Annotated Bibliography on Women's Hats
and the Millinery Trade 1840-1940

by Christina Bates
Ontario Historian
Canadian Museum of Civilization

Occupational Guides and Studies

Babcock, L.M.
"Employments for Women - No. 6: Millinery," The Delineator (New York), Oct. 1894, 50-52.
Short article in women's journal on the suitability of the trade to women; skills required; divisions of work; types of establishments.

Brissenden, Paul F.
Progress and Poverty in Millinery Manufacturing. Chicago?: 1939.
Not seen.

Bryner, Edna.
Dressmaking and Millinery. Cleveland, Ohio: Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, 1916.
Results of survey of the trades in Cleveland, Ohio, with reference to surveys in other parts of the United States. Chapters relating to millinery include The Millinery Business in Cleveland; Conditions of Work in Millinery; Learning the Trades; and Needs of Workers. Detailed and informative.

[Devlin, James].
The Guide to the Trade: The Dress-maker and the Milliner. London: Charles Knight, 1843.
Advice on aptitude; apprenticeship; tasks; physical requirements.

Dodge, Harriet Hazen
Survey of Occupations Open to the Girl of Fourteen to Sixteen Years. Boston: Girls Trade Education League, 1912.
General discussion of young female employment, mostly in industrial trades. Chart on page 24-25 listing wages, training, qualifications, advancement, disadvantages, seasons and hours for millinery.

Giblin, Kate J.
Concerning Millinery. Boston: Puritan Press, 1902.
Not seen.

MacMurchy, Marjory
The Canadian Girl at Work: A Book of Vocational Guidance. Toronto: A.T. Wilgress, 1919.
Important Canadian work, containing chapter on millinery training, wages and working conditions, and advice on starting a business, how to be independent by budgeting earnings.

Massachusetts, Minimum Wage Commission
Report on the Wages of Women in the Millinery Industry. Bulletin 20. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Co., 1919.
Emphasis on industrial employment in the straw hat, artificial flower and feather factories, and on wholesale millinery, although includes millinery retailing. Numerous tables.

Nienburg, Bertha Marie von der
Conditions in the Millinery Industry in the United States. Washington: U.S. Printing Office, 1939.
Not seen.

Ontario. Department of Labour
Vocational Opportunities in the Industries of Ontario; A Survey. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1920.
Bulletin 1: General Introduction
Bulletin 3: Dressmaking and Millinery
Important Canadian manual, containing information on numbers of millinery workers; consumer demand; the scope of the field; apprenticeship; seasonal work; hours; wages; opportunity for proprietorship.

Perry, Lorinda
Millinery as a Trade for Women. Studies in the Economic Relations of Women, Volume 5. New York: Printed by Longmans, Green and Co. for the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston, 1916.
Very thorough study on all aspects of the trade, wholesale and retail, in Boston and Philadelphia.

Philo [pseud.]
Twelve Letters to a Young Milliner. New York: Hill Brothers, 1883.
Lengthy advice on location and setting up of store; ordering and displaying stock; pricing goods; hiring assistants; bookkeeping; and good business practice, written paternalistically for aspiring or practicing female milliners by the editors of Hill's Milliner Gazette, the promotional journal of Hill Brothers millinery wholesalers.

[Robinson, Mary Viola]
Primer of Problems in the Millinery Industry. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941.
Not seen.

Tobey, Evelyn Smith
"The Educated Woman in Millinery" in Agnes F. Perkins, ed., Vocations for the Trained Woman: Opportunities Other than Teaching, Introductory Papers, 116-118. Boston: Women's Educational and Industrial Union, 1920.
Not seen.

United States. Federal Trade Commission
Report to the President of the United States on Distribution Methods in the Millinery Industry. Nov. 21, 1939.
Not seen.

Van Kleeck, Mary
A Seasonal Industry: A Study of the Millinery Trade in New York. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1917.
Not seen.

Van Kleeck
Wages in the Millinery Trade. New York: J.B. Lyon, 1914.
Not seen.

Weaver, E.W.
Profitable Vocations for Girls. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1915.
Chapter on Dressmaking and Millinery includes aptitude; apprenticeship; seasonal trade; wages.

