Figure 1.--Here we see a cabinet card portrait of a boy and presumably his older sister. the portrait is undated, but looks like the 1880s to us. He oldsa light-colored rounded-crown hat that does not match his winter blouse suit. The collar looks to have a sailot back flap, but not a front "V". We have not noted that very commonly. In contrast, his big sister wears more od a white summerdress. Both children wear dark long stockings and similar shoes. The studio name is difficult to read, something like A. McKenny, Portland, Maine.

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 aS 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.

Created: 4:38 AM 12/9/2010
Last updated: 4:38 AM 12/9/2010