Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrit shows Jack Shearer wearing a kne pants suit with an Eton collar and small bow. Yje Eton collar was especially large. Notice the peaked cap which seems to match his suit. The portrait was dated 1893. Jacknlooks tonbe about 6 years old. The studio was Holden in Worcester, Massachusetts.

We do not yet have a complere chronology of the peaked cap in America. We see these caps in Britain at mid-century, but not in America. We first note peaked dress caps in America during the late-19th century. We notice them being worn by the 1880s, but they were not common. We see a few boys wearing them with fancy Fauntleroy outfits. we see a few more in the 1890s. Most of the 19th century images we have foind date to the 1890s. They do not seem enormously popular in the 19th century, but we do notice them. Hats were more common headwear for boys during most of the 19th century. It is difficult to assess the usage of these caps because most of the 19th century imagery is studio photograpy. And while studio photography is not a good indicator of prevalence, but does indicate popular tyles when dressing up. We have a large enough Ametican archive to say with some validity that the peaked cap was not common headwear when dressing , but that was chnging in the 1890s.

Created: 5:15 AM 3/15/2015
Last updated: 5:16 AM 3/15/2015