Featured Object: Thomas Paine’s Hair

 

Appropriately, in the Morristown National Historical Park’s, Washington Headquarters Museum, Pamphlets of Protest Gallery, resides a new exhibit on the revolutionary rise of the author of one of the most recognized pamphlets of protest in the American Revolution, Thomas Paine. Paine, of course, wrote “Common Sense” among many other recognizable works. “Common Sense” is often credited with helping to raise support for the cause of liberty during the revolutionary period in America.

In conjunction with the release of our blog article on Thomas Paine and his fractured relationship with George Washington we have created a small exhibit that contains, a volume of Paine’s complied writings, as well as a lock of his actual hair, both from the park’s collection.

The hair came to us with solid provenance. In fact, it was attached to a note that explained it all.

It reads:

“This bit of Paine’s hair was exhibited at the Thomas Paine exposition in South Place Chapel, London, 1893, by Mr. Edward Smith, biographer of Cobbett, who carried Paine’s body from New Rochelle to England in 1819.

The hair was given me by my friend Edward Smith. It is kept in the original paper in-scribed “Mr. Paine’s Hair” in the handwriting of B. Tilly, Cobbetts agent- whose handwriting is well known to Edward Smith and myself.”

                                                                 Moncure D. Conway

The aforementioned William Cobbett was, according to Joy Masoff, “A harsh biographer of Thomas Paine, Cobbet later recanted and removed Paine’s remains from his New Rochelle gravesite for a grand monument in England that was never built.”[1] Cobbett, the erstwhile critic of Paine’s unfortunately ran out of money and was unable to create the monument he envisioned.

As noted in the letter the hair is affixed to, Cobbett did, in fact, carry “Paine’s body from New Rochelle to England” leading to years of speculation on where in the world various parts of Paine have ended up, including his brain, his bones and even more hair. (Read more on that here from our friends at the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies) 

The hair in the Morristown NHP collection seems to have passed through several hands before ending up in New Jersey, as evidenced, once again by all of the names mentioned in the letter. This is what we, in the museum world call provenance, or the history of the ownership of an object.

Essentially the hair passed from William Cobbett to his agent, Benjamin Tilly, to Edward Smith, to Moncure D. Conway to the park, now on display for you to see. Come check it out!

Written by:
Holly Marino, Museum Specialist

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[1] Masoff, Joy. 2024. “The Curious History of Thomas Paine’s Biographies.” The Beacon, Vol. 18, No. 3, May, 2024.