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We note American boys wearing many different styles of caps and hats. The basic difference is the brim. A hat has a full brim while a cap has only a partial brim. We do not have much information on 18th century styles, but we have a good bit of information about 19th and 20th century styles. We notice boys wearing sailor hats, but no other hat style was especially common for boys. Several hat styles were worn over time. Some boys wore rather adult styles like vowlers while others wore the more juvenile sailor hats. No hat style was nearly as common as the different cap styles. Hats seem some what more common for upper class families, but this destinction does not seem as prominant as is the case for adults. American boys wore the same hat styles as worn in Europe. The one destinctive style was the cowboy hat.
One of the early attractions of the far west was beaver. The fur trade was a major ecomomic activity in Canada and then in America after the Louisiana Purchase opened up the Rocky Mountins. It was the fur trade trapping several animals, but the mot common furbearing animal was the beaver. And it was the beaver tht was used for hats. The hat generally associated with the beaver was the stove-pipe top hat. This was not a style for boys. But a few boys wore them in the first half of the 19th century. Unfortunately photograpy did not appear until 1839 with Daguerreotype an the number of images were limuted until the decelopment of the CDV in the 1860s. We have found one with a ittle boy holding a plush large rounded crown hat with a large striped hair band and bow. The hat looks rather like a stetsonbut brim looks to be turn up at the front. Dating Dags is difficult. The dealer believes the portait was taken in the early-50s.
A boater is a summer hat normally made in straw. They are also called bashers and skimmers. I am not entirely sure of its origins, but may have been originally a Royal Navy style. This explains the name. There is a definite association with sailing and boating. The boater is a hat with a medium width brim and flat crown. It can be worn with a colorful ribbon band. In England boys wore it as a school cap and the hat band would be done in the school colors. This was less common in Anerica. We see American boys wearing straw boaters. It was not a major style for American boys, but we do see some wearing them. I am assuming it was a style imported from England, but am not yet positive about this. We are not sure about the chronology. We note straw boaters in the 1870s, but they may have appeared earlier. We note boys wearing them at the turn of the 20th century. The 1900s-10s seems to have been the peak of popularity. We also notice them in the 1920s, but do not see many boys wearing them by the 20s.
The bowler is so named because it looked like an upturned bowl. See "Derby for more information.
Some hats were done with broad/wide brims. Broad-brimmed are roughly synonmous with sailor hats. They are also called wide-brimmed hats. This is one of several hat styles that overlp with other trypes. There were other styles like cowboy (stetson) hats, but for the most part the ones worn by boys were a form of sailor hat. That is not to say they were always worn with sailor outfits. Many were which is why that became known as sailor hats, but they were also worn with a range of juveile outfits like Fauntleroy suits and blouses and kilt suits. There ws ni special caracteristic anout wide-brimmed hats that made them sailor hats. Of course if they had a naval hat band (tally) than that was obviously a sailor hat, but most did not. In fact, broad-brimmed hats would not have been worn by sailors. The wind would catch broad-beimmed hats and carry them overboard. They were popular for children's sailor hats, but not for actual sailors. They were worn by both boys and girls. The style was the same for boys and girls. They were commonly worn by younger boys, often pre-school boys. It was seen as a dressy style. Some older boys wore them, but they were more styled like boatrers. Another type of broad-brimmed hat was the cowboy hat or Stetson. These were not, however, commonly worn by boys.
The bucket hats we have noted for children are primarily different types of sun hats. We see adults wearing different versions, but mostly fishermen, golfers, and soldiers (boonie hats). These are not versions worn by children. We notice web sites selling children's bucket hats come up with their own names such as 'resercher'.
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American boys wore the same hat styles as worn in Europe. The one destinctive style was the cowboy hat. The cowboy hat as we know it today seems to have appeared in the 1860s. This is the same time as the Civil War and may have evolved out of the uniforms of calvary units. The classic cowboy hat was made by the Stetson company. This American classic is now rarely seen except in some of the Western states. American boys now only want to wear baseball caps.
