Just Old Hat(s): Headgear in Alaska History
May 6, 2011 – October 15, 2011
Poster by Loeke Molenaar

Gallery entrance
Alaska State Museum
Gallery photos taken by Sara Boesser

Owl and Humpback Salmon Shakee.át, Tlingit
Made by Richard A. Beasley, 2002
Gift of Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Initiative 2004-3-1

Shakee.át Frontal Plaque, Tlingit
Made by Nathan Jackson, 1971
This wooden plaque for a headdress represents a man giving a “peace sign,” a timeless gesture of good will and well being.
Museum purchase, 2005  2005-13-1

 

World Hat, Tlingit,
Kaagwaantaan Wolf House
Sitka, early 19th century II-B-830

Hunting Hat, Eskimo
From the Collection of Lt. George T. Emmons
Museum Purchase   II-A-308

Visor, Eskimo
From the Collection of Lt. George T. Emmons
Museum Purchase   II-A-311

Doll Wearing Beaded Headband, Athabascan or Tlingit
circa 1925
Museum Purchase II-B-1949

Doll Wearing Fur Hat, Athabascan, Tanacross
Made by Lena Sanford, Tok, 2007
Gift of Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Initiative 2007-15-1

Hat, Athabascan
Made by Betty Dennis for one of her boys.
Museum Purchase, 1971 II-C-168

Hat, Athabascan
This hat is probably of white manufacture with Native additions.
Museum Purchase, 1970  II-C-106

Headband, Athabascan
II-C-93

An Athabascan Hunter’s Fur Hat
Wearing a thick beaver fur hat, a Tanana Athabascan women returns from hunting hares, 1882-3.
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
Wickersham State Historical Site Photograph Collection asl_p277_017_011

Headdress, Yupik
Circa 1963
Gift of Mrs. Eva M. Kriger, 1992  92-2-150

Basketry Doll Wearing Hair Headdress, Yup’ik
Made by Theresa Smart, Hooper Bay
Museum Purchase II-A-7322

Headdress, Yup’ik
St. Mary’s, mid 20th century
Presented to the 6th Alaska State Senate by the Senior Class of St. Mary’s High School, 1970 II-A-4644

Cane Fragment / Hair Ornament, Tlingit

Museum Purchase, 1972  II-B-1629

Cap, Northwest Coast
Early 20th Century.
Acquired from the estate of Mrs. Berners Bay Jim (Jiyal.áxch),1929 II-B-748

Headband, Tlingit
Made by Emma Marks, 1984
Made for Sealaska Heritage Foundation Celebration 1986 Raffle, won by Ray Lemons 94-14-2
 
Bear’s Ears Headdress, Tlingit
Made by Mary King, 1969
The bear’s ears style is based on headgear worn by warriors to help them gain the fierceness and power of the bear while in battle.

Hat, Haida
Made by Selina Peratrovich
Museum Purchase, 1973  II-B-1680

 

Crest Hat, Keet S'aaxw (Killer Whale Hat), Tlingit
Made by Harold Jacobs for the Dakl'aweidi (Killer whale clan) of Angoon, 1985. 
Museum Purchase, 1993  93-25-1

Sea Lion Figure from a Crest Hat, Northwest Coast
II-B-1046
Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

Sunrise, Moonrise
By Jim Heaton, Haines, 2008
Gift of Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Initiative 2008-8-1

Headdress, Tlingit
Ceremonial headdress, known as "Gangoosh" or abalone fin headdress (also sometimes called a "Bear's ears" headdress).
Museum Purchase, 1979 II-B-1802

Mask, Yupik
Ceremonial dance mask from Nunivak Island. 
Circa 1950
Museum Purchase, 1971  II-A-4845

Baby Sleeping in Swing
Child in button trim cap asleep in a swing, c. 1900
Alaska State Library Historical Collection
Winter and Pond Photographs  asl_p87_0180

 

Hat, Even
Late 19th Century
Museum Purchase, 1995  95-35-1 
Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

Headdress, Tlingit
Late 19th Century
Acquired from the estate of Mrs. Berners Bay Jim (Jiyal.áxch),1929 II-B-82

Headdress, Yupik Eskimo from Akiak
Gift of Mrs. Cecilia Thiele, 1948 II-A-1428 

Hat, Yakutat Tlingit
Museum Purchase, 1950  II-B-1380

Headdress, Tlingit
Late 19th Century
Acquired from the estate of Mrs. Berners Bay Jim (Jiyal.áxch),1929   II-B-82

Tlingit Man Wearing Shamans Headdress
This studio image shows Kashak, a Chilkat Tlingit man, wearing a shaman’s headdress called a “war bonnet,” circa 1907. When fighting evil spirits or accompanying warriors into battle, Tlingit shamans wore a distinctive hat which symbolizes a bird, often with a carving of a bird head fastened at the peak. Birds are considered powerful hunters—masters of the land, sea, and air—and when symbolized in regalia represent strength and power. Shamans would wear this headgear when undertaking an arduous or dangerous task. 
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
Case and Draper Photograph Collection  asl_p39_0133

Hat, Northwest Coast
II-B-1506
Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

Tlingit Woman Wearing Chinese Feather Duster
At the turn of the 20th century, brightly-colored orange and purple feather dusters from China were widely available at general stores.  The Tlingit people immediately saw the potential to use them as ornaments during sacred rituals, such as the koo.éex (memorial feast) and Guwakaan  (Deer Dance).  They cut off the handles and used them to decorate their headgear.  Sometimes the shortened handles were simply tucked into headbands.  When worn on their headgear, the dusters formed a plume not unlike the cockades worn by the U.S. military officers on their “cocked” bicorne hats.
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
Vincent Soboleff  Photograph Collection asl_p001_021

