Books About 20th Century Men's Hats?

[The Hatted Professor]

I'm not sure what Stetson is going to do with the 200+ hats I helped catalog. My understanding when I was hired was that it was for the 160th Anniversary book, but at some point they must have changed their mind, as only a couple of the hats show up in the book. Some of the manufacturing photos in the book I worked with, though, and even though I wasn't asked to write anything, some of the history I gave them on the Lon Megargee painting, "The Last Drop from his Stetson," ended up in the caption for the painting, so I did do some writing for the book after all.

The book is not quite what I was expecting, but after reading it I understand what they were trying to do with it. It's suits their purpose, and is gorgeous, even if it is lacking some of the history we all wanted. But that wasn't their point. It was more a celebration of what Stetson means and its place in pop culture, and for that it works.

It also has the best collection of Stetson ads gathered in one easy to view format.

 

[jlee562]

O, and that (let's be kind here) fanciful story about JB Stetson producing a hat while travelling to entertain his companions and selling it for five dollar gold piece is repeated again as well.

"This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

I guess I'll wait for the used prices to drop on Amazon, lol. I wouldn't mind having a coffee table book of Stetson ads. But alas, we still lack a definitive, academic answer to what "clear" beaver even is.

 

[RossRYoung]

I'm not sure what Stetson is going to do with the 200+ hats I helped catalog. My understanding when I was hired was that it was for the 160th Anniversary book, but at some point they must have changed their mind, as only a couple of the hats show up in the book. Some of the manufacturing photos in the book I worked with, though, and even though I wasn't asked to write anything, some of the history I gave them on the Lon Megargee painting, "The Last Drop from his Stetson," ended up in the caption for the painting, so I did do some writing for the book after all.

The book is not quite what I was expecting, but after reading it I understand what they were trying to do with it. It's suits their purpose, and is gorgeous, even if it is lacking some of the history we all wanted. But that wasn't their point. It was more a celebration of what Stetson means and its place in pop culture, and for that it works.

It also has the best collection of Stetson ads gathered in one easy to view format.

Very interested to learn what you documented, Brad! Assuming they’re mostly all vintage examples? What time periods and styles? Was is just pictures you submitted or also thoughts about felt qualities and design elements?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but would love to hear you expand on your contributions! Cheers

 

[The Hatted Professor]

Very interested to learn what you documented, Brad! Assuming they’re mostly all vintage examples? What time periods and styles? Was is just pictures you submitted or also thoughts about felt qualities and design elements?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but would love to hear you expand on your contributions! Cheers

They had a professional photographer take pictures of each hat in their archive, with mutiple angles and shots of the interiors. I asked them for more photos of the sweatband markings and things like that, and they obliged. They didn’t take photos of what was under the sweatbands, so I lacked that information, unfortunately. But most of them had enough clues as to their ages that I could help, at least down to a decade, usually. This was all done virtually through Google Drive. I would have loved to have been flown out to NYC to see them in person, but that was out of their budget and they didn’t think it was necessary. The hats ranged from the 1880s to the last couple of years. One of the things they wanted to know was model names, and as we know, in many cases those are impossible to know, unless they are marked, like a Stratoliner and so forth. It was a healthy mix of dress and western hats, just about any style you can think of. Most of them were from the 1940s through the 1960s. There were some really nice hats I like to see them offer again.

 

[Jesse John]

Very interested to learn what you documented, Brad! Assuming they’re mostly all vintage examples? What time periods and styles? Was is just pictures you submitted or also thoughts about felt qualities and design elements?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but would love to hear you expand on your contributions! Cheers

I had the same questions in mind!

They had a professional photographer take pictures of each hat in their archive, with mutiple angles and shots of the interiors. I asked them for more photos of the sweatband markings and things like that, and they obliged. They didn’t take photos of what was under the sweatbands, so I lacked that information, unfortunately. But most of them had enough clues as to their ages that I could help, at least down to a decade, usually. This was all done virtually through Google Drive. I would have loved to have been flown out to NYC to see them in person, but that was out of their budget and they didn’t think it was necessary. The hats ranged from the 1880s to the last couple of years. One of the things they wanted to know was model names, and as we know, in many cases those are impossible to know, unless they are marked, like a Stratoliner and so forth. It was a healthy mix of dress and western hats, just about any style you can think of. Most of them were from the 1940s through the 1960s. There were some really nice hats I like to see them offer again.

Thank you for elaborating, Brad! I wish they could have published these photos and your work. Perhaps they’re now saving it for another project? One could hope. I was disappointed to see that my image was not published. What can you do!? Life goes on.

 

[The Hatted Professor]

I heard back from from the president of Stetson this morning. It took a while because they've been having book release parties in Germany and Japan. She acknowledged that they only featured a few special edition hats, but they use the archive internally all the time. They referenced it for an upcoming hat exhibit at Stetson U, for instance. She intimated that its use will show up online from time to time in the future.