Woman's Institute of Domestic arts and Sciences
The Millinery Shop. Scranton, PA: Woman's Institute, 1923.
Informative booklet on how to set up in business; aptitude; location; fixtures and supplies; managing the business; selling goods; employees.

Technical Instruction (How To Make Hats Manuals)

Anslow, Florence
Practical Millinery. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1922.
Not seen.

Artistic Millinery: Handbook for Milliners.
Chicago: Glenn, 1899.
Not seen.

Babcock, L.M.
"Employments for Women - No. 6: Millinery." The Delineator, (New York), Oct. 1894, 50-52.
Short description of preparing and trimming a straw hat in a women's fashion journal.

Ben-Ysuf, Anna
Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery. Reprint of The Art of Millinery, a Complete Series of Practical Lessons for the Artiste and Amateur (The Millinery trade Publishing Co., New York, 1909). Mendocino, CA: R.L. Shep, 1982.
Exact reprint with additional period illustrations of fashions. Very through 17 lessons on millinery processes; trimming; mourning millinery; children's millinery; stock-keeping; starting a millinery business; the designer in the workroom; glossary of millinery and dry goods terms, by a leading milliner whose career spanned Paris, London and New York.

Bottomley, Julia, ed.
A Complete Course in Millinery: Twenty-Four Practical Lessons Detailing the Processes for Mastering the Art of Millinery. New York: The Illustrated Milliner, 1919.
Revised version of Bottomley, Practical Millinery Lessons (1914); revised by Burke as Perfect Course in Millinery (1925).

Bottomley, Julia, ed.
The Milliners' Guide: A Complete Handy Reference Book for the Workroom. New York: The Illustrated Milliner Co., [1917].
Guide to renovating, tinting, stain removal, cleaning, sewing hints (not hatmaking) by two experienced milliners.

Bottomley, Julia
Practical Millinery Lessons: A Complete Course of Lessons in the Art of Millinery. New York: The Illustrated Milliner Co., 1914.
Thorough how-to in 24 lessons, tools and equipment, with diagrams and photographs of patterns and process. Revised version of book published 1905 (see Practical Millinery Lessons).

Brand, Violet and Beatrice Mussared
Millinery. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1935.
Thorough guide on new and old techniques by technical English college teachers. Tools and materials; pattern and shape making, covering, lining, felt, straws, stitched hats, children's millinery; ribbon trimmings. Supplement includes 22 different kinds of straw; detailed photographs of processes; made hats with photos and instructions.

Brown, Carlotta M.
Millinery Processes. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1930.
Thorough description of hat-making with diagrams and photographs by instructor of millinery at the University of Minnesota.

Burke, Emma Maxwell
A Perfect Course in Millinery. New York: The Illustrated Milliner, 1925.
Later edition of Bottomley, Practical Millinery Lessons. 28 lessons in millinery, tools and equipment with diagrams and photographs of patterns and processes.

Campbell, Agnes
Lessons in Millinery. Extension Bulletin 46. Winnipeg: Manitoba Farmer's Library, 1920.
One of a series of bulletins on agricultural and sanitary matters from the Manitoba Department of Agriculture. Intended as part of a class on making millinery in the farm home given by the Agricultural Extension Service. Brief description of processes with numerous drawings.

Carter, Lillian
Plastic Millinery and Miniature Dressmaking. London: Cassell and Co., 1911.
Not seen.

Countess, Carolyn
Hat Making Simplified: The Nu-Way Course in Hat and Millinery Design. Chicago: B.W. Cooke, Co., 1928.
Not seen.

[Devlin, James]
The Guide to the Trade: The Dress-maker and the Milliner. London: Charles Knight, 1843.
Directions on wiring and covering chip bonnets; making and covering bonnet foundations; drawn, transparent and mourning bonnets; caps, dress hats and turbans. Copy at Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario.

Fashion Institute of Chicago.
Millinery and Hat Design: 25 Lessons. Chicago: Fashion Institute of Chicago, 1928.
Not seen.

