Hat
Period1840 - 1850
(not assigned)Possibly New Jersey or Alabama, U.S.A.
MediumStraw
Dimensions7.5 × 13 × 15.5 in. (19.1 × 33 × 39.4 cm)
InscribedThree paper labels with typed inscriptions are sewn to the hat. Labels on the crown and side of the hat contain the identical inscription "#3197 / Old Leghorn hat once owned / by the late Lewis Morris / of Keyport, N.J. He bought / it of a planter of Alabama, / gave it to Dr. William E. Johnson, / who gave it to me, 1908." The third typed label, sewn to the brim of the hat, includes circumfrence and diameter measurements of the hat. The labels were most likely typed by donor Josephine A. Brown.
ClassificationsCostume, Men's
Credit LineGift of Miss Josephine A. Brown, 1947
Object number3197
DescriptionA man's finely braided straw hat, with a slightly flared high crown to a flat top. The hat's wide brim is slightly curled along both sides.Curatorial RemarksHigh-crowned braided straw hats were popular for summer wear, serving as substitutes for heavier fur or wool top hats. Often, these straw hats included a ribbon band encircling the crown, as well as an attached sweatband on the inside edge. Braided straw hats were not meant to be long-lasting, and were often discarded after a season's hard wear when the straw became brittle or discolored. High-crowned hats in this style, popular from at least 1840 to 1850, were worn by both town and city residents as well as rural farmers out in the fields. The Association's straw hat has neither decorative crown band or inner lining, and may well have never been worn.NotesThis rare surviving man's high-crowned straw hat was donated to the Association in 1947 by Keyport resident Josephine A. Brown (1858 - 1951). A typewritten label sewn to the hat notes that this "old leghorn hat [was] once owned by the late Lewis Morris of Keyport," and that Morris had "bought it of a planter of Alabama." Lewis (or Louis) Morris (1807 - 1888) was a lifelong Keyport resident and worked as an oysterman. Morris later gave the hat to Dr. William E. Johnson, a Keyport pharmacist. In 1908, Johnson gave the hat to Brown. Josephine Brown was well known as a local historian, with a large collection of Keyport-area artifacts and curiosities. Both Brown and her niece, Josephine Mabel Brown, were frequent donors to the Association.
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