Figure 1.--These two family snapshots show thee unidentified siblings (two boys and we think their little sister) in what looks like the grounds to their family estate with their pull toys. They look to be about 2-7 years of age. The youngester child wears a dress. The midddle child wears a blouse kilt suit. The older bboys wears a blouse and knee pants. If you look closely you can see the boys' hats. The middle child wears a wide-brimmed boater. He is holding it by the chinstrap. The older boy is wearing a broad-brimmed hat. Notice how he has allowes it to fall down his back, but supported by the chin strap. The snapshot is undated, but the cabinet card mount style and out-door setting suggest that it was taken in the early-1900s decade. The late 1890s is possible. Click on the image for a another view.
The broad-brimmed hat is perhaps the most umpractival headwear of any description ever made for boys. We supose it was fine a long as the boy was sitting still and indoors. But of course hats are made for outdoor wear. There is no way an active child could have worn these hats enjoyably. This was not as large of a priblems with girls who are more sedate, but it must have beenmore of an issiue with boys. And of course any wisk of wind would hve blown them off, although many have chin straps. As a result we wonder how the hats were sactually wornm. Most 19th century images when these hats were actually wern studio portaits with the children dressed to the nines. The portrait of the two Connecticut brothers on the oprevious page is a good example. Family amnateur snapshots were known in the 1890s, but were not common until the appearance of the Kodak Brownie (1900). This was the last decade in which these hats were very commonly worn. So we have a few images of children wearing these hats outdoors. We have not found a lot of examples, but we hasve found a few. Some sdhow the children gong to formal occassions, but others sow the children playing with hese hats, often staged scenes.