Hill, Clara
Millinery: Theoretical and Practical. London: Methuen and Co. and Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1900.
Trimming, straw and wire shapes; patterns; draping; and lining; drawn silk hats and bonnets; renovating and cleaning; stitches; materials; glossary. Also includes rare information for this period on colour; form; and pattern drafting, by instructress of the Leeds (England) school board. Went through many editions.

Howell, Mrs. M.J.
The Handbook of Millinery, Comprised in a Series of Lessons for the Formation of Bonnets, Capotes, Turbans, Caps Bows, Etc.... London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1847.
A series of lessons on drawn and transparent bonnets, lining straw and other bonnets, caps, turbans, toques, selection of colours and materials. This handbook is more technical and detailed than most of the early guides.

Innes, Isabella
Scientific Dressmaking and Millinery. Toronto: I. Innes, 1913.
Rare Canadian manual, with diagrams and instructions for making about 50 hats. Geometrical drafting; sewing instructions and hand drawings by the principal of the costumer's art school, Toronto. Only? copy at the Toronto Public Library.

Kaye, Georgina Kerr
Millinery for Every woman; a Complete Course in the Millinery Art. John C. Winson Co., [1926].
Not seen.

Kintzel, Mrs. Margaret and Mrs. Mary M. Lunt
Complete Guide to Millinery of Kintzel Millinery School. Philadelphia: Dando Printing and Publishing Co., 1915.
Not seen.

The Ladies' Hand-Book of Millinery and Dressmaking, with Plain Instructions for Making the Most Useful Articles of Dress and Attire.
New York: J.S. Redfield, 1844.
Sketchy discussion of materials and the making of drawn, silk, children's and mourning bonnets.

The Ladies Self Instructor in Millinery and Mantua Making, Embroidery and Applique, Canvas-work, Knitting, Netting and Crochet-work.
Philadelphia: Leary and Getz [1850]. Reprint of 1853 ed. Fort Bragee, CA: R.L. Shep Publications, 1988.
Brief discussion of colour; fashion; and materials. Sketchy directions for making bonnets; engraving showing two finished bonnets. Copy of original edition in Canadian Museum of Civilization library.

The Lady's Self-Instructor in Millinery, Mantua Making and all Branches of Plain Sewing.
New York: Philadelphia: J and J.L. Gihon, 1850.
Not seen.

Loewen, Jane
Millinery. New York: Macmillan, 1925.
Thorough instructions, with drawings, of all processes for foundation and fabric hats; turbans; trimmings; cleaning and remodelling; colour and line harmony.

Lyon, Hester B.
Modern Millinery. New York: The Millinery Trade Publishing Co., 1922.
Basic textbook. Not seen.

Martin, Mrs. Gene Allen
Make Your Own Hats. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921.
Not seen.

Montague, Pier
The Key to Millinery Design: How to Make Smart Hats. 1922.
Not seen.

National Millinery Company
Home Millinery Course: A Thorough, Practical and Complete Series of Lessons. Cleveland: National Millinery Co., 1909.
Not seen.

Ortner, Jessica
Practical Millinery. London and New York: Whittaker and Co., 1897.
Another edition, Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1925. Not seen.

Patty, Virginia C.
Hats and How to Make Them. Chicago: Rand MacNally [1925].
Not seen.

Practical Millinery Lessons.
N.Y.: Grosvenor K. Glenn, 1905.
Instructions in millinery in 19 lessons; tools and equipment; starting in business; store and workroom supplies and decor; stock; recipes for cleaning and renovation. Diagrams, drawings and photographs. See later versions by Bottomley and Burke.

Pullen Marion M.
Beadle's Guide to Dress-Making and Millinery. New York: Beadle and Co., [1860].
Chapter on bonnets discusses design and colour; materials; covering with fabric. Directions sketchy, as usual for this period.

Reeve, Amy J.
Practical Home Millinery. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1903.
Many editions. Not seen.

Rosée, Madame
The Handbook of Millinery: A Practical Manual of Instruction for Ladies. London: L. Upcott Gill [1895].
General instructions with drawings, by the principal of the School of Millinery (London?).

Seaney, Ora E.
The Art of Millinery: Embracing a Full Description of the Latest Styles of Trimming, Making and Designing, Together With Recipes and Fashion Notes. Fort Wayne, Ind.: Journal Company, 1890.
Not seen.

