Figure 1.--This portrait is undated, but the boys' outfits look like the 1860s to us. The photographic record suggest tht fur caps were no longer very common by the 1860s, but perhaps these boys lived in a backwoods area. I'm not sure what kind of fur is involved here. They seem to have ribbon streamers at the back rather than coon or other animal tails. Note thsat their caps are the only backoods garment that they are wearing.

There appear to be two basic types of fur hats. One are the roughly made caps of frontier America. The other is the more refined an expesive caps we see children wearing in the late-19th century. We believe that fur caps were worn in the 17th and 18th century, mostly on the frontier. Boys in more settled areas or the towns were more likely to wear European fashions. We do not have a lot of information on what these caps may have looked like. Of course we have the Hollywood image of the Davy Crockett cook-skin cap with the coon tail hanging dowmn the back. Just how common this actually was I am not sure. As these caps were mostly worn before photography becme common place so we have few images. We do not yet have any written information. I think fur hats were worn in the far north. As fur was becoming increasingly expensive, they were not commonly worn after the mid-19th century. This is confirmed by the limited number of these pioneer-type fur hat images in the photographic record. We see more images of well-to-do boys with the commercially produced fur caps. They seem to be motly done as round brimless caps with flat crowns. I'm not sure what the proper name was for these caps.

Pioneer/Frontier Caps

There appear to be two basic types of fur hats. One are the roughly made caps of frontier America. The other is the more refined an expesive caps we see children wearing in the late-19th century. We believe that fur caps were worn in the 17th and 18th century, mostly on the frontier. Boys in more settled areas or the towns were more likely to wear European fashions. We do not have a lot of information on what these caps may have looked like. Of course we have the Hollywood image of the Davy Crockett cook-skin cap with the coon tail hanging dowmn the back. Just how common this actually was I am not sure. As these caps were mostly worn before photography becme common place so we have few images. We do not yet have any written information. I think fur hats were worn in the far north. As fur was becoming increasingly expensive, they were not commonly worn after the mid-19th century. This is confirmed by the limited number of these pioneer-type fur hat images in the photographic record.

Commercial Caps

We see more images of well-to-do boys with the commercially produced fur caps. They seem to be motly done as round brimless caps with flat crowns. Some had flaps that could be let doewn o cover the ears in cols weather. I'm not sure what the proper name was for these caps. A problem here is that catalogs commonly did not indicate the proper names for the caps offered. These caps seem to have varied in popularity regionally. They seem nost popular in the north. I'm not sure what fur was used. They were probably sone in different furs at various price levels. I don't know much abvout these caps yet to know about stylistic variations.

Created: 12:58 AM 12/11/2007
Last updated: 12:59 AM 12/11/2007