A hope chest was a trunk that held a girl’s “trousseau”. The custom came to the United States from Europe around the 18th century, a variation on the wedding chest that moved with the bride from her parents’ house to her married home, and was a remnant of the ancient custom of dowry.
My mom had one. It wound up in the garage, but contained all kinds of fascinating treasures - infant clothes and booties, locks of hair, her bride dress, and other insights into the hopes, dreams and treasured memories of her youth.
She was born in 1924 and married in 1953, just the right age to have been swept up in the marketing campaign for these chests by the Lane Company.
"Beginning in the 1920s, Lane used an aggressive mash-up of consumerist desire and romantic fantasy to advertise its product in the pages of general interest and women’s magazines. A Lane hope chest thus became “the gift that starts a home,” designed “to hold fragile wisps of dreams until those dreams come true.” Ads urged parents and boyfriends to buy that special young lady in their life a “Sweetheart” chest.
"In 1938, Lane resorted to scare tactics usually reserved for advertising mouthwash, explaining that surveys (unreferenced, of course) indicated “the chances of a marriage ending in the divorce court…doubled when the bride has no hope chest,” apparently because young women who showed a knack for planning ahead made better wives."
https://bust.com/femoribilia-hope-chest/
Most Helpful Opinions