To put it simply, Deborah Weddle of Fayetteville is a fan of fans -- folding fans -- antique folding fans.
"I'm a history buff," she says. "And I love to hold a piece of history in my hand."
"My degree is in anthropology and archaeology," she continues. "I love old things. And to think that something is more that 200 or 250 years old, and that it's very delicate and still around ... "
Weddle collects European and American fans "that are not super valuable or very rare, although fans of the 18th and 19th centuries are becoming increasing scarce," she says.
Her collection traces a timeline through history. The folding fan probably originated in China, says this enthusiast, who says she owns practically every book written about fans. Chinese emperor Hsien Yuan (circa 2697 B.C.) reputedly used fans, reads a history from the Fan Association of North America. Murals in the tombs of Egypt's pharaohs show servants holding long palm leaves to cool their rulers.
"There were fans in every society with a hot climate," Weddle says.
As trade routes were established, China exported fans to Europe and other countries in the West. "In the 18th century, they were all the rage," Weddle says.
"Fans had become an integral part of a woman's life, chronicling events of the world as well as personal moments," reads the FANA history. They might have been given as gifts when a woman became engaged, married, had a child or lost a loved one.
And just as the styles changed in fashion, so did the style of fans, Weddle continued. "It reflects the social mores, the time in politics and history."
Women carried fans during the mid-1700s that featured a central piece of art. Scenes from mythology were popular. "It shows she was familiar with the classics," Weddle says. "Education for women in the 1700s was fairly uncommon." Others featured Bible stories, "and would have been suitably modest for carrying in church. It showed a woman's piety and knowledge," she adds.
Depictions of such stories with subtle colors probably came from England or the Netherlands in the 17th-18th centuries showed the woman was a member of the elite class, she continues. "Peasants did not carry fans," Weddle points out. "Where would they show it off if they were out in the field working?"
By the 19th century, new printing methods made fans affordable for the middle and lower classes, but these cheaper fans often did not survive.
One of Weddle's fans seems rather ordinary when opened; the sticks, however, are intricately and beautifully carved ivory, probably made by members of a European craft guild around 1790 to 1800. Often, fan sticks were intricately carved in China, French workers added the leaves and a French artist painted the picture. In the modern era, most sticks are cut by machine.
Fashions changed after the French Revolution and so did fans, Weddle says. In response to the excesses of the court which led to Louis XVI's execution, women of means left behind their huge skirts and tight corsets in favor of the Neoclassical style influenced by early Greek culture -- narrow dresses with flowing skirts.
"Clothing was much less elaborate. Fans, too," Weddle says. The Minute Empire, or "minuet," fans were quite small, she says, showing one of ivory net with spangles sewn on. "This would really sparkle from the candles in a ballroom," she continues. "Otherwise, it's very fairly useless as a cooling device."
"Whether machine or hand-painted, fans remained popular through the Victorian and Edwardian eras," reads the history. Special exhibitions of fans and prizes for designers fueled the use of fans as vehicles for advertising, which continued into the modern era as cardboard "funeral home fans" or church fans, says Carolyn Reno, director of collections for the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale.
In the Victorian era, fans once again became quite elaborate. Weddle displays a circa 1880s opera fan of black ostrich plumes. One of the first fans in her collection, Weddle purchased it for less than $100, she says.
"But times were changing, soon women were voting, working outside the home, driving, smoking," the history reads. "With their hands as busy as their lives, women no longer felt comfortable carrying a fan, with the exception of special occasions."
"In the 1920s, they had ditched the big skirt for the flapper dress," Weddle says. "They were holding a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other and couldn't hold a fan."
In the 21st century, fans still reflect the fashion and politics of the day; some were even sold to celebrate the second inauguration of President Barak Obama. "But the 21st-century fans are mostly plastic," Weddle says. "I like the age and craftsmanship."
A highlight of Weddle's collection probably was no more than a simple souvenir. In the 1800s, as children of breeding came of age, they embarked on a "grand tour" of France, Italy and Spain. "And you had to go to Naples," Weddle says. "That was the pinnacle."
Fans such as these were brought home to be given as souvenirs to friends and family. Weddle's fan from this era includes pictures and identifying captions of a grape harvest and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, among others. Friezes around the edge of the fan reflect designs found when Pompeii was excavated in the late 1800s.
"I'm such a tourist," Weddle says. "It has a volcano on it. How cool is that?
"(These souvenir fans) were like Disney's Mickey ears, but now they're hard to find. I saw one up for auction in New York for $2,000. I didn't pay anything near that for this."
Weddle has collected fans for about eight years and counts about 30 in her collection -- most found in flea markets, antique stores or bought on eBay. Not many people collect fans, Weddle says. FANA's membership roll lists only 147 members, and Weddle is the only one in Arkansas, according to Katherine Lukas, president of FANA.
Weddle would like to connect with collectors to share the history associated with individual fans and other knowledge. "No two are the same," she says. "They're little stories."
Fans are difficult to care for and even harder to restore. "For those who want to collect fans, don't buy damaged ones because they can't be easily repaired," she says. "If a stick's broken, you can't simply glue it. It will always be in that condition.
"Fans can be expensive," she continues. "Those that weren't used, rather were a family heirloom passed down for generations, might be worth sending to a professional restorer. So many survived because they were just put away in trunks or tucked away in the back of a closet."
As Weddle wrapped her collection after a recent showing, she found a loose sequin in the bin that holds her collection. Hand-sewn embellishments often fall off fans. "It's just a sequin, but that sequin is 250 years old."
Weddle has considered carrying a fan -- a green one from the early 1900s with a wooden handle that she bought for $5. "If it broke, it wouldn't break my heart," she says.
"Perhaps they'll come back in fashion. Women in England still wear hats.
"Those big dresses -- I'm glad that's not me," she continues, remarking on a fashion of the past. I'm glad to have air conditioning, so the fans are just a flirtatious fashion statement today."
NAN Profiles on 02/15/2015