Indexing Your Vintage Hair Accessories: An XML Guide

Last winter, while sorting through a mahogany hatbox inherited from a collector in Bath, I found a tortoiseshell comb I had completely forgotten about. The comb was a late Victorian piece with hand-carved roses, listed in no notebook, filed under no mental category. It had been hiding for two years. That moment – the double thrill of discovery and shame of disorganisation – is what pushed me to build a proper index for my collection. Not a paper ledger, not a spreadsheet, but an XML file. If that sounds overly technical for a drawer full of banana clips and Edwardian slides, bear with me. XML is simply a way to write down information about each piece in a structure that a computer (or another human) can read and sort without ambiguity. For a vintage hair accessory enthusiast who wants to keep track of materials, eras, provenance, and condition, a well-made XML index is worth more than a dozen shoeboxes of receipts.

Why XML Instead of a Notebook or Spreadsheet?

A leather-bound journal is lovely for sketching, but try searching it for every piece made of celluloid or every comb from the 1920s. You end up flipping pages, squinting at ink. A spreadsheet works better, but columns and rows can become cramped when each accessory has its own story – a note about the original owner, a repair history, a link to a photograph. XML lets you nest information naturally. Each accessory becomes a record with its own set of child elements: <materials>, <era>, <condition>, <notes>. You can add fields later without breaking the whole file. And because XML is plain text, it will outlive any proprietary software. Fifty years from now, your great-niece can open your index in any text editor and know exactly what you owned.

Building Your Own Schema: A Practical Example

You do not need a degree in computer science. Open Notepad (or any text editor) and start with a root element called <collection>. Inside it, create a <accessory> element for each piece. Here is a minimal schema that has served me well:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<collection>
  <accessory id="A001">
    <name>Celluloid butterfly slide</name>
    <type>slide</type>
    <era>1920s</era>
    <material>celluloid</material>
    <colour>tortoiseshell with green wings</colour>
    <condition>good – one wing tip chipped</condition>
    <provenance>bought at Portobello Road Market, 2019</provenance>
    <notes>Similar to example in 'Hair Ornaments of the Jazz Age' p.47</notes>
  </accessory>
  <accessory id="A002">
    <name>Silver filigree comb</name>
    <type>comb</type>
    <era>1900–1910</era>
    <material>sterling silver</material>
    <colour>silver</colour>
    <condition>excellent – no tarnish, teeth intact</condition>
    <provenance>gift from a friend who found it in a Surrey attic</provenance>
    <notes>Possibly by William Comyns, London. Needs hallmark verification.</notes>
  </accessory>
</collection>

You can add as many fields as you like – <width>, <weight>, <photograph> (a filename), <estimated_value>. The beauty is that you decide the vocabulary. Keep it consistent: always write “1920s” not “twenties” or “1920’s”. Consistency makes searching possible.

Using Your Index: Search, Sort, and Share

Once you have a handful of records, you can open the XML file in a browser (most browsers display XML as a collapsible tree) or use a simple XSLT stylesheet to turn it into a neat table. If you want to find every accessory made of German silver, you can search for <material>German silver</material> in any text editor – instant results. I keep my index in a folder alongside photographs named by the accessory ID, so A001.jpg matches A001 in the XML. This system saved me when a friend asked to borrow a specific 1950s bow clip for a wedding. I opened the index, filtered by type and era, and knew exactly which box to open.

For those who enjoy a bit of technical tinkering, you can write a simple HTML page that reads your XML and displays it as a gallery. That turns your personal index into a private website – perfect for sharing with fellow collectors without handing over your original file. The blog post The Mystery of the Missing Yullya Hair Combs is a cautionary tale of what happens when records are kept in someone’s head alone. An XML index would have solved that mystery in minutes.

A Table of Common Fields for Hair Accessories

To help you start, here is a table of fields I recommend, with explanations:

Field Name	Example Value	Why It Matters
<id>	B012	Unique reference; use a prefix for type (B=bow, C=comb, S=slide)
<name>	Black velvet bow with jet beads	Descriptive enough to identify without opening a drawer
<era>	1940s	Use decades or specific years if known
<material>	celluloid, brass, silk	Important for care and conservation
<condition>	fair – missing two teeth	Helps prioritise restoration and insurance
<provenance>	Bought at Alfie’s Antique Market, 2021	Adds to the story and resale value
<notes>	Similar to example in ‘Vintage Hair Accessories’ by M. Brown	Free text for research links, memories, or repair notes

You can add a <photograph> field containing a filename like B012_front.jpg. Then, if you ever create a visual diary, your XML index becomes the backbone. For inspiration, see A Picture Diary of Vintage Hair Accessories: The Paw Edition, where each image could correspond to an XML record.

Practical Steps to Get Started Today

You do not need to catalogue everything at once. Take one drawer – the one with your most frequently worn pieces. Open a text editor, copy the sample structure above, and write entries for five items. Save the file as my_collection.xml on your desktop. That is it. The next time you acquire a piece, add a line before you put it away. Within a month, you will have a reliable index that grows with your collection.

One practical tip: back up your XML file. Email it to yourself, store it on a USB stick, or keep it in a cloud folder. A fire or a leak can destroy a hatbox full of combs, but your index – and the photographs linked to it – can survive. And if you ever decide to sell or pass on a piece, a printed copy of the relevant XML record is a far more professional provenance document than a scribbled note on a receipt.

I keep my index in a folder named hair_index alongside subfolders for photographs and scans of any paperwork. When I recently acquired a 1930s Bakelite barrette from a dealer in Brighton, I opened the XML, added a new <accessory> element, and typed the dealer’s name and date into <provenance>. The whole process took two minutes. That barrette now sits in my collection with a digital twin that will outlive its celluloid cousins. Start with one drawer, five pieces, and a single XML file. Your future self – the one who will stare at a forgotten comb and wonder where it came from – will thank you.