From the Collection: Cat Locket

by Kiley Berringer (Summer Student)

Usually, when we think of people from the past, it’s hard to imagine that they were like us at all. But, they were, especially when it came to their pets.

Long before people had the convenience of a phone full of pictures of their pets, they had to find other solutions if they wanted to show off their animals. One solution they may have come to is this – a locket with a picture of their precious pet inside. In this particular locket, you can find the photo of someones cat. The owner would have had to go to quite the lengths just for this locket; they would have had to buy a camera in a time before everyone had one, set their cat up and hoped he stayed still long enough to have his photo taken, then taken those photos to be developed, wait for the photos to come back and then cut the picture out and put it into the locket.

When you consider all that, it’s easy to see that this cat must have been very loved. One thing that certainly hasn’t changed is our love for our pets – and how pampered our cats really are.