Figure 1.--This cabinet portrait shows a smartly dressed American boy holding a derby/bowler hat. Derby was the popular term in America and bowler more commonly used in Britain whre there were other terms like pork-pie hats. The photographer was Fernando Bessaur in New York City. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the late-1880s or early-90s.

We have little information on the hat worn by American boys during the early-19h century. We see boys wearing peaked military-styled caps. We are less sure about hats. We have much more information once photography appeared in the mid-19th century. While very few Daguerreotypes provide images of boys' headwear, by the 1860s, CDVs begin to provide large numbers of images showing the gats worn by boys. We see many boys wearing rounded-crown hats. This was by far the most common hat style on the 19th century. This became the basis for sailor-styled hats with brims. We also see straw hats becoming important at mid-century. Rounded crown hats with more narow brims were a major style for much of the 19th century. We note them done with many crown and brim variations. We note a wide variety of hat styles. We are not sure what many styles were called or even if they had specific names. We note boys wearing some adult hat styles in the late 19th century. We see some boys wearing adult style hats like bowlers, homberg, but top hats were rarely worn. Cost may have been a factor. Straw boaters appeared in the late-19th century. Hats were never again as popular as thwy were in the late-19th century. Caps became standard for boys in rhe 20th century and headwear in general declined in popularity.

The 1800s

We have little information on the hat worn by American boys during the early-19h century.

The 1830s

We see boys wearing peaked military-styled caps in the 1830s. They seem to be styles created during the Napoleonic Wars.. We are less sure about hats.

The 1840s

We have much more information once photography appeared in the mid-19th century. Very few Daguerreotypes provide images of boys' headwear.

The 1850s

We see straw hats becoming important at mid-century. A factor here was the California Gold Rush (1849). Straw hats existed before the 1850s, but rarely high quality straw hats. Americans rushing to California without an intercontinental railway went by sea. There were two routes, around Cape Horn or across the Istmus of Panama. Either ways they encountered high-quality straw hats in Ecuador or Panama. The hats they encountered there became known as Panama hats because so many 49ers crossed the Istmus of Panama. Most actially came from Ecuador. Rounded crown hats with narow brims were a major style for much of the 19th century, although we are not yet sure about the chronology. They were done in both straw and felt. We note these hats being done with many crown and brim variations. We note a wide variety of hat styles. We are not sure what many styles were called or even if they had specific names.

The 1860s

CDVs by the 1860s begin to provide large numbers of images showing the hats worn by boys. The CDV was done in much greater numbers than the earlier formats (Dags and Ambros). This for the first time we have huge numbers of images showing fashion trends. We see many boys wearing rounded-crown hats. We are not sure just what these hats were called at the time. We tend to call them parson's hats today. This was by far the most common boy's hat style of the 19th century. Men wore them as well, but they were not a particularly fashionable style. We do not see men wearing fashionable suits sporting these parson's hats. We are not entirely sure when it first appeared, but it was the single most important headwear type. This became the basis for sailor-styled hats with brims. Older boys might wear hat styles worn by men. The most fashionable adult hat was the silk top hat that President Lincoln is so famous for wearing.

The 1870s

The CDVs and new cabinet cards provide a wealth of information about fashions in the 1870s. This ll began in the 1860s and the numbers of available images just continued to grow in the 70s. Unlike many othr garmenrs, subjecrs ofren removed their headwear. The mumber of images, however, was so large that we gave a very good idea of hat styles. We see fewer mem wearing top hats, but this was a style boys never wore to any extemt. We see many of the styles popular in the 1860s contuining to be worn in the 70s. The most common hat style for boys continued to be the rounded-crown had with a smm to medium brim. It is often called a parson's hat today. We are not sure what it was called in the 19th century. We see the helet-like stiff bowler hat. This was primarly a man's hat, but we see some boys and teenagers wearing them. We see more straw hats in the 1870s. There were quite a range of tyles. The boater was a style that both boys and men wore. Some has central pirces that rose mkuch higher than the modern comcept of a boater. We are not entirely suure thry were also ncalled a boater. We also see a small straw hat with wide ribbon, called a Nattie, but we do not see many boys wearing them.

The 1880s

We see more varie hedwear styles for boys in the 1880s. We note boys wearing some adult hat styles in the late 19th century. We see some boys wearing what we would describe as adult style hats like bowlers (derbies), homberg, but top hats were rarely worn. The boy here with a derby (bowler) hat is a good example (figure 1). Cost may have been a factor. Straw boaters appeared in the late-19th century. We begin to see them fairly commonly in the 1880s. We also see some caps, but not very many. Many of the caps we see are seasonal winter caps. By far the most common headwear was hats. And by aide margin the principal style was the ronded cron hat with a modest brim. We see some boys wearing wide-brimmed sailor hats, but this was mostly younger boy. The basis headwear for most boys was the standard rounded crown hat with a modest brim. This was the case for most of the 19th century and it continued to be the case in the 1880s. We are not sure what these hatswere called at the time. In catlogs we just see them being called hats. Thre were differences in the crown amd brim, but basically the hats were quite similar. Girls also wore rounded crown hats, but with more variation and often decorations which the boys' hats did not have.

The 1890s

Boys still commonly wore hats in the 1890s, although caps were increasing in popularity. We continue to see rounded crown hats in rural areas the 1890s, but for the last time. Younger boys might wear broad-brimmed sailor hats. This was a popular style worn with both Fauntleroy suits and the other outfits worn by younger boys. Some of these hats were huge compared to the size of the boys. This was not the only headwear worn by younger boy, but it was one of the most popular. Girlsalso wire these hats. They also wore hats decorated with flowers, but these were only for girls abd women. Older boys might wear styles popular with adult men such as derbies and hombergs. For both younger and older boys these hats hats had sovial class conotations. Working-class boys were more likely to wear caps and several styles were popular in the 1890smuch more so than the 1880s. Hats were never again as popular as they were in the late-19th century. Caps became standard for boys in rhe 20th century and we begin to see more caps in the 1890s, including several styles. Headwear in general declined in popularity during the next century, but not immeditely at the turn-of-the century.

Created: 5:25 AM 5/18/2010
Last updated: 2:28 AM 6/3/2018