many of these, from Scandinavia to the Northern Midwest and Germans in Pennsylvania, had long traditions of plainly constructed chests with extensive painted decoration.
Styles
The typical hope chest is of lidded blanket chest form. In some traditions, there may also be one or two side-by-side drawers beneath. As with blanket chests, a small tillTill (furniture)
A Till is a small compartment or shelf inside a larger blanket or other form of chest, used to segregate small items.Use of tills to hold cash, within chests used for the storage of retail goods, may have been part of the word's evolution to the common UK term "till" for a cash register....
may also be found inside for small items.
Lane Company chests
As the contents of such a chest would primarily be linens, construction in moth-repellent cedar, or at least a cedar lining, was popular. The Lane Company of Altavista, VA (1912, closed 2001) were a notable maker of cedar chests. After developing production-line techniques for making ammunition boxes during World War One, they turned these production techniques and a patent locking-mitre corner joint, into vast numbers of chests. This was aided by strong advertising, using a teenaged Shirley TempleShirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
as a model, in a campaign targeted at GIs and absentee sweethearts of World War Two. They were particularly well-known for their practice (since 1930) of distributing miniature (12" long) cedar chests to high-school girls as advertising gifts. The Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana is a species of juniper native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, east of the Great Plains...
) is the "cedar" used in making moth-repelling cedar chests and drawers, as well as pencils.
Decoration
Decoration is not an intrinsic part of the hope chest, but often appears.- Carving
- Carving was notable in the 17th and 18th century joined oak chests. The Hadley chests of MassachusettsHadley, MassachusettsHadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area around Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Mall along Route 9 is a major shopping destination for the surrounding...
are covered by extensive surface carving in the typical low-relief style of the period.- Painting
- This is typically seen in the Scandinavian and German immigrant traditions and follows traditional styles.
- GessoGessoGesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these...
- Gesso
- The elaborate gilded gesso of the cassoniCassoneAmong furniture in Italy, a cassone or marriage chest is a rich and showy type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. The cassone was one of the trophy furnishings of rich merchants and aristocrats in Italian culture, from the Late Middle Ages...
was produced by skilled and expensive craftsmen. This work has not been seen since and doesn't form part of the folk tradition.- Sulphur inlaySulphur inlaySulphur inlay is a rarely used technique for decorative surface inlay in wooden cabinetmaking.The technique originates in the 18th century, but was only used for a short period. Between 1765 and around 1820, German immigrant cabinetmakers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania used it to decorate the...
- Sulphur inlay
- Sulphur inlay is a rare technique in furniture and for chests it is only known for a short period. Between 1765 and around 1820, German immigrantPennsylvania DutchPennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
cabinetmakers in Lancaster County, PennsylvaniaLancaster County, PennsylvaniaLancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
used it to decorate the surface of chests. The Deitrich chest of 1783 is now in the SmithsonianSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
.
In popular culture
"Glory BoxGlory Box (Portishead song)
"Glory Box" is a single by Portishead, released in 1995. The title song samples "Ike's Rap II" by Isaac Hayes. The music video features lead singer Beth Gibbons dressed as a man....
" is also the title of a song from the band Portishead. The song is about a woman who is giving up her time as a temptress to commit to a settled life with a man, asking him to take a look from her side every now and then.
In the 2005 movie Me and You and Everyone We Know
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Me and You and Everyone We Know is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July and stars July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff, Natasha Slayton, Najarra Townsend, Carlie Westerman, and JoNell Kennedy.-Plot:The structure of the film consists of...
, the character of Sylvie collects household items described as her dowry, and stores them in a chest in her bedroom.
In the 1985 movie Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
, the character Lorraine McFly refers to having placed Marty McFly's pants "over there...on my hope chest" after he had been knocked unconscious. The joke implies her romantic interest in Marty where unbeknownst to Lorraine, Marty is her son from the future.