Figure 1.--The New York Garrison siblings were photographed September 21, 1886. Apparently the weather was still warm as the boy does not wear a jacket. Notice the very fancy straw hat that the girl wears and her little brother's very plain felt hat. The studio was Bennett & Co. in New York. It was on Broadway so was presumably a high end studio.

Both boys and girls wore rounded crown hats, but there were many other styles as well. But there are noticeable differences. The unturned brims are less common with the girls. And we see older girls wearing wide brims. The most notable difference is that the girls' hats are highly decorated. Wwe see more variation and often decorations which the boys' hats did not have. Norice the children on the previous page. And the Garrison children here (figure 1). This is along with center hair parts is probanly the most accurate gender indicator in old photographs. Notice that some of the children with deorated hats look like boys. Even so, a decorated hat is a fairly reliable indicator that the child is a girl. Actually we are a little surprised that there is such a difference between the boys' and the girls' hats. We have seen all the styles of girls hats that we see here. We got the impression that younger boys and girls wore some similar hat styles, although many hats were clearly for girls. The decorted hats are clearly for girls. And while the material used to make the hats is not always clear, straw hats seem much more prevlent with the girls than with the boys. We supect the reason is that they were easier to shpe and decorate, although durability may also be a factor.

Created: 11:32 PM 10/28/2017
Last updated: 11:32 PM 10/28/2017