A Tour of Leila's Hair Museum, Independence Missouri: An unbe-weave-able find!
Hair today, gone tomorrow. The fascinating museum devoted entirely to the art & history of hair.
See a portrait that combines a painted face with real (red) human hair, earrings, brooches, necklaces, wedding wreaths and even funeral wreaths - all made out of human hair. Turns out before photos, this is what people did as keepsakes! Read the full story by Emmy award winner Michael Mackie at MyFavePlaces.com |
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Stumble in to any hair salon and you’ll see dutiful stylists sweeping up and discarding shorn locks of hair. Little do they know that today’s trash was yesterday’s treasure … according to Leila Cohoon, the owner of Leila's Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri. Cohoon is an expert in the field of hair art.
Founder of the hair museum Leila Cohoon
“I started dressing hair in 1949 and I found my first piece of hair art in 1956. At the time, I had never heard of this art form,” said Cohoon. “I could never believe people would make all these things out of human hair. I bought my first piece of artwork instead of a pair of Easter shoes.”
Since then, she’s amassed more than 2,500 objects woven from human hair – one of the largest collections of its kind in the world. From intricate wreaths to delicate jewelry, if it’s spun with human hair, you’ll find it in Cohoon’s museum.
But why … hair?
A portrait that combines a painted face with real hair
Turns out, long before selfies, hair art was considered a keepsake -- a way of preserving memories. “It’s genealogy done with human hair before the camera was ever invented,” said Cohoon. She has traced the art form back to the 12th century, but it really became a fashion trend a few centuries later thanks to Queen Victoria. Seems the Queen – mourning the death of Prince Albert – wore a bracelet made of his hair. After that, women started creating an unbe-weave-able amount of hair accouterments – from earrings to brooches, necklaces to bookmarks.
This hair art necklace has a floral themed design.
The art form then evolved into elaborate framed wreaths. Mourning wreaths were made from the hair of the deceased. Wedding wreaths were made from the hair of everyone who attended the nuptials. “My favorite piece is the ‘Hurd Family Wreath’”, said Willa Holliger, a tour guide at the Hair Museum. “It contains a record of the entire family – Dad, Mom, Stepmom and eight children … birthdates and death dates. The craftsmanship is just outstanding.”
Museum guide Willa Holliger discusses the backstory behind many of the pieces.
Guests who visit Leila’s Hair Museum are often a little gobsmacked. “They expect to see old curling irons and hairdryers – and they end up seeing an art form,” said Cohoon, who has proudly published a book on her craft, “The Lost Art of Hair Wreath Making”.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said visitor Sonya Edmon Larson. “I had no idea this place existed before today. And it boggles my mind the amount of time and effort that went in to some of these pieces. They’re all so elaborate … and delicate.”
Visitor Sonya Edmon Larson takes a gander at some of the intricate wreaths at the museum.
Cohoon, meanwhile, has become a modern-day Sherlock Combs trying to gather the backstory behind each piece in the museum. But a few remain a mystery. “Some have been donated … and in those cases Leila asks a lot of questions about the history, but people don’t know much about them,” said Holliger. “All that information has been lost. Who made it? Where did it come from? Whose hair does it include? There’s virtually no info.”
The museum – located just a hop, skip and jump from where the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals play ball – has been open to the public since 1986 and still sees plenty of foot traffic despite little promotion. “I don’t do any advertising except for postcards,” said Cohoon. “The collection has found me. People contact me.”
For Cohoon, she’s preserving both history and culture … as well as DNA. There are now fewer than 40 people in the United States versed in the design of hair wreaths, but Cohoon is determined not to let the craft become obsolete. “I teach classes in it now. It’s not a lost art like you might read,” said Cohoon -- who often has upcoming classes open to the public.
Want to know more … or get back to your roots? Tour guides are more than willing to answer any hair art-related question – and they’ve likely heard all of them. Well, almost. “One time a child asked, ‘How many strands of hair do you think you have in this museum?’”, said Holliger. “I laughed and said, ‘A lot’.”
PoliceAbuse.org Investigation - Independence, Missouri
Our undercover investigator asks for a complaint form and gets his head smashed into a plexi-glass partition in the police station lobby.