Storer, H. Olive.
Practical Millinery: A Manual for Home Workers, Domestic Art and Technical School Students. Melbourne: George Robertson and Co., 19-?.
Not seen.

Taylor, S.T.
A Treatise on Dress-Making and Millinery. New York: S.T. Taylor and Co., 1871.
Not seen.

Van Cleef Bros.
Millinery Without Sewing. Chicago: Van Cleef Bros., 1919.
Advertising booklet for Snow White Millinery Cement. Directions on how to cover frames with fabric, ribbon and feathers, and to make millinery ornaments using the product.

Weiss, Rosalind.
How to Make Hats. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1931.
Not seen.

Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Millinery (1920)
Millinery for Misses and Children (1924)
Millinery Materials (1927)
Millinery for Mature Women (1923)
Scranton, PA: Woman's Institute Of Domestic Arts and Sciences.
Series of very informative booklets, set out as instruction papers with examination questions. Copies in the Harriet Irving Library at the University of New Brunswick.

Millinery Merchandising

Aiken, Charlotte Rankin
The Millinery Department. Department Store Merchandise Manuals. New York: The Ronald Press, 1918.
Thorough discussion of the wide variety of millinery materials, including straw, felt, velvet and other fabrics, trimmings. How to set up millinery department and workroom, colour and form in hat design, and hints to salespeople.

Murphy, William S. ed.
Modern Drapery and the Allied Trades, Wholesale and Retail. Volumes 1 and 2. London: Gresham Publishing Company, 1914.
Chapters on the millinery department, workroom, wholesale, retail, materials, business practice, training, with illustrations of millinery materials and showrooms.

Nelson, Michael Louis
Millinery Merchandising. Minneapolis: The Colwell Press, 1928.
Advocates "modern methods" in setting out millinery shops and departments; advertising; management; correct colour and form harmony.

Philo [pseud.]
Twelve Letters to a Young Milliner. New York: Hill Brothers, 1883.
Lengthy advice on location and setting up of store; ordering and displaying stock; pricing goods; hiring assistants; bookkeeping; and good business practice, written paternalistically for aspiring or practicing female milliners by the editors of Hill's Milliner Gazette, the promotional journal of Hill Brothers millinery wholesalers.

Research Bureau for Retail Training
Manual for a Millinery Department. Pittsburg: Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1923.
Not seen.

Thormann, Irma
Selling the Right Hat: A Manual for Milliners. 1942.
Not seen.

Van Cleef Bros.
Millinery Without Sewing. Chicago: Van Cleef Bros., 1919.
Advertising booklet produced by the manufacturers of Snow White Millinery Cement. Directions on how to cover frames with fabric, ribbon and feathers, and to make millinery ornaments using the product.

Weil, Claire, ed.
Glossary of French Millinery Terms. New York: Style Magazines, Inc. and Contemporary Modes, 1939.
Includes detailed glossaries of millinery, color, fabric, silk, straw and lace terms.

Woman's Institute of Domestic arts and Sciences
The Millinery Shop. Scranton, PA: Woman's Institute, 1923.
Informative booklet on how to set up in business; aptitude; location; fixtures and supplies; managing the business; selling goods; employees

Straw, Felt and Millinery Wholesale Manufacturing


Note: most of the industry in straw and felt was in men's hats. Some hatters had a line of women's tailored hats, and by the early twentieth-century, some hatters specialized in millinery. The books below annotated as "not seen" may refer exclusively to the production of men's hats.

Ball, Carlos H.
"A Palmleaf Hat Manufactory," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, 40:2 (June 1987), 20-21.
Factory made women's hats out of various organic materials

Davis, Jean
Straw Plait. Shire Album, 1981.
Not seen.

Dony, Jean
A History of the Straw Hat Industry. Luton: Gibbs, Bamforth and Co, Leagrave Press, 1941.
Not seen.

