Figure 1.-- Thus cabinet card portrait shows an unidentified brother and sister who llok to be 10-12 years of age. I think the girl is the older one. She wears a white dress with a cross tie and small sash. The cross tie was not common for girls. Her brother wears a knee pants suit and is hilding a rounded-crown straw hat. Both children wear dark long stockings and button high-top shoes. The portrait ius undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1890s. The studio Hammer in St. Louis, Missouri.

Various mterials are used for these rounded-crown caps and this varied depending on the type. The primary type of rounded crown hats that we have seen in the photograpohiuc record were hard or stiff hats in the sence that they could not be crumpled up. They were not hard in the sence that they could not be damaged, but they could not be crumpled up and put in a pocket. These hard hats were primarily done in felt, but we also see quite a number done in straw. An example of a felt rounded-crown hat is one an unidentified Maine boy is holding, we think in the 1880s. The boy here is holding a straw rounded-crown hat (figure 1). The brim is a little wider than most rounded-crown hats. It is on the norderline between rounded-crown hats and broad/wide brimmned hats. Another good example of a straw hat is the one by an unidentified Dakota Territory boy has laid on a chair, we think in the 1870s. We also see boys earing soft rounded-crown hats with these hats. These soft hats were done in fabric. We see a few done in the same fabric as the boys' suits. These matching hats would have been sold with the suit as a set. The boy on the previous page is holding a soft rounded-crown hat which seems to match his suit. The soft fabric hats were not as common as the hard hats, but we see quite a few.

Created: 11:35 AM 8/22/2018
Last updated: 11:35 AM 8/22/2018