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We notice many American boys in the mid-19th century wearing a rounded crown hat with relatively narrow brims. We are not sure just what we should call these hats. Period catalogs generally just refer to hats without any specific names. They were made in many different varitions. The two basic types of rounded-crown hats are hard and soft crown hats. The soft rounded-crown hats look rather like caps, but as they have brims all around they are actually hats. The crown could be arched to various extents. Some were almost flat. Most were clearly rounded. The brims varied in size, but were mostly quite narrow.
I think the origins of the hats may have been sailior hats, in part because they appeared at about the same time the sailor style began to be worn by boys. I don't think they were preceived at the time as a sailor hat, although we have been able to find very little written information about these hats. We notice many boys with these hats in studio portraits. They were also commonly worn to school. Various mterials are used for these caps and this varied depending on the type.
We notice many American boys in the mid-19th century wearing a rounded crown hat with relatively narrow brims. This was one of the most popular styles for boys in the mid- and late-19th century, especially with school-age boys.
We are not sure just what we should call these hats. Period catalogs generally just refered to hats without any specific names.
These hats were popular in the mid- and late-19th century. We have not found much written about these hats, but we can construct a basic chronology through the photographic record. We do not yet know the precise chronology. We are not sure just when they first appeared, in part because of the lack of photography in the early 19th century. We are not sure about the 1830s. We believe that they probably appeared in the 1840s, but can not yet conform this. Nor are we sure who first introduced this style. We certainly see the hard type of these caps being worn by the 1850s. This was one of the most common type of headwear for boys. We note the soft type by the 1880, but am unsure just when they first appeared. We still these these hats being worn in the 1890s, but they become much less common after the turn-of-the 20th century, in part because boys began wearing caps more commonly.
These rounded-crown hats were made in many different varitions. The two basic types of rounded-crown hats are hard/stiff and soft crown hats. The soft rounded-crown hats look rather like caps, but as they have brims all around they are actually hats. The hard version was by far the most common. Styling depended on the type of hat. The crown varied substantially from hat to hat. We see wide variation in the crowns of the hard hats . The crown could be arched to various extents. Some were almost flat. Most were clearly rounded, but the arch could vary substantially. The brims also varied in size, but were mostly of moderate or narrow with. The hat bands could alo also varied. Some seem to have had tassels.
We notice boys hats with tassles. This seemed most common in the early-19h century. We still see a few examples at mid-century. We see a few rounded-crown hats with tassles. They were not very long and did not hang down over the brim. This was as far as we can tell from the photographic record not very common. This was both the case for the rounded=crown hsats and for the 1860s. These tassles deem to be a boys' styles with military origins. We do not note them on girls hats.
Rounded crown hats seem to have been primarily for school-age children during the 19th century. Caps were not as common for boys in the mid-19th century as they would become later in the century. Younger boys had more desinctive headwear styles. We also see younger teen agers wearing rounded-crown hats. The headwear worn by mid-teens could vary. This varied from family to family. Older teenagers turned to more adult styles. This seems to have varied somewhat demographically. Teenagers in rural areas may have worn these rounded-crown caps to older ages than more stylish city boys. Social class may have also been a factor. We suspect that boys from affluent familes were better able to keep up with the syles of the day. Thus working-class boys, especially fom rural families, woyld be likely to have worn these hats to older ages. The age of boys wearing these hats varied somewhat over time. We note older bots wearing these hats at mid-century than at the end of the century.
I think the origins of the hats may have been sailior hats, in part because they appeared at about the same time the sailor style began to be worn by boys. I don't think they were preceived at the time as a sailor hat, although we have been able to find very little written information about these hats.
Hats were much more common in the 19th than the 20th century, especially the second half of the 20th century. These hats were thus very commonly worn. We notice many boys with these hats in studio portraits. They were also commonly worn to school.
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. A 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 here is holding a soft rounded-crown hat which seems gto match his suit (figure 1). The soft fabric hats were not as common as the hard hats, but we see quite a few.
We note boys wearing these hats with a with range of clothing, depending on age and other factors. We have seen bpys wearing these hats with all kinds of outfits. They were not associated with any specific style of suit or other outfit. As far aa we can tell, this was a kind of all purpose boys' hat. It could be worn with virtually any kind of boys' clothing during the 19th century. We are not entirely sure about dresses, but believe they were worn with dresses. We do see them with virtually all aother types of boys' outfits. This incluses dress up clithing like suits as well as more casual outfits like just a shirt and pants. We note a younger Pennsylvania boy wearing a rounded-crown hat with a kilt suit. Rounded crown hats were commonly worn with suits. We notice many other portraits of older boys wearing the hats with different styles of suits. Most boys would have only one hat. Thus he would wear it with whatever type of outfit he put on that day. Boys at the time did not have large wardrobes, although hat were very commonly worn. An exception here was a cold weather winter hat worn with a coat.
We also see girls wearing these rounded-crown hats, butvtghey were often decorated in some way. Boys' rounded crown hats were rarely decorated.
Caps appeared and were dominant in the early-19th century, probably because of the Napoleonic Wars. It was hats that dominated most of the 19th century, and the dominated style was what is often called the a preacher's hat--a rounded crown felt hat with a medium brim. No other headwear has so dominated American boys; wear and for so long a period. The only other headwear that was so dominant was the flat-cap (1910s-20s), but for a much shorter period. We see entire classes and small schools with the boys all wearing the same hat style--the classic rounded-crown hat. And with the advent of photography (1839) we are able to follow this in some details, especially with the appearance of the CDV (1860s). This was the standard headwear of American boys for most of the 19th century. It is thus what most boys wore to school which is amply demostrated in the photigraphic record. The school portait here is a good exanple (figure 1). We at first thought that straw hats would have been the most common hat, but the photographic record clearly shows that this was not the case. It was the felt rounded-crown hat that we see most commonly. And for the most part they look very well worn, suggesting tht th boys commonly wore them annd not just to school. We suspect that durability may have been a factor. Straw hats may have been more common in the summer when warm weather was common. What ever the case, we rarely see straw hats at school in the photographic record. We believe that these hats were especially common in rural areas.
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