Willard Richards’s Grooming Kit

Technique & Style

Artifact

Symbols

ivory, jar, silver

Notes

"Willard Richards was trained as a Thomsonian doctor and cultivated an air of respectability and refinement appropriate to his profession. This elegant grooming kit shows that refinement. He shaved his face clean and regularly had his hair cut, combed, and curled until his death in 1854. A clean-shaven face was still the preferred grooming style of most men in the 1840s. It was not until the late 1850s that beards returned to fashion, thus a grooming kit that included razors, soap, scissors, and a mirror would have been common among the early pioneer companies. What is uncommon about Willard Richards’s kit is its elaborate—and no doubt costly—manufacture. The carefully joined wooden box frame has been covered with finely tooled and dyed leather. The case opens up into a mirror stand. The brush handles and face or hair powder shaker are made of ivory. Leather loops sewn into the center would have held scissors, razors, and combs. The jars for soap and pomade (perfumed hair ointment) are made of cut glass. Note the finely engraved silver lids."

Exhibition History:

• “Exodus to Zion in the American West,” Church History Museum online exhibition

Church Name

Unknown