During the nineteenth century, people across the United States collected, exchanged, and displayed locks of hair. Jewelry made from human hair is the most familiar form of hair collecting, in part because many of these pieces have been preserved in archives and historic homes like the Camron-Stanford House. Yet nineteenth-century Americans kept locks of hair in a wide variety of ways. Severed braids, curls, and strands were tucked in letters and sent through the mail, saved in specialized albums, and thrust into the hands of loved ones just before death. Although this practice is often associated with white, middle-class men and women, the emotional meanings carried by locks of hair were broadly shared by Americans from different regions, class backgrounds, racial groups, and religious traditions.