ARTifacts: 19th Century Hair Art
Back in the days before photographs and friendship bracelets, people would keep locks of hair as tokens of their loved ones. These would sometimes get intricately woven into jewelry or decorative objects such as wreaths. Despite its seeming fragility, hair can withstand the test of time and doesn’t decompose very quickly. As a result, the Ohio History Center has a large collection of these items still well preserved in its archives. Curator Rebecca Odom shows us a few of these everlasting keepsakes.
In this periodic series, Broad & High delves into the seldom-seen archives of the Ohio History Center. With nearly 2 million items in its collections, not everything always gets to see the light of day. We go deep into the collections to shine a spotlight on some of our state’s hidden treasures.
Tracking Our Puppies - Someone's Gotta Do It Episode #5
On Sept. 15, 2014 the Winnipeg Police Service welcomed a litter of eight new puppies through our in-house breeding program, PSD Crash is the mother and PSD Riley is the Father.
These pups will be trained as police dogs for our Service and other agencies.
Curious about the training program? We've created this video series so that you can follow along with the progress of our new pups.
We hope you will subscribe to this playlist for regular updates!
ABOUT THE WPS K9 UNIT BREEDING PROGRAM
Due to the challenges faced with locating high quality dogs at an affordable price, the Winnipeg Police Service started an in-house breeding program in 1999 making it one of the only breeding programs run by a Municipal Service in Canada.
The breed of choice was the Belgian Shepherd (Malinois). Over the following 6 years, 42 pups were bred and supplied the Service with all its general patrol canines as well as all outside agencies that we had trained. Pups were sold as far away as Salt Lake City Utah, Plymouth Minnesota and to several police departments in Western Canada. On average approx. 90% of the pups that were purchased for police work passed the required courses to work the street.
The program experienced a short hiatus between 2006 and 2008 and in the fall of 2008 the Service purchased a breeding female from Southern Minnesota. The sire to this pup was P.S.D. Tazer that was the 5x USPCA National Champion. Due to the positive attributes of this female, 2 more females from the same breeding line were purchased.
Currently the Service has these 3 breeding females and 4 breeding males to ensure a supply of pups well into the future.
To find a good quality dog that has longevity in today's market is rather challenging. With the malinois we have learned that they do mature faster than a shepherd. We have had dogs raised in our program that have worked the street at 13 months and are able to work 9-10 years on the street. So when you put a price tag of $30,000.00 to $40,000.00 to train a canine team and then you are able to get 3-5 more years of work out of this team, it is more fiscally responsible. It has also proven to be difficult finding quality canines in the wake of 9/11 due to an increase in demand. As well, with our own breeding program, we have intimate knowledge of the canine's lineage and training which is not typical when importing a canine from another breeder. As well unlike a canine that is typically brokered in from overseas you do not know the training that has gone into the canine nor typically the lineage of the breeding. The true success of any breeding program is the longevity and we are fortunate to have that. Since 911 it has been our experience that it is getting tougher and tougher to locate quality canines out of Europe due to the high demand and the canines are getting younger and the quality is dropping.
The Service raises 2 pups for every future position. The pup is raised by one of the unit's 54 quarries (officers attempting to become canine handlers) under the guidance of the unit's trainers. The canines that are best suited for our program are then brought into the pre-training and 16 week Basic Handler Course. The other canines are either sold as pets or to other police agencies. The pups are sold for $500.00 at 49 days old. To inquire on the availability of pups or trained canines please contact the K9 Unit.
French ~ Independence Missouri Exchange 2014 ~ Chateaubriant, Chrisman & Truman
Here's a video of various activities this past week of the French and American students who are taking part in the Independence-Chateaubriant student exchange program. I may upload a new video at some point with additional photos etc. This one was put together rather quickly.
Full versions of the music on this video can be downloaded via Itunes. Excerpt of The Beatles - Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey is from the album Beatles For Sale. Phoenix - Bourgeois is from the album, Bankrupt! And Alisom Balsom - Les Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves) is from the album, Paris.