Freeman, Charles.
Luton and the Hat Industry. Luton: Borough of the Luton Museum and Art Gallery, 1976.
Not seen

Garges, June Kraft.
Handcrafted Straw Hats: An Early American Home Industry. Audubon, PA: J.K. Garges, 1982.
Not seen

Gordon, Joleen
Handwoven Hats: A History of Straw, Wood and Rush Hats in the Nova Scotia Museum. Halifax: The Nova Scotia Museum, 1981.
History of the straw hat industries in Europe and North America, with little-known information on the straw plait and hat cottage and wholesale industry in Nova Scotia. Instructions on making women's straw, rush and chip hat; renovating straw hats.

Green, Charles
The Headwear Workers. New York: Hat, Cap and Milliner Workers Union, 1944.
Not seen.

Inwards, Harry
Straw Hats, Their History and Manufacture. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1922.
A still-relevant, early history of the straw hat industry principally in England, with detailed descriptions of methods and technology. Some information on women's hats.

Mallory and Sons, E.A.
How an Up-to-Date Factory Makes Up-to-Date Hats. Danbury, CT: E.A. Mallory and Sons, 190?.
Not seen.

McClellan, Mary Elizabeth
Felt, Silk and Straw Handmade Hats; Tools and Processes. Doylestown, PA: Bucks County Historical Society, 1977.
Eighteenth and nineteenth century felt, silk plush and straw women's and men's hats and bonnets, illustrated by tools in their collection.

Mills, David
The Twentieth Century Hat Factory. Danbury, Conn.: The Lee-McLaren Co., 1910-11.
Not seen.

Pufpaff, Suzanne
The Nineteenth-Century Hat Makers and Felters Manuals. Hastings, Michigan: Stony Lonesome Press, 1995).
Not seen.

Robinson, Donald B.
Spotlight on a Union: The Story of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union. New York: Dial Press, 1948.
Includes information on women working in millinery factories, not only straw and felt, but fabric hat factories, and the difficulties they faced in forming unions.

Schorestene, Salvator
Chappellerie. Paris 1894.
Not seen.

Sprague, William B.
"The Early American Manufacture of Felt Hats." The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association (February to June, 1934).
Not seen.

Sullivan, Brian
The Romance of the Straw Bonnet. Westbrough, MA: Whipple House, 1986.
Not seen.

Thomson, John
A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting, Including Full Exposition on the Singular Properties of Fur, Wool, and Hair. Philadelphia: H.C. Baird, 1868.
Not seen.

Vial, Jean
La coutume capelière. Paris: F. Loviton et Cie, 1941.
Not seen.

The Wholesale Milliner and Manufacturer
New York: The Illustrated Milliner Co., 1925.
Not seen.

Milliners' Biographies



Daché, Lily
Talking Through My Hats. New York: Coward-McCann, 1946.
Popularized auto-biography of famous New York milliner.

Demornex, Jacqueline
Le siècle en chapeaux: Claude Saint-Cyr: Histoire d'une modiste. Paris, 1991.
Not seen.

Giroux, Jacqueline
Yvette Brillon, femme de coeur et femme de têtes. Longueuil, Que.: La société historique de Marigot de Longueuil, 1989.
Engaging biography written by her niece of well-known Montreal modiste, born 1907. Brillon apprenticed at 12 years old in a hat store, became head milliner in fashionable department stores, and in 1933, established her own shop.

Garling, Carol
"Old Hat." Craftnews (July/Aug 1995): 14.
Brief biography of 1950s-90s Toronto milliner, Mrs. Ina Shale.

Rendell, T.J.
"Millinery Techniques in the 1920s." Costume 10 (1976): 86-94.
Reminiscences of work in the millinery department of Libertys, London.

Thaarup, Aage
Heads and Tales. John Gifford, 1946.
Not seen.

Woods, Caroline H. [Belle Otis]
The Diary of a Milliner. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1867.
Fictionalized autobiography dealing with personal philosophy, rising above the moral frailties of her customers, and the difficulties for women in business.

Canadian Trade Periodicals



Note: on American journals, see Seligman, Cutting For All. On British journals, see Clark, Hats, both listed in Secondary Sources.

