Accession No
6855
Brief Description
document, Synopsis & Analysis of the Mental Qualities of Mr. C.V. Lane, by Professor Hatfield, Graduate of the American Institute of Phrenology, English, 1921
Origin
England; Scarborough
Maker
Hatfield, W.
Class
manuscripts
Earliest Date
1921
Latest Date
1921
Inscription Date
Material
paper; metal (brass)
Dimensions
140mm (width), 80mm (height), 210mm (depth)
Special Collection
Provenance
Donated by a relative of C.V. Lane.
Inscription
Description Notes
Document, Synopsis & Analysis of the Mental Qualities of Mr. C.V. Lane, by Prof. Hatfield, Graduate of the American Institute of Phrenology, 1921.
Paper and card pad with phrenological analysis of Mr C.V. Lane handwritten by W. Hatfield. Front and back cover in green card, pad fastened together with two brass split pins. 19 cream paper pages between the covers, all with handwritten text. The final page is signed "W. Hatfield, 39 Hunhiss Row, Scarboro', Aug 1921". The front cover is printed with the text "Anthropology. Synopsis & Analysis of the Mental Qualities of [Mr C.V. Lane, written in by hand] by Prof. Hatfield, Graduate of the American Institute of Phrenology, (Flower, Wells & Co.), New York. It features line-drawing portraits of Gladstone, Napoleon, Beaconsfield, Emerson, Byron, Shakespeare and Edison. The back cover features a printed poem entited "Life's Mirror".
References
Events
Description
This notepad was used by William Hatfield for registering phrenological information of a Mr. C. V. Lane at his office in Scarborough. Phrenologists like Hatfield believed that the shape of the brain and skull determined the emotional and intellectual characteristics of a person. The notepad describes Lane and makes lifestyle recommendations based on the shape of his skull, noting that he is “best adapted to marry a flexible, womanly woman, one who is cheerful, industrious, & domesticated.” While phrenology was popular for a while in the early nineteenth century, it was a shrinking community in Hatfield’s time. It is now rejected as a harmful pseudoscience, especially because its practices relied on racist claims that linked personality traits to supposed human “races”.
Label by Emmy Östberg
24/06/2026
Created by: Hannah Price on 24/06/2026
FM:47732
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