The origins of some hats is difficult to ascertain with any surity. The origin of the derby or bowler as it is known in Britain, however, is well established. The bowler is a hard felt hat with a pronounced rounded crown--roughly half of a circle. It was created for Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester in 1850. It was a kind of early helmet, although different therories exist as for its purpose. Some suggest it was to protect horsenack riders from low hanging tree branches. he popularity of the term derby suggests the association with horseback riding. Others believe it was to protect game keepers being attacked by poachers. The term bowler came into use because of the name of the hatmakers who got the first contract (Thomas and William Bowler). They called it the "iron hat", but bowler caught on. In Britain it became identified with butlers and male personal servants as well as professional men (bankers and civil servants). It was more widely worn in America. It was a hat style that seemed to stand between the formality of the top hat (commonly associated with the wealthy) and casual nature flat caps of the the working classes. It was primarily an adult style. Some boys in the late 19th century wore rather adult styles like bowlers. We note some boys after about age 10 wearing bowlers. Families varied. Most chose more juvenile styles for boys, but we see some fairly young boys wearing adult-looking bowlers. It seems rsather strange today, but apprently was quite accepted at the time. We are not entirely sure about the social-class conventions involved.
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The fedora is a soft felt hat with a relatively narrow brim. The crown is creased lengthwise and pinched in the front on both sides. The pinch is the major difference between the fedora and homberg. There were various styles of fdora, noemally involving variayions in the width of the brim and how it was worn and the height and pincing of the crown. Similar hats with a C-crown (with an indentation for the head in the top of the crown) are occasionally called fedoras. The term fedora began to be used in the 1890s, although few boys wore them at the time. The fedora came into use as an upper-class clothing accessory. Hats that resemble the soft felt version are often called fedoras even if they are made of straw or twill. We note some boys in the first half of the 20th century. They seem especilly common during the 1940s and 50s. They were a formal style and boys normally wore them when dressing up in suits. Hats were still commonly worn at the time. Today we tend to see those hats as rather old fashioned and worn only by men. But at the time teenagers and even occassionlly pre-teens wore them. Interestingly, the fedora became the iconic headwear of Al Capone era gangsters. Even so mothers bought them for their sons.
This is another hat style for which we do not know the proper name. We can only describe and the main feature and add more detailed information as our archive expands. Hopefully HBC readers sill know more. The major feature is the high stiff sides. It was not a high-top hat that were worn by men in the 1850s-70s, but there are destinctive high sides, quite destinct from the much more popular rounded-crown hats without notable sides. They were somewhere between boaters and top hats. There were variations in the height, vericality of the side, width of brim, and hat top with both rounded and flat tops. We do not know how popular this hat was, but we have not notice it very commnly in the photographic record, suggesting they were not nearly as popular as several other styles. We also do not know the chronology of these hats. They may have been most popular just before the advent of photography. We note that George Caleb Bingham in his election paintings from the mid-19th century depicts both men and boys wearing rather conical shaped hats. We do not see this much after the Civil War. Here we notice one boy holding an example of a high-sided hat with perpindicular sides in 1865. Nor do we know the age conventions. Bingham's paintings depict both men and boys wearing them. The boy holding the example is about 10 years old. We notice another American boy, Clifton Harrison, wearing another high-sided hat, this one slightly conical, in 1866.
The homberg is a formal, stiff felt dress hat, only slightly less formal than a top hat. The homberg can be done in fur. The basic feature of the homburg is a crease running down the full length of the crown--the center dent. The hats varied, both th crown and brim. The crowns varied in height. The brims varied in size and some were sharply curled and bownd. The slightly turned up brim all the way around is a another feature that can distunguish the homberg from the fedora. heir commonly was a leather sweat band. The homberg is similar to the fedora, but lacks the pinces commonly associated with the fedora. The homberg originated in Germany. The homberg was popularized in the 19th century when the future Edward VII he brought the hat back to England after a visit to Bad Homburg in Hessen (Germany). The homberg can be done in various colors, especially black, grey, and brown. Some Americans see the homberg as a gangter hat--the Godfather hat, but this is a confusion with the fedora. These hats tend to have an especially wide brim with the brim more sharply turned up at the sides. This is not a style we very often see boys wearing. We do notice a few examples of boys wearing hombergs, mostly upper-class boys.
We see some boys and young men wearing a hat with a very low crown, usually flat top. We have no idea what to call these hats or how they were sescribed at the time. We think it was seen as a sporty style. We note it arond the turn of the 20th century. We do not think it was particularly popular, at least we do not see many examples in the photographic record. Which is an importantbinducator of populkarity for these historical styles. One example is a Boston boy in the 1890s. He looks to be about 11 years old. Later it seems a Zoot Suit style (1940s).