 

Bentwood Visor, Unangan (Aleut)
Made by Gert Svarny, 2011
Loan courtesy of the artist LC.387

Vu d’isle de St. Paul de la mer de Kamtchatka
 (View of Island of St. Paul from the Sea of Kamchatka) by Louis Choris, 1822
An early lithograph showing an Unangan (Aleut) hunter in his kayak, wearing an elaborately decorated bentwood hunting hat while observing Steller Sea Lions. Visors provided spiritual protection and hunting power, as well as shielding him from the elements. Print by  Louis Choris, who came to Alaska with the Kotzebue Expedition (1815-18), and later published in Voyage Pittoresque Autour Du Monde (1822).
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
Louis Choris Collection asl_p139_48

Wedding Crowns, Russian
19th century
Loan courtesy St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, AK   LC.386

Skufia, contemporary
This contemporary Skufia belongs to Priest Simeon Johnson of the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church
Loan courtesy St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, AK LC.385

Wedding Crowns, Russian
19th century

Loan courtesy St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, AK   LC.386

Clerical Headgear of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox clergy in front of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Sitka, circa 1910.  Bishop Filip Statvitiskii, stands at center, with Father Andrew Kashevarof at far right. Kashevarof was the first full-time curator of the Alaska Historical Library and Museum.
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
Michael Z. Vinokouroff Photograph Collection  asl_p243_1_136

Hat,
1982 Arctic Winter Games
Gift of Phil Younker, Sr., 2005  2004-61-1

Cap
Made by Mrs. Willie Takak, circa 1960
Gift of Mrs. Eva M. Kriger and Mr. Kenneth Kriger, 1992 92-2-76

Hat
Circa 1895
Museum Purchase, 1984 III-O-972

Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

 

Fur Hat
Sitka or Wrangell, circa 1928-47
Worn by Jackson L. Webster, a Presbyterian minister who served at the Sheldon Jackson boarding school in Sitka, and at the church in Wrangell, from 1928-47.
Gift of Jack Webster, 2010  2010-31

Laplanders [Sami] from reindeer station
Three Laplanders, man, woman and child, standing on dock in front of vessel. Agneta Gustavsson identified from left: Merit Balto (mother), father, Anders Balto and daughter Marie Balto, arriving from Norway, possibly to work with the reindeer expedition program.
Alaska State Library Historical Collections
B. B. Dobbs. Photographs asl_p12_095

 

Hat, Northwest Coast
Gift of Don Foster, 1948  II-B-407

Hat, Eskimo
Made by Hazel Lake, Hooper Bay
Collected during filming of the Walt Disney film "The Alaskan Eskimo", filmed by Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Milotte in 1946.
Museum Purchase, 1982  II-A-6704

Hat, Northwest Coast

Circa 1900 II-B-1601

Hat, Unangan (Aleut) or Alutiiq
Museum purchase 2008-10-1

Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

Sailor Hats in Alaska
The crew of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Thetis in 1888, on patrol in Alaska waters, wearing the style of flat-topped sailor’s hats that became the prototype for similar headgear made by Alaska Natives living along the Gulf of Alaska.
Alaska State Library Historical Collection
Mrs. Allen (Agnes Swineford) Shattuck Photograph Collection asl-p27-117

Helmut 
Found at the Alaska-Juneau Adit (shaft that goes back to the glory hole) in one of the checkpoints.
Gift of Jim Richards, 1970 III-O-467

 

Mining Hard Hat
Dept of Interior circa 1970s
Gift of the Bureau of Land Management  2007-11-70

Pipeline Laborer, Linda Templeton
Alaska State Library Historical Collection
Pipeline Impact Photograph Collection, 1974-1977. asl_p17_8037

 

Hat
World War II  2005-17-2

Sou’wester, WWII Sou’wester
2008-41-1

Hat
Navel bicorn hat owned by Frederick Martin Symonds, an officer of the U.S. Navy aboard several vessels that undertook patrol and survey work in southeast Alaska during the 1880s and 1890s.
Made by Wm. H. Horstmann Company, circa 1875.
Gift of Shari Jenkins, 1997  97-1-1

Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

 

Cap, Japanese
World War II
Found after battle of Attu, May 1943 III-O-174

Fur Lined Hat
Japanese Army, 1940’s
Found on Kiska after Allied forces retook the island. 

Museum purchase 2007-23-2

Hat
Worn by Captain Roy “Blackie” Selig, who served in various capacities on Alaska Steamship Company ships from the early 1930s to the 1960s.  He served as Captain of the S.S. Starr, which had the U.S. Mail contract for communities around the Gulf of Alaska.
Gift of Joy McNulty, 2005. 2005-18-1
Photograph by Loeke Molenaar

WOMEN’S HATS:
Hat, Tlingit
Museum Purchase, 2000  2000-12-2

Hat
Belonged to a member of the Pletnikoff family, who came to the Aleutian Islands in 1910.
Gift of the Stucky Family, 1992 91-23-1

Hat and Hatbox
Gift of the Muncaster Estate, 1975  III-O-643

Hat,
Nome, Circa 1887
Beret-style hat is a commercially made tan felt hat covered with ermine fur that had originally been used as cuffs on a coat.
Museum Purchase, 1984  III-O-980 

Bonnet
Rodine Collection, Circa 1900
Museum Purchase, 1993  93-3-53

Bonnet
Rodine Collection, Circa 1900
Museum Purchase, 1993  93-3-54 

Lady’s Cap
III-O-392

Douglas, Alaska portrait [of a baker], ca. 1900-1935
Alaska State Library Historical Collection
Ed Andrews Photographs asl_p162_109