Woman's Ostrich Feather Hat
date: label: Date made
content: 1910-1912
notes: label: Description
content: Dating from 1910-1912, this woman's hat is trimmed with ostrich plumes. At the end of the nineteenth century, there was an ever increasing demand by hat makers for plumes, especially ostrich, to decorate women's millinery. With new legislative restrictions on hunting wild birds for fashion, ostrich farming became a successful enterprise in California, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, and Florida in the 1880s so that feathers could be clipped from the farmed birds to satisfy the American demands for hat making using ostrich feathers.
label: Description
content: This hat is made of ivory silk and trimmed with plumes of a pale ivory shade. The underside of the hat brim is covered with black silk velvet. The ostrich plumes were extended by tying on barbs cut from other ostrich plumes. It measures 8.9 inches by 18.3 inches by 15.9 inches overall.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: used
content: Feathers
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Costume
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content: Government, Politics, and Reform
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: National Treasures exhibit
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. Alice Matthew Terry Love
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1972.299884.008
label: accession number
content: 299884
label: catalog number
content: 299884.8
objectType: label: Object Name
content: hat
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: feathers (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 225 mm x 465 mm x 405 mm; 8 7/8 in x 18 5/16 in x 15 15/16 in