Canadian Dry Goods Review (Toronto)
Name changed to Dry Goods Review and Style. Started in 1891 as a trade magazine. Offices across Canada, as well as international contributors. Went from weekly to monthly. Almost each issue had a report on the millinery trade. Early spring issues often devoted to millinery. Mostly from the point of view of large millinery wholesalers and retailers, rather than individual female milliners, but gives idea of transition to mass-production and the relationship between department stores and wholesalers, and individual milliners. Originals at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto; 1891-1920? microfilmed.

Canadian Milliner (Toronto)
Written mostly for the large millinery wholesalers and retailers, rather than individual female milliners. Gives good scope of trend toward mass-production. Only? known issues in the Toronto Public Library, monthly for 1929.

Fraser's Canadian Textile, Apparel and Variety Goods Directory
(Toronto)
1930--? Not seen.

Secondary Sources on Hats and the Millinery Trade


Albrizio, Ann and Osnat Lustig
Classical Millinery Techniques: A Complete Guide to Making and Designing Today's Hats. Ashville, NC: Lark Books, 1998.
A good guide for modern-day instructions on many traditional millinery techniques.

Alto, Vonnie R.
"The Business of Female Fripperies and the Fashionable Lady: Women's Millinery in America 1620-1920 and the Oregon Experience: A Proprietorship Study of Hats and Hatmaking." MA thesis, Department of History, University of Portland, 1992.
History of the millinery trade, fashion and etiquette, with end chapters on milliners in Oregon. Extensive bibliography.

Amplett, Hilda
Hats: A History of Fashion in Headwear. Chalfont St. Giles: Sadler, 1974.
Encyclopedic, from 100 AD. Illustrated.

Baldwin, Betsey
"The Millinery Tradition in Decline, 1900-1930: The Displacement of Hat-Making as a Professional Art at Eaton's." Report on file, History Division, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999.
Based on an analysis of the Eaton's catalogue.

Bates, Christina
"Wearing Two Hats: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Millinery Trade in Ontario, 1850-1930." Material History Review 43 (Spring 2000).
Combines methodologies of historical research and material culture analysis to explore trade. Based on a collection of 500 1920s-30s hats from one Sarnia millinery shop.

Bates, Christina
"Creative Abilities and Business Sense: The Millinery Trade in Ontario." In Sharon Anne Cook, Kate O'Rourke and Lorna McLean, eds., A Century Stronger: a History of Women in the Twentieth Century. Montreal: McGill-Queens Press, 2000.
Training, demographics, pay; rise and decline of the trade.

Bates, Christina
"Shop and Factory: The Ontario Millinery Trade in Transition, 1870-1930." Forthcoming in Alexandra Palmer, ed., Fashion: A Canadian Perspective, 2000? Manuscript on file, History Division, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999.
Relationship between changing fashion and the trade; rise of millinery wholesalers; the fashion system in millinery; illustrated by museum collections.

Blum, Dilys E.
Ahead of Fashion: Hats of the Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1993.
Exhibition catalogue on high-fashion hats by American and European designers, organized thematically. Discussion of the millinery business.

Bolomier, Éliane
Cents ans de chapeaux, 1870-1970. Chazelles-sur-Lyon: Musée du chapeau, [1993].
Chronological history of women's hats, with one chapter on men's, based on the museum's collections. Written by museum curator and ethnologist. Colour photos of hats.

Bolomier, Élaine
Le Chapeau: Grand art et savoir-faire. Paris: Musée du chapeau et Somogy éditions d'art, 1996.
Beautifully illustrated, somewhat anecdotal, history of hatmaking, organized thematically. Chapters on the history of felt; felt hats; Chazelles-sur-Lyon industries; straw hatmaking; millinery techniques, hat block makers; trimming industries; men's hatters. Written by museum curator and ethnologist.

Campione, Adele
Women's Hats; Il cappello da donna. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1989.
Picture book of hats, 1880-1969.

Clark, Fiona
Hats. London: B.T. Batsford, 1982. The Costume Accessories Series.
Chronological study of women's and men's hats and caps in England, from 1600 to 1960s, illustrated by museum collections. Two chapters on the millinery trade. Glossary.

Courtais, Georgine de
Women's Headdress and Hairstyles in England from AD 600 to the Present Day. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1973.
For the later-nineteenth and twentieth centuries (about one-third of the book), discussion and clear drawings of hairstyles, caps, bonnets and hats by decade, or two decades.