MFA Products of Design 2016: Thesis Show
13:30 Opening Remarks, Allan Chochinov
Group 1
36:42 Marianna Mezhibovskaya, Outsiders: Designing Engagement with the Incarcerated
51:24 Adem Önalan, Vakit: On the Elasticity and Subjectivity of Time
1:07:38 Leila Santiago de Oliveira Santos, Here, There & Elsewhere - A Design Journey around Travel and Place
1:21:45 Isioma Iyamah, In Flux: Identities Under the Influence
1:35:22 Oscar De La Hera Gomez, Marrying the Physical & the Emotional in Order to Process Trauma
1:49:37 Hung Wan Jung, Do It Now: Overcoming Procrastination
2:04:49 Eden Lew - Masterminds & The Art of Misbehaving
Group 2
2:45:33 Souvik Paul - Unbound: Psychophysical Design for Paralysis and Disability
3:01:00 Judy Chi - Permanism: Towards the Obsolescence of Disposable Furniture
3:17:29 Chelsea Stewart - Atto: An Exploration of Movement and Design
3:29:03 Belen Tenorio - ReMind: Re-evaluating ADD and ADHD in a Quick-Fix Societ
3:42:51 Lijia Yang - Reload: Triggering your Passion for Life and Gamification
3:59:05 Roya Ramezani - Exponent: Amplifying Female Voices in Tech Discourse
4:13:12 Natsuki Hayashi - Sincerely, Toward a Contemporary Design of Assisted Suicide
Group 3
5:02:09 Panisa Khunprasert - Hereafter: Remapping the Landscape of Death and the Way It is Remembered
5:16:56 Ziyun Qi - Animate: Bringing Charm and Magic to the Everyday Life
5:30:34 Adam Fujita - XENO: From the Foreign to the Familiar
5:45:32 Louise-Anne van 't Riet - Side Step: A Momentary Escape From the Real World
6:01:07 Tahnee Pantig - This Great Violence
6:16:31 Jonathan Lung - At the Ready: Preparation for Just About Anything
TWEET & FOLLOW US: @SVAPoD #T3IRD
The MFA Products of Design Masters Thesis is a unique, year-long design pursuit that investigates a chosen subject matter or territory. Student work is instantiated through speculative design; expert research; product prototyping; information architecture; service, interaction, and experience design; user testing; branding, and business modeling. Valuing the strategic, the social, and the environmental, the thesis stands as a testament to the need for a holistic and critical approach to creating the products of design.
Calling All Cars: Curiosity Killed a Cat / Death Is Box Office / Dr. Nitro
The radio show Calling All Cars hired LAPD radio dispacher Jesse Rosenquist to be the voice of the dispatcher. Rosenquist was already famous because home radios could tune into early police radio frequencies. As the first police radio dispatcher presented to the public ear, his was the voice that actors went to when called upon for a radio dispatcher role.
The iconic television series Dragnet, with LAPD Detective Joe Friday as the primary character, was the first major media representation of the department. Real LAPD operations inspired Jack Webb to create the series and close cooperation with department officers let him make it as realistic as possible, including authentic police equipment and sound recording on-site at the police station.
Due to Dragnet's popularity, LAPD Chief Parker became, after J. Edgar Hoover, the most well known and respected law enforcement official in the nation. In the 1960s, when the LAPD under Chief Thomas Reddin expanded its community relations division and began efforts to reach out to the African-American community, Dragnet followed suit with more emphasis on internal affairs and community policing than solving crimes, the show's previous mainstay.
Several prominent representations of the LAPD and its officers in television and film include Adam-12, Blue Streak, Blue Thunder, Boomtown, The Closer, Colors, Crash, Columbo, Dark Blue, Die Hard, End of Watch, Heat, Hollywood Homicide, Hunter, Internal Affairs, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Lakeview Terrace, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Life, Numb3rs, The Shield, Southland, Speed, Street Kings, SWAT, Training Day and the Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Terminator film series. The LAPD is also featured in the video games Midnight Club II, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, L.A. Noire and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
The LAPD has also been the subject of numerous novels. Elizabeth Linington used the department as her backdrop in three different series written under three different names, perhaps the most popular being those novel featuring Det. Lt. Luis Mendoza, who was introduced in the Edgar-nominated Case Pending. Joseph Wambaugh, the son of a Pittsburgh policeman, spent fourteen years in the department, using his background to write novels with authentic fictional depictions of life in the LAPD. Wambaugh also created the Emmy-winning TV anthology series Police Story. Wambaugh was also a major influence on James Ellroy, who wrote several novels about the Department set during the 1940s and 1950s, the most famous of which are probably The Black Dahlia, fictionalizing the LAPD's most famous cold case, and L.A. Confidential, which was made into a film of the same name. Both the novel and the film chronicled mass-murder and corruption inside and outside the force during the Parker era. Critic Roger Ebert indicates that the film's characters (from the 1950s) represent the choices ahead for the LAPD: assisting Hollywood limelight, aggressive policing with relaxed ethics, and a straight arrow approach.
