A hope chest, dowry chest, cedar chest, or glory box is a chest used to collect items such as clothing and household linen, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life.
The term "hope chest" or "cedar chest" may be used primarily by Midwestern and Southern U.S. women, while "glory box" is used by women in Australia. In the UK the term "bottom drawer" was most commonly used.
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The collection of a trousseau was a common coming-of-age rite until approximately the 1950s; it was typically a step on the road to marriage between courting a man and engagement. It wasn't always collected in a special chest, hence the alternative UK term bottom drawer, which refers to putting aside one drawer in a chest of drawers for collecting the trousseau undisturbed, but such a chest was an acceptable gift for a girl approaching a marriageable age. Such chests may have been inherited from their mother or female relatives. They are still a popular gift from woodworking fathers.
Contents of a "hope chest" or "glory box" included typical dowry items such as clothing (especially a special dress), table linens, towels, bed linens, quilts and occasionally dishware. As a bride would typically leave home on marriage, hope chests were sometimes made with an eye to portability, albeit infrequently. A 'bridal chest' was given to a bride at her wedding, by her husband, and so is not a 'hope chest' in this sense.
The typical hope chest is of lidded blanket chest form. In some traditions, there may also be one or two side-by-side drawers beneath. As with blanket chests, a small till may also be found inside for small items.
“ | The gift that starts the home. | ” |
—Lane Cedar Chest co., advertising material[2] |
As the contents of such a chest would primarily be linens, construction in moth-repellent cedar, or at least a cedar lining, was popular. The Lane Company of Altavista, VA (1912, closed 2001)[2] were a notable maker of cedar chests. After developing production-line techniques for making ammunition boxes during World War One, they turned these production techniques and a patent locking-mitre corner joint, into vast numbers of chests. This was aided by strong advertising, using a teenaged Shirley Temple as a model, in a campaign targeted at GIs and absentee sweethearts of World War Two. They were particularly well-known for their practice (since 1930) of distributing miniature (12" long) cedar chests to high-school girls as advertising gifts.[1] The Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) is the "cedar" used in making moth-repelling cedar chests and drawers, as well as pencils.
Decoration is not an intrinsic part of the hope chest, but often appears.
"Glory Box" is also the title of a song from the band Portishead. The song is about a woman who is giving up her time as a temptress to commit to a settled life with a man, asking him to take a look from her side every now and then.
In the 2005 movie Me and You and Everyone We Know,[3] the character of Sylvie collects household items described as her dowry, and stores them in a chest in her bedroom.
In the 1985 movie Back to the Future,[4] the character Lorraine McFly refers to having placed Marty McFly's pants "over there...on my hope chest" after he had been knocked unconscious. The joke implies her romantic interest in Marty where unbeknownst to Lorraine, Marty is her son from the future.