Dailey, Christie
"A Woman's Concern: Millinery in Central Iowa, 1870-1880." Journal of the West 21:2 (Apr. 1982): 26-32.
Analysis of the millinery trade based on census records and newspapers, including comparison with other female occupations, age, marital status, demography, status.

Darnell, Paula Jean
Victorian Millinery: Ladies' Hats, 1850-1900. Reno, Nev.: Fabric Fancies, 1995.
Not seen.

Delpierre, Madeleine
Chapeaux, 1750-1960. Paris: Musée de la mode et du costume, 1980.
Exhibition catalogue. Not seen.

Dreher, Denise
From the Neck Up: An Illustrated Guide to Hatmaking. Minneapolis, Minn.: Madhatter Press, 1981.
Comprehensive instructions and patterns for historical, theatrical and modern headwear. Illustrated glossary and extensive bibliography.

Dugald Costume Museum
From Hats to Hems. Dugald, Man.: Dugald Costume Museum, 1986.
Small booklet based on an exhibition, with drawings of hats in their collection, 1800-1986.

Gamber, Wendy
The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860-1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
Seminal work by a cultural historian. Traces the gendered nature of millinery work, and the trend toward mass production, with emphasis on the eastern United States, through a wide range of documentary material. Extensive notes and bibliography. Based on her PhD. thesis of the same name, Brandeis University, 1990.

Gamber, Wendy
"Gendered Concerns: Thoughts on the History of Business and the History of Women." Business and Economic History 23 (Fall 1994), 129-140.
Based on her thesis (see above).

Gamber, Wendy
"A Precarious Independence: Milliners and Dressmakers in Boston, 1860-1890." Journal of Women's History 4 (Spring 1992), 60-88.
Based on her thesis (see above).

Genin, John N.
An illustrated History of the Hat. New York: Genin, 1850.
Not seen.

Giaferri, Paul Louis.
Millinery in the Fashion Industry of the World. New York: The Illustrated Millinery Co., ?
Not seen.

Ginsburg, Madeleine
The Hat: Trends and Traditions. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1990.
Chronological history of women's and men's hats, from medieval times to the twentieth century. Good glossary.

Godin, Christine
"Les femmes au chapeau." Cap-aux-diamants 4:2 (Summer 1988), 25-28.
Article by ethnologist on the sociology of hats, past and present, through quotes from Quebec milliners.

Godin, Christine
"Créer des chapeau." Cap-aux-diamants 4:2 (Summer 1988), 51-54.
Article by ethnologist on the milliner's métier, according to accounts by Quebec milliners.

Gonzales, Clair
Dressmaking and Millinery in Lansing, Michigan. 1983.
Not seen

Harrison, Michael
The History of the Hat. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1960.
Not seen

Kilgour, Ruth Edwards
A Pageant of Hats, Ancient and Modern. New York: R.M. McBride, 1958.
Ethnographic.

Langley, Susan and John Dowling
Vintage Hats and Bonnets, 1770-1970.
Lavishly illustrated price guide, with costume history notes.

Lintner, Mildred Doris
"The Height of Fashion: The Construction of Ladies Fashion Headwear, 1830-1914." PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 1979
Dissertation for the department of theatre. A fashion history of hats, with useful categorization of hat types and construction methods.

McDowell, Colin
Hats: Status, Style and Glamour. New York: Rizzoli, 1992.
Popular sociology of hats from around the world.

Mercié, Marie and Sophie Charlotte Capdevielle
Voyages autour d'un chapeau. Paris: Ramsay-de Cortanze, 1990.
Not seen.

Mills, Ruth
"Miss Newton Hat Collection Report: An Analysis of Fabrication Techniques." Report on file, History Division, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999.
Results of a study of a collection of 500 hats of the 1920s and 30s from the point of view of techniques, materials and style.

Muller, Florence and Lydia Kamitsis
Les chapeaux: une histoire de tête. Paris: Syros alternatives, 1993.
Thematic discussion of hats and hatmaking by two art historians, illustrated by several museum collections. Anecdotal history.