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A Nor'easter/Sou'wester is a traditional form of collapsible oilskin rain hat that is longer in the back than the front to keep the rain from running down the neck. A gutter front brim is sometimes featured. We believe it was devloped for fishermen to protect them from the weather. We note both Nor'easter/Sou'wester being used. We do not know if there was a difference or just different names for the same hat. It seems to have been developed by Gloucester fishermen working the North Atlantic fishery. For that reason they also became known as Cape Ann hats. Fishermen were much more exposed the ordinary sailors. They often worked in small boats and had to contend with extrodinarily harsh weather conditions. Waves and freezing rain peled the men and slahed into their the dories while the men worked. Before the development of rubberized clothing, the fishermen wore oil skinned coats For a measure of protection. Thus the hats are also known as oil-skin hats. We begin to see efforts t water ptroofing (18th century). Cloth garments were handmade using sailcloth by bpinting on a thin layer of tar. Canvas duck was coated with multiple applications of linseed oil and paint. Eventually rubberized versions were developed. They were not major boy's style, but we notice some boys wrearing the, in the early-20th century, ee suspect mostly in the Northeast. We mist see boys wearing them in the early-20th century. We nowe notice these hats offered on the internet for younger school age children in all kinds of bright colors, including shades that would appeal to girls. We are not sure how popular they are. We suspect that they are not big sellers as modern parents are less likely to send younger kids out in the driving rain.
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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 cll 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 vary 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 were used for these caps and this dfiffered depending on the type.
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While the wide-brimmed sailor hat may have originated in England and appeared later in America, it was enormously popular in the 1880s-1900s. We notice many American boys wearing sailor hats. It was a hat style specifically for children. Both boys and girls wore them. No other hat style was especially common for younger boys. There were many cap styles specifically for boys, but hat styles wee somewhay less common. Several hat styles were worn over time, but the most common was a wide-brimmed style mostly worn by younger boys. There were variations in styles of these sailor hats, both the brim and the crown. Some of the brims were very large. For some reason the younger boys seem to have had the hats with the largest brims. They were commonly made with chin straps and streamers. They were often worn with sailor suits, but were also worn with mny other juvenile styles.
We have seen a number of boys wearing these hats. We are not entirely sure about the name "soft hats". But it seems a general category that should be mentioned. There may have been others terms used. These are hats without a shaped crown, but rather has a rather crumpled look. This gives them a rather informal appearance that does not look quite right with a suit, at least to ourvmodern eyes. We are nor sure about the chronology here. We have not yet found examples from the19th century. We do note them in the early 20th century. Boys wearing knicker suits are commonly seen with flat caps. Soft hats were much less common, but we do see them. So far we have noted them in the 1900s-20, but do not se them in the 1930s.
Straw is a material of course rather than a style. We see them being done in a variety of different styles. Almost always staw was used for hasts, although we have seen cheap caps made in straw during the 20th century. Two of the most important are boaters and broad-brimmed sailor hats. We note styles like rounded crown and flat-top hats. All of these styles are essentially versions of sailor inspired hats. We are entirely sure when straw hats first became widely worr in America. We see locally made examples in the early-19th century. Thomas Sully's beautiful portrait of his son is a good example--"Boy with a torn hat" (1820). We suspect it was in the 1850s after the Califotrnia Gold Rush that straw hats became more fashionable. Many Americans traveled to California through Panama. Some straw hats were called Pamamas. (Actually the hats mostly came from Ecuador and Peru.) We have much more informatiin with the invention of phptography. We note many examples in Dauerrotypes, although we can not differentiate between 1840s and 1850s Dags. We note a good example early example from the 1840s--an unidentified younger teenager. Note the brim, height, and crown. We do not have mamny images from the 50s and 60s of straw hats, but we notice them in the 1870s. A good example is an unidentified boy.
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This is one of several hats that we are not entirely sure what to call. For now we will call them sun hats. Perhaps a HBC reader will have some idea of the correct name for these hats. They were made in different materials, but not staw. We note both both soft hats that could be folded off as well as hats with stiffer crowns. We see boys wearing them with both the brims down and up. We are mot entirely sure about the chronology of these hats, but seem to see them in America mostly in the early 20th century. They were usually light-colored hats, but se see a few dark hats as well. We see boys wearing these hats mostly during the summer which is one reason we call them sun hats, but we note a few photographs of boys wearing them with coats as well.
See broad-brimmed hats.
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