Figure 1.--This colorized Daguerreotype shows Charles Gatlick's straw hat, we think in the 1840s. Notice the flat top and high straight sides. Click on the image to see the full portrait and the boy wearing it with an Eton collar suit jacket and red colored vest. .

We are entirely sure when straw hats first became widely worn 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). The hat here belonging to Charles Gatlick probably dates to the 1840s (figure 1). We suspect it was in the 1850s after the California Gold Rush that straw hats became more fashionable. Many Americans traveled to California through Panama. Straw hats became known as Pamamas. (Actually the hats mostly came from Ecuador and Peru, ut reached America through Panama.) We have much more information 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 many images from the 50s and 60s of straw hats, but we notice them in the 1870s. A good example is an unidentified boy. Cataloging the types of hats 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 them being done in a variety of different styles. 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 are essentially versions of sailor inspired hats.

Chronology

We are entirely sure when straw hats first became widely worn 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). The hat here belonging to Charles Gatlick probably dates to the 1840s (figure 1). We have much more information 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 many images from the 50s and 60s of straw hats, but we notice them in the 1870s. A good example is an unidentified boy. We continue to see these hats in the early-20th century. But only the boater is seen to any extent after World War I in the 1920s but no longer worn by boys to any extent.

California Gold Rush (1848)

Shortly fter the Mexican ar, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California (1848). We suspect it was in the 1850s after the ensuing California Gold Rush that straw hats became more fashionable. Many Americans traveled to California through Panama, it and the other sea route around the Horn were the fastest routes. It took longer to reach California overland. Straw hats thus became known as Pamamas. (Actually the hats mostly came from Ecuador and Peru, but reached America through Panama.) The hats from South Anerica wre much better quality hats than straw made in America. Ecuadoreans and Peruvians were better skilled, but poorly pai. this made for a very exportable product.

Styles

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: 2:29 AM 1/17/2014
Last updated: 7:47 AM 7/5/2017