Musée du Chateau Ramezay
Les chapeaux feminins d'hier et d'aujourd'hui; Women's Hats, Yesterday and Today. Montreal: La société d'archeologie et de numismatique de Montréal, 1989.
Exhibition catalogue, with essays on the craft of hatmaking in Canada, both industrial and homemade, from the 18th to the 20th centuries; interviews with Quebec milliners; and discussion of changing millinery fashions. Very good bibliography. Written by Christine Godin, with Jocelyne Mathieu (ethnologist) and Monique Laliberté (curator of Chateau Ramezay).

Neatby, Barbara
"Hats in the Museum: A Study of the Hats in the Ganong Collection (Canadian Museum of Civilization) Through Research on the History of Hats, and the Study of the Storage and Care of Costume." Manuscript on file, History Division, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1983.
Report by museum technology student on 72 hats from prominent New Brunswick family. Changing fashions in hat styles, history of Ganong family, description of each hat, manufacturers and retailers, management of hat collections.

The Paris Hat, 1885-1910.
San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, [1983].
Brochure catalogue of exhibition with descriptions of hats in the exhibit - some illustrated - and a map showing locations of Parisian milliners.

Probert, Christina
Hats in Vogue Since 1910. New York: Abbeville Press, 1981.
Mostly pictures from Vogue magazine organized chronologically to 1980, with some text on changing styles and influences.

Reilly, Maureen and Mary Beth Detrich
Women's Hats of the Twentieth Century for Designers and Collectors. Atgen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1997.
Basically a price guide lavishly illustrated, but some information on costume history and designers.

Rendell, T.J.
"Millinery Techniques in the 1920s." Costume 10 (1976), 86-94.
Reminiscence of author's apprenticeship with Liberty and Co., London, including working conditions, pay, division of labour, and the types of hats made. Patterns and instructions for a choche and child's sunbonnet.

Ridley, J.
"Stylistic Changes in American Women's Hats with Identification Criteria for the Years 1900-1950." MA thesis, Oklahoma State University, 1981.
Not seen.

Roger-Miles, L.
Les créateurs de la mode. Paris: 1910.
Beautiful sepia photographs of millinery shops and workrooms in Paris

Seligman, Kevin L.
Cutting for All: the Sartorial Arts, Related Crafts, and the Commercial Paper Pattern: A Bibliographic Reference Guide for Designers, Technicians and Historians. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, [1996].
Chapter on Millinery has excellent listing of publications found in American libraries and other institutions, with details of publishing data.

Shields, Jody
Hats: A Stylish History and Collector's Guide. New York: Clarkson Potter, 1991.
More than a collector's guide, includes text on changing hat styles in the context of general fashion history, with illustrations from fashion magazines and trade journals, along with photographs of hats. Glossary of hat types.

Simon, Amy
"She is so Neat and Fits so Well: Garment Construction and the Millinery Business of Eliza Oliver Dodds, 1821-1833." MA Thesis, University of Delaware, 1993.
Not seen.

Smith, Desire
Hats, with Values. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1996.
Lavishly illustrated price guide, mainly 20th century.

Terras, Lucien
L'histoire du chapeau, historique, technique, litérature, esthétique. Jacques Damasse, 1987.
Not seen.

Victoria Magazine, eds.
The Romance of Hats. New York: Hearst Books, 1994.
Historical styles for today. Profiles of 4 hatmakers in U.S. Care of hats.

Wilcox, R. Turner
The Mode in Hats and Headdress, Including Hair Styles, Cosmetics and Jewelry. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959.
Encyclopedic style history, from Ancient Egyptian to 1959. Multitude of drawings of hat styles by the author.

Yesterday's Headlines: the Hat Collection of the Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery
Stoke on Trent: City Museum and Art Gallery, 1987.
Not seen.

Please note: this bibliography was compiled in relation to a research project on the millinery trade in Ontario, 1850-1930, and does not pretend to be exhaustive. If the reader knows of other titles in the English or French language, the author would appreciate knowing. Contact me at christina.bates@historymuseum.ca; 819 776-8362; fax 776-8300; Canadian Museum of Civilization, 100 Laurier Street, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0M8.


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