Words at War: Der Fuehrer / A Bell For Adano / Wild River
The town of Adano is a fictional Sicilian port town modeled after the real town of Licata, one of the disembarkation town of the Allied Occupation of Italy. Just like Adano, the town of Licata has a shipping and sulfur industry, a fishing port, and its largest church is the Church of Sant'Angelo. Additionally, Benito Mussolini did have Licata's 700 year old bell melted to make ammunition.[5] Major Joppolo is based on the American military governor of Licata named Frank E. Toscani. John Hersey visited Toscani for four or five days during the war and created Victor Joppolo from him, even noting that he held a job as a civilian clerk in the New York City Sanitation Department.[6] General Marvin is an obvious depiction of the World War II General Patton, who was known for his bitterness and cruelty, but also his effectiveness.
Führer was the unique name granted by Hitler to himself, and this in his function as Vorsitzender (chairman) of the Nazi Party. It was at the time common to refer to party leaders as Führer, yet only with an addition to indicate the leader of which party was meant. Hitler's adoption of the title was partly inspired by its earlier use by the Austro-German nationalist Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also commonly referred to as the Führer without qualification, and who also used the Sieg Heil-salute.[3] Hitler's choice for this political epithet was unprecedented in German. Like much of the early symbolism of Nazi Germany, it was modeled after Benito Mussolini's Italian Fascism. Mussolini's chosen epithet il Duce or Dux if Latin ('the Leader') was widely used, though unlike Hitler he never made it his official title. The Italian word Duce (unlike the German word Führer) is no longer used as a generic term for a leader, but almost always refers to Mussolini himself.
After Hitlers' appointment as Reichskanzler (Chancellor of the Reich) the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act which allowed Hitler's cabinet to promulgate laws by decree. One day before the death of Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg Hitler and his cabinet issued a decree, that dissolved the office of the president and made Hitler Hindenburg's successor. However this move was in breach of the Enabling Act. Hitler adopted Führer und Reichskanzler, combining his positions in party and government, as his title.[1][2] Ostensibly Hitler did not use the title president out of respect for Hindenburg's achievements as a heroic figure in World War I (though the decree, rather impiously, was already passed before Hindenburg's death on August 2, 1934).
In popular reception, the title of Führer and Chancellor was soon understood to mean Head of State and Head of Government -- a view that becomes even more accurate[citation needed] seeing that he was given by propaganda the title of Führer des deutschen Reiches und Volkes (Leader of the German Reich and People), the name the soldiers had to swear to. However, it keeps some meaning as Leader of Party and Head of Government with reference to the confusing relationship of party and state, including posts in personal union as well as offices with the same portfolio Hitler wanted to fight for his favour. The style of the Head of State was changed on July 28, 1942 to Führer des Großdeutschen Reiches (Leader of the Greater German Reich). In his political testament, Hitler also refers to himself as Führer der Nation.[4]
Nazi Germany cultivated the Führerprinzip (leader principle),[5] and Hitler was generally known as just der Führer (the Leader). One of the Nazis' most-repeated political slogans was Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer — One People, One Nation, One Leader.
According to the Constitution of Weimar, the President was Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. Unlike President, Hitler did take this title (Oberbefehlshaber) for himself. When conscription was reintroduced in 1935, Hitler had himself promoted to the new title Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces), which meant then a presidential position over the Wehrmacht in fact led by another (newly instituted) Commander-in-chief, the Minister for War. Following the Blomberg--Fritsch Affair in 1938, Hitler took the responsibilities of this commander-in-chief for himself, though he kept on using the older formally higher title of Supreme Commander, which was thus filled with a somewhat new meaning. Combining it with Führer, he used the style Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Leader and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht), yet a simple Führer since May 1942.
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