Figure 1.--This postcrd back snapshot shows three unidentified children, from Cpolubus Ohio. A girl and two boys, wear different straw hats in the 1900s. The older boy wears a boater. The other two children wear medium-brim hats. Notice the flower decorations on the little girl's hat.

American boys in the 19th century mostly wore hats. And a good many as we can see in the photographic record were straw hats. Several of these styles were done in straw and other material like felt. Cataloging the types of hats from the photographic record. This is a little complicated because we only see part of the hat in many portraits. Straw is a material of course rather than a style. We see these straw hats being done in a variety of different styles. Several popular for children, both boys and girls. Almost always staw was used for hats, although we have seen cheap caps made in straw during the 20th century. Two of the most familiar are boaters and broad-brimmed sailor hats. We note styles like rounded crown and flat-top hats. All of these styles were essentially versions of sailor inspired hats. We have found many examples in the photographic records. Some of the styles like boaters were only done in straw. Others like rounded-crown hats were done in other materials like felt. Straw hat styles were wirn by both boys and girls but often with gender specifuc styling.

Created: 9:34 AM 7/5/2017
Last updated: 9:35 AM 7/5/2017