Figure 1.--The rounded-crown hat was a fashion staple for both boys and girls in the 19th century. The CDV portrait is undated, but we know it was taken about 1865 because there is a Civil War tax stamp affixed to the back. Thre children, a boy, girl, and a baby (probably a girl) are shown who are most likely siblings. No photographer or location is Indicated.

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. We also noted many boys wearing rounded-crown hats. The two styles were similar. The sailor hast tended to gave a wider brim. No other hat style was especially common for boys. Several hat styles, hoiwever, were worn over time. Some boys wore rather adult styles like bowlers while others wore the more juvenile sailor hats. No hat style was nearly as common in the 20th century 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.

Chronology

The hat styles worn by American boys varied over time. We do not have much information on the 18th century. There were no child hat styles. Both men and boys wote three-corner hasts. Boys on the frontier must have worn coon-skin hats to some degree like Daniel Boon and the mountasin men of the early-19th century. We have little information on the early-19h century. We see boys wearing peked military-styled caps. We are less sure about hats. We have much more information once photography appeared in the mid-19th century. We see boys wearing rounded crown hats. This became the basis for sailor-styled hasts with brims. Rounded crown hats with more narow brims were a major style for much of the 19th century. We note cboys wearing some adult hat styles in the late 19th century. Caps became much more common for boys in the 9th century. We do see boys still wearing wide-brimmed hats in the early-20th century. After World War I, child hat syyles were not very common, but we do see boys wearing adult styles until after World War II. By the 1960s it was increasingly rare to see boys wearing hats. An exception was the cowboy hat worn forv plsy by little boys and mostly men in the Southwest.

Hat Styles

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. We also noted many boys wearing rounded-crown hats. The two styles were similar. The sailor hast tended to gave a wider brim. No other hat style was especially common for boys. Several hat styles, hoiwever, were worn over time. Some boys wore rather adult styles like bowlers while others wore the more juvenile sailor hats. No hat style was nearly as common in the 20th century 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.

Gender

Hats in the 18th century were very different for men and women. Major changes in hedwear occurred arond the turn-of-the 19th century. We see women and children in the 19th century wearing the rounded crown hat, but the hats for women and girls were often decorated more elaborately. Girls migh wear plain hats as well, but they were more likely to be decorated. Boys might wear dresses, but as far as we can tell, they usually had plain hats rather yhan the decorated hats the girls wore. Of course mother could do whatever they wanted, so we would not say that noys never had the decorated hats. Sailor hats were a style both boys and girls could wear. Hats in the 20th century were very different for boys and girls. We notice Frances Wells Quintin wearing a concical straw hat about 1880. Hats declined in populasrity for both boys and girls after World War II.

Ages

Children's Hats had significant ages conventions. Today children especially boys do not wear hats. Hats in the 19th century were very common for children of all ages, even pre-school boys. Wide-brimmed sailor hats were especially popular for younger boys. And we continue to boys wearing hats, although not such young boysinto the mid-20th century. Caps were also worn in in the 19th and early-20 century and by the mid-20 century were replacing hts. Not only hats styles varied over time. The age convntions for the various hats varied. Younger boys might where broad-brimmed sailor hats, ironically the largest of the varied hat styles. Here there were social-class conventions. Older boys wore rounded-crown hats with narrmow brims. This was the most common of all the different hats worn by boys. We see some boys wearing bowler hats in the late-19th and early-20th century. We also see boaters, worn by boys and men. After World War II we see some boys wearing adult-styled hats like fedoras. We see boys as young as 11-years or so wearing these hats.

Created: 6:11 PM 6/20/2009
Last updated: 8:23 PM 6/23/2017