Man's Hat
HatterMade by
Unknown
Date1818
MediumWool felt, painted and varnished
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width x depth): 7 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 11 1/4in. (19.1 x 26.7 x 28.6cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineMuseum purchase
DescriptionDark wool felt top hat, with an inscription painted around the crown reading, "May 25th, 1818 7500 Shad." A small fish is painted at the end of the inscription. There is also a painted hatband encircling the base of the crown. The brim is about two inches wide; it is now bent here and there and has two large areas of loss. The hat was varnished (or shellacked) to preserve it, although not before it had suffered the losses to the brim. The varnish covers the entire outside of the hat, and the underside of the brim. There is the remnant of an original paper lining inside the top of the crown.
Object number1951.15.0
InscribedInscribed around the middle of the hat: "May 25th, 1818 7500 Shad".NotesHistorical Note: Until construction of industrial power dams at Holyoke after the Civil War, the shad run on the Connecticut River was an important economic, and to some extent, social element of Valley life. The spring spawning runs of shad provided an opportunity for both organized fishing companies and individuals to share in the benefit of this event. Besides its importance as a local food source, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, dried shad became one of the local products shipped to southern colonies and the West Indies. Shad fishing took several basic forms: running nets off of piers, especially in the lower reaches of the river; drift netting from skiffs; and angling or dip netting. I can remember my two great uncles and their contemporaries in the 1950s and early 1960s still net fishing at the Enfield dam. The shad run was also an opportunity for social activities, and I suspect the shad hat may relate to this part of the story. Community gatherings and celebrations could attend the shad run, and I believe that Windsor still holds an annual shad festival, replete with a "Shad Queen" and a shad planking. The shad planking refers to a method of cooking the rather oily fish (shad is a member of the herring family) by nailing the dressed fish on to hardwood boards placed vertically around a roaring wood fire. The fish would bake, and the excess oil would run down the boards, improving the quality of the finished product. The Essex Rotary Club, I believe, still conducts such shad plankings each spring.Today, the shad run is but a shadow of its former self, though efforts to improve spawning of Atlantic salmon are helping the shad population by removing barriers to spawning grounds, such as dams of tributary rivers and streams. (Malley 3/30/2001)
Subject Terms
On View
Not on view
1939-1945
