The New Hampshire Historical Society’s extensive collection of Franklin Pierce archives and objects just grew by one significant piece—one that sheds a little light on the mystery behind the 14th President’s notoriously “big” hairstyle. The Society has purchased at auction a letter written by Pierce’s wife, Jane, to her sister that may reveal information that was only suspected until now.

According to Peter A. Wallner, the Society's library director, every portrait or photograph of Franklin Pierce (1804–69) shows a shock of unruly hair cascading over his forehead. “Written descriptions of Pierce by contemporaries frequently mention his elegant appearance, immaculate dress, and courtly manners,” said Wallner. “Why, then, didn’t he comb his hair?”

Is it possible that the wild, unkempt hair was actually a carefully managed affectation? Was the perpetual candidate and heir to the mantle of Andrew Jackson trying, through his disorderly hair style, to convey some sense of personal independence, an appeal to frontier voters, a connection to the aggressive, expansionist, ideas of Young America, or a symbolic gesture to the Common Man, the unwashed masses that made up the bulk of support for the Democratic Party?

“Until now, there were no references to Pierce’s hair discovered in his or his family’s letters,” said Wallner. But, the newly purchased letter, written by his wife in December 1857 from Norfolk, Virginia, after Pierce left the White House, hints that the hairstyle was not accidental. Jane writes, “Today, Mr. Pierce has met the citizens of Norfolk and after the fatigue is quietly lying on the sofa by a bright fire with Miriam [Jane’s maid] brushing his hair soporifically.”

“While the evidence is not conclusive, the letter leads one to suspect that the vanity Pierce showed for his appearance extended to his hair as well,” says Wallner. Not surprisingly, to those residents of New Hampshire who knew Pierce well, his hair was a distinguishing characteristic of the man. If Pierce was deliberate and calculating in cultivating his hairstyle, it worked. As the residents of Concord passed his open casket at the State House, following his death in 1869, some wept, but many more commented on “his mass of curly black hair, somewhat tinged by age, but which was still combed on a deep slant over his wide forehead.” [New Hampshire Daily Patriot, October 11, 1869].

Those interested in learning more about the only U.S. President from New Hampshire can read Wallner’s new biography, Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union. The biography offers a fresh and in-depth look at Pierce’s life from his first days as President until his death in 1869, and includes many stories illuminating Pierce’s life in the White House and his relationships with his wife, Jane, and contemporary personalities including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jefferson Davis, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln. Wallner’s first book, Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire’s Favorite Son, was published in 2004. The two-volume work is the first new biography of Franklin Pierce to appear in 75 years.

In conjunction with Wallner’s biography, the Society issued a limited edition Franklin Pierce Bobblehead. The 8" figurine is a replica of a young Franklin Pierce, dressed in black, with the famous head of hair that was the calling card of the man known as “Handsome Frank.” The base is inscribed with a quote from the President who sought to hold his nation together: “The Union! Eternal Union!”

Both the Franklin Pierce biography and bobblehead are available for purchase at the Society’s library (30 Park Street, Concord) and museum (6 Eagle Square, Concord), as well as online at nhhistory.org.