The Creepy 19th Century Fad Of Boys Stealing Lady’s Hairpins For Personal Scrapbooks
A popular pastime used to be young men stealing pins from the heads of ladies and then writing out descriptions of what the victims looked like
Fads usually pass in and out of society like breezes. Although some may stick around for a while, it’s very rare that any are here for the long haul. Looking back at what has captured the hearts and minds of people over the years, there have been some that in retrospect defy logic, and in some cases are downright creepy. Such was the rise in popularity during the latter half of the 19th century in boys stealing lady’s hairpins and entering them into carefully annotated scrapbooks where they wrote detailed descriptions of the wearers.
An article that appeared in the October 16, 1883 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailed the unusual pastime of “Hunting Hairpins.” It explained in the words of an anonymous “society man”:
“Last winter it got to be quite the thing for a fellow to coax his young lady friends to give him a hairpin, but now the idea is to get them without the girl’s knowing what you are about. If you happen to be acquainted with the lady and can steal the pin out of her hair, that’s the way to do it.”
