Elizabeth I and her Hair

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Smithsonian Digital Library

Was Queen Elizabeth I bald? She is said to have reddish-gold hair like her father, King Henry VIII. The Virgin Queen definitely wore wigs, and may have sported and influenced some of the fabulous styles depicted below that were popular with wealthy ladies on the 16th century.

Auguste Racinet, Le costume historique, 1888, Europe XVI Siecle.

It seems that Elizabeth may have, at times, used wigs not just for fashion but to conceal her hair going gray. But she did not lose her hair, at least, not until much later in life, in her mid-sixties. She died at the age of 69.

Whether her hair beauty secret was due to nature or wigs, the indelible image of Elizabeth I is of an elaborately coiffed redhead. And an incredible, powerful, ruler.

—Elizabeth Periale

Happy Labor Day

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Smithsonian Digital Library

The Libraries has countless images in its Galaxy of Images website and online exhibitions and collections featuring people from all eras working hard to make a living.

Here are a few highlights:

William Gilbert, De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure; Physiologia Nova [On the magnet, magnetic bodies, and the great magnet of the Earth . . .], 1600, Man at work at a forge.

American Button-Hole, Overseaming, and Sewing Machine Company, [Flier featuring a picture
of a woman in formal dress sitting at a sewing machine], 1874, from Sewing Machines.

Portrait of Robert William Holley, biochemist, Scientific Identity: Portraits from the
Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, 2003, , from Scientific Identity.

Painted drawings by Rhodesian school children in the Smithsonian Institution [graphic]., 1961-1967, Women's work.

Lithographic printing shop of Wagner & McGuigan, Philadelphia: about 1850. Courtesy of the Harry T. Peters Collection, Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History, from Picturing Words.

—Elizabeth Periale