Whanganui museum notebook: Learn more about mittens and muffs

White feather down muff. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 1802.2464

In our efforts to keep our hands warm we often wear gloves, and perhaps mittens, but not so much is known about muffs.

Collins NZ Dictionary defines a glove as "a shaped covering for the hand with individual sheaths for each finger and the thumb."

A mitten is "a glove with one section for the thumb, and a single section for the fingers."

A muff is "a tube of fur or fabric into which the hands are placed".

Mittens are the most thermally efficient handwarmers.

Historically they are also the oldest form of hand protection, and essential for any peoples living anywhere in lands with frozen winters and temperatures falling well below zero.

The fur-bearing animals of these regions provide immediate materials. The exterior of the treated skins are tough wearing and provide good weather protection.

The furry side is turned so that it becomes a warm lining. The famous polar explorers of the late 1890s in the Arctic and Antarctic found them invaluable.

Muffs first became popular from about the 1570s.

The earliest examples would indicate that for a passenger wrapped warmly in fur rugs in a sleigh racing over the snow, hiding both hands at once in a roll of soft fabric could be a very pleasant experience.

Inside the muff there could also be a cylinder of glass or ceramic containing hot water - literally a hot water bottle.

By the 1890s in winter-bound cities the possibilities for walking about outside brought a different focus to muffs as fashion.

Long coats, with little hoods called tippets, muffs, and boots made for a cosy outing. Fashions and furs again made a resurgence in the 1920s and 1930s, but slowly fell from favour.

The Whanganui Regional Museum collection of mittens and muffs includes seven muffs and five pairs of mittens.

There are three fur muffs, one of which is made of beaver fur. Another is black with a trim of astrakhan, from the fleece of Russian lambs, and the white muff with its goose down exterior is a wedding muff.

Silk formal and oilskin tramping mittens. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 2000.27.2 and 2008.40.13

Muffs are still popular nowadays for winter weddings.

Of the mittens, two pairs are knitted of fine wool for babies and two pairs are of fine cotton or silk.

These were very fashionable for formal wear when tea parties and dances were popular.

They could be long or short and were certainly not for warmth since they were fingerless.

This allowed the fingers to easily manage delicate teacups or the writing of names into a dance programme.

The most modern is a canvas tramping mitten. It was presented in 2008 by Judith Timpany, a well-known Whanganui resident.

The fabric has been treated with oil for waterproofing. Modern mittens seen on the ski slopes today are made of synthetic but breathable waterproof fabric and are very supple.

As always in the museum collections, each object tells the story of its time and place in history.

*Mary Laurenson is a volunteer at the Whanganui Regional Museum.