How did the hope chest begin? In the following weeks we will be giving some ideas of what to put in your hope chest but I thought that at the very first, it would be interesting to see how they started.
In Medieval Europe marriages were often arranged to merge the family fortunes. The young man would give the parents money or land and the bride’s parents would provide everything that the new couple needed to start their life together. Things such as linens, silverware, kitchen items, and sometimes furniture made up the dowry.
Families who were not so well off still wanted to be able to offer the prospective husband something of worth for marrying
their daughter (was not the daughter enough?!). It was customary for mothers to teach their daughters how to sew, knit, crochet and embroider (along with many other homemaking skills) so that they would be prepared to keep their own home someday. Girls began laying by things that they had made, to save for their future home. Aprons, quilts, towels and many other things filled their hope chests. In the pioneer days a typical young lady had 13 quilts finished before she was married!
The chest was usually made out of cedar wood because it repelled bugs (and other unwelcome guests!) and therefore protected the carefully made items. Fathers would make them for their daughters, sometimes elaborately carving or painting them. Other times, a hope chest is a drawer, a cardboard box, or a rubbermaid tub (like mine!!!). In the UK a hope chest was sometimes even called the “bottom drawer”.
When I first ever thought of a hope chest, I thought that you would fill it mostly with store-bought things that you would need when you started your own home such as measuring cups and spoons, silverware, dishes, pots pans, etc! I still think that it is a good idea (and also very fun!) but obviously you are not going to be able to fit everything you need into a single hope chest, or even two! Besides that, you will most l
ikely have a bridal shower and many of those types of things will be given to you.
Rebekah Wilson has a wonderful article that I encourage you to read at her website, “Hope Chest Legacy”.
Now, a hope chest is no longer a dowry, but a showcase of a girl’s abilities and memories of her childhood. My grandma recently gave us her cedar chest. I do not know that it was ever used for a hope chest, but it has many, many memories in it! My uncle’s baby shoes, my grandpa’s navy picture, my great grandma’s cookbooks, and even letters that my grandma and grandpa wrote to each other before they were married! It is like opening a treasure box!
Imagine your own children and grandchildren someday seeing your favorite doll, or the first dishcloth you ever tried to knit, or some of your old letters!
A hope chest is so much more than a dowry, or even a storage place for your measuring cups!
Photos: public domain except the elegant hope chest photo from “Great Priced Furniture”.
About The Author
I have a beautiful hope chest made by my best friends dad, who is a furniture maker. I have filled it to over-flowing with stuff for a future home, letters from friends and family, special keepsakes from events and much more. I have now moved on to plastic rubbermaid tubs to contain the rest of the things that I find. I think I’ve filled 5 or 6 of them! I love to find stuff that I can save for a later use.
[Reply to this Comment]
Welcome ladies! I so enjoyed your post and can’t wait to read more of your articles! :D I do have a hope chest, that was my mom’s and my grandmother used it as well. :) I store only some of my small things and some linens in there…I have a box to store things like my dishes and plastics and other things in. :) I do have a few of my first knitted/crocheted/sewn things in my hope chest, it’s so much fun to take them out and look at them and see how far I’ve come! :D
Blessings ladies!
~Miss Rachel~
[Reply to this Comment]
I loved learning about the history of hope chests. I don’t have a hope chest yet, but my brother is getting into woodworking so maybe… :) My Grandma has made several items for my hope chest and I’m slowly working on a few items. I can’t believe they mad 13 quilts! That would take me forever. :)
[Reply to this Comment]
What a beautiful picture you paint. I’ve always wanted a hope chest, one I could fill with the things I would need for when I have a home of my own. I am planning on getting one, though when I don’t know. I never thought that I should fill it with store bought items, but ones that took many hours to make – that would make them all the more special to me as I got each of them out after I was married.
thanks for writing this… it was beautifully done!
[Reply to this Comment]
Just want to let all you ladies know, there is a really good book on hope chests. The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love by Rebekah Wilson. If anyone has questions on the history of hope chests, or ideas of what to put in their’s, this is the book! It’s written for mothers who want to start a hope chest, but I also enjoyed reading it. I was blessed with a beautiful hope chest my Dad built. So special! I am having fun filling it!
Heidi
[Reply to this Comment]
LOVED this post. Thanks girls.
However, sad as it may be, I don’t have a hope chest. It’s not a tradition that I was ever introduced to.
I really love the idea though but God has a reason for everything.
But I guess I should seriously look into getting one. Rather late than never. LOL.
Blessings!
[Reply to this Comment]