By Lisa Oliver Monroe
Welcome to Betty Myers’ world, where it can take up to 250 hours to do her job – and she works at the only place where the work is done.
Myers is a wigmaker for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Her handmade work is done the 18th-century way, which means she can spend between 50 and 250 hours on one wig.
It’s been a labor of love for more than 30 years.
“No one else in America is doing what we do,” said Myers, a master wigmaker at the King’s Arms Peruque (Wig) and Barber Shop in the Historic Area. “We are the last line to preserve this 18th-century trade.”
That work will be on display for a three-day conference set for Nov. 14-16. “A Head for Fashion: Hair, Wigs, Cosmetics, and Jewelry, 1600-1900,” celebrates the 75th anniversary of the shop’s opening, featuring talks, demonstrations and panel discussions on wigs, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry and related topics.
Planning for the conference has been a year in the making. The staff balanced that with daily interpretive work for visitors to the shop, along with the caretaking of more than 900 wigs and hair pieces.
Revolutionary City’s costumed tradespeople and interpreters wear most of these and the pieces must be cleaned and re-dressed on a regular basis, as well as mended occasionally.
That’s no small feat for a staff of four and several loyal volunteers, said Myers, who was instrumental in developing the wigmaking trade at Colonial Williamsburg after joining the shop’s all-female staff in 1981.
Developing the Trade
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When the shop originally opened at the Prentis Store, it produced wigs that looked like the 18th century ones, but weren’t made using authentic methods. At the time, the wigmakers were all men.
The shop’s staff dynamics gradually shifted over the years to include more women and it was entirely female-run by the time Myers came on board.
She rounded out a staff of eight. Though that was large for a Colonial Williamsburg trade, it didn’t actually produce anything. Instead, the emphasis was on interpreting the trade for guests by weaving hairpieces and displaying ready-made wigs.
Soon Myers began to research the work so she could learn exactly how wigs were made in Colonial times, which allowed the shop to eventually evolve into what it is today – a place where wigs and hairpieces are produced the same way they would have been in colonial Virginia.
As she mastered the techniques, Myers taught them to other staff members. Since she was self-taught and had no examples to follow, she admitted she wasn’t positive she was doing everything exactly the right way. There were no colonial wigs available, unlike some of the other trades such as the silversmith and blacksmith which could turn to original items on display at the Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum for examples.
In 1998, Myers went to England and Scotland to look at actual period wigs.
“Being able to examine original wigs was like finding the Holy Grail,” she said. She saw the details which showed how they were made – it was a confirmation that what she had figured out on her own was fairly accurate. “I discovered that I was 95 percent on the money,” she said.
Two years later, wigmaking was recognized as a fully interpretive trade at Colonial Williamsburg.
Wigmaking and the Shop
Throughout western history, wigs have been used to make a fashion statement, but the 18th century was definitely the height of popularity for male wigs, which were first introduced in court fashion in England and France in the middle of the 17th century.
In Virginia, wigs were closely tied to social status. Only about 5 percent of the population could afford them. Those who were prominent in the colony – Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and George Wythe – patronized the wig shop of Edward Charlton, one of the important wigmakers of the period. Some gentry women wore wigs a well as a variety of braids and hairpieces, while men wore a type of wig known as a Peruke or peruqueue.
Today’s shop, which opened on Duke of Gloucester Street in the spring of 1950, represents the shop run by Charlton. It looks much the same today as it was when it opened, but the work has changed to some extent.In the 18th century, in addition to hair pieces, the shop would have offered haircuts and dressing, immersion bathing facilities, and would have sold soaps, perfumes, powders, tonics and lice cures.
Myers said she used to shave men’s faces and the backs of their necks and heads using a straight razor in her early days, while interpreting for guests. Today, they interpret while weaving, braiding, or dressing hair, and constructing wigs, but the only barbering performed at the shop is an occasional man’s haircut.
The wigs are made from imported human hair from Northern Europe, much like they would have been in the 18th century, as well as Yak hair imported from Tibet and horse hair from the Orient. And some European regions where it’s still a tradition, women between the ages of 15 and 25 sell their hair for wigs, Myers said.
Today’s shop is packed with a large inventory, Myers said. The staff interprets and practices the trade upstairs and manages all its incoming and outgoing wigs and hairpieces for some 200 staff members. Some work is done in the basement downstairs
“When a person portrays a character, a wig is assigned to that person,” she said. “Or we might get a call about a play saying they need 25 wigs.” The shop makes as much as possible, but when the demand is heavy, it may also supplement the order with commercial wigs. That’s especially true for theater productions where the audience isn’t close enough to see the fine details.Fortunately, plans are in the works for the shop to expand to another building on site. Interpreting the trade to guests will continue in the present location, but the hairpieces and wigs used by the Foundation staff will be managed from the new location.
Besides Myers, the wig shop staff includes journeymen Regina Blizzard and Terry Lyons, apprentice Debbie Turpin, and volunteers Betsy Edwards, Megan Stewart and Kathy Corrdetti. Tim Jacoby and John Corrdetti, also volunteers, help out in the shop by modeling wigs.
Following in Her Parents’ Footsteps
For Betty Myers, the Foundation has been almost a family tradition. A Williamsburg native, both her parents worked at Colonial Williamsburg when she was growing up. “I’m a Virginia ham through and through,” she declares.
In fact, her mother Joyce Myers, now in her 80s, still works there today as a museum monitor at the DeWitt Wallace Museum. And her sister Susan joined the Foundation staff more than 12 years ago and works in Development Communications.
“Colonial Williamsburg was my playground. I loved going through the gardens, and sometimes my mom would allow me to tag along with school groups,” Myers said of her childhood. After school, she remembers sitting in the rocking chairs outside the Williamsburg Lodge looking at the ducks at the fountain, while waiting for her dad to get off work.Her father, the late Edgar Myers, worked as an engineer at the Foundation for more than 30 years. He got a job there after returning from service in World War II.
Basically every member of her family has worked for Colonial Williamsburg at some point. She got her first job there during the summer when she was 15 and her brother also worked there while attending high school and the College of William and Mary.
Myers began working full-time at Colonial Williamsburg in 1978 as an usher at the Visitor Center, and then moved to the Historic Area where she checked tickets, before landing the job at the wig shop in 1981.
“It was fate,” she said, explaining that it was almost impossible to get a job there as staff turnover was slow. “I was not a licensed beautician, but just loved working with hair.”
“I still learn,” said Myers, who last year was able to travel to Germany and Denmark with her Turpin, her apprentice. In Germany, the two studied a total of 12 wigs, some of which were burial wigs, but the highlight was a glass fiber wig from the 1740s which they saw in Denmark.
“It really helps if you can see what you’re producing and not just read about it,” she said.
“I’m one of those people who truly loves what they do. I love being hands-on. This is what gives me a kick,” said Myers. She makes wigs and hairpieces, even in her spare time, for a myriad of customers and causes — everything from modern wigs she donates to cancer patients to an unusual recent project – a 6-foot wig for a lady going to a ball at Versailles.
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