Baltimore Hats, Past and Present

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Brigham William Tufts. Baltimore Hats, Past and Present

PREFACE

INTRODUCTORY

EARLY DAYS

PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION

AFTER THE REVOLUTION

EARLY IN THE XIX CENTURY

SOME OLD FIRMS

PATRIARCHS OF THE TRADE

JACOB ROGERS

OLD METHODS

JOHN PETTICORD

MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY

FASHIONS

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

GROWTH OF BUSINESS

HISTORY OF THE MACKINAW HAT

MODERN IMPROVEMENTS

A MODEL ESTABLISHMENT

WAYS AND MEANS OF THE PRESENT TIME

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PAST AND PRESENT have each their independent significance. The past gives freely to us the experiences of others, the present a suitable opportunity to improve upon what has already occurred. With our observation and acceptance of these privileges so easily obtained, we reap the benefit of their advantages and unconsciously find ourselves the gainers both in capacity and intelligence. A history of the past, giving the record of events and circumstances existing before our own day, bringing to our knowledge the accomplishments, business enterprises and undertakings of our predecessors, is a profitable study, and the reader gratifies his curiosity in observing how differently things were conducted and managed a century ago as compared with the processes of the present day, exciting a sense of wonder at the rapid progress that has been made in a comparatively short period of time. Think of it! quite within the lifetime of many of us have been the most wonderful of inventions – the steam engine, steam vessels, the telegraph and other wonders and triumphs of electricity. The wildest fancy may not be styled visionary in anticipating the appearance of things still more surprising.

Continued familiarity with the present system of making hats has the tendency in a great degree to prevent a recognition, until brought to our notice by comparison of the wide difference existing between the old and new methods, and this common every-day experience assists in making us unappreciative of the remarkable improvements that have been made in this branch of business.

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The folded hat of 1762 differed from the opera hat of the present day also in the softness of the crown, permitting its being flattened, and the brim, as if hinged front and rear, folded at the sides like the corners of a book, while the present opera hat, constructed with jointed springs, allows its cylindrical crown to be flattened down to a level with the brim, which keeps its fixed shape.

Scharf's "Chronicles of Baltimore" give the copy of an inventory made in the year 1779 of the personal effects of one Thos. Edgerton, a citizen of the Province of Maryland, and among them is his hat, described as having a gold band and feathers. This hat evidently was the celebrated cavalier style that appears in many of the portraits of Rubens, Vandycke and Rembrandt, of all styles the prettiest and most picturesque ever introduced.

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