Figure 1.-- Here we see flat top wide brimmed hat worn by a Virgunia boy in 1890. It is a dark hat, except for the top. Notice the streamers. Click on the image for more information about abot the boy, Dudley McDaniel Diggs, anf his outfit. |
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Most wide-brimmed hats were were done in straw. More narrow brimmed hats might be done in felt, but the really large brims were almost always done in straw. As a result, the largest numbers were natural straw color. We see that in the photographic record. light colors meaning natural straw are the oveweaming number of hats we see. Some of the straw may have been bleached, but as the hats in the portraits see off white, we believe that that natural straw was the major color. Actual colors are difficult to assess, but light and dark shades show up quite easily. We are not entirely sure about the dark color, but it looks like black to us. Most of these hats appear to be single colors, but it is difficult to be sure because of the ways the hats are show in portraits. We see some hats woven with some dark straw elements. And we see some hats with dark tops. These could only be the flat top types.
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