Hats

Artifact Numbers

Did you ever wonder how museums keep track of all the artifacts in their collections? Our museum has category numbers on each item, similar to the one pictured above. Some numbers are placed directly on the object, some on labels attached by thread in order not to alter the artifact.

The category number for the hat Susie -doll is wearing and again pictured to the right is number 987.30.04

The first number '987' represents the year acquired, (1987). Because we are now in the 2000's, this 3 digit system started to create a problem when the artifacts were entered into the computer, now each category is being recorded with the full 4 figure year in order to keep the computer records consistent.

The middle number represents a batch of articles from a specific donor, and the third number is artifact number within the batch.

So this straw hat was the 30th batch of articles submitted to the museum in 1987 and it was the 4th artifact in that batch.

Below are category entries in the museum data base, describing the hats on this page.

Hat, 1987.30.04 is a ladies cream coloured bonnet style straw hat. It has a cream satin band around it and above this, on the front of the hat there are satin and organdie flowers. The front and sides of the hat are trimmed with organdie, cream in colour with ruffles. The hat does up with a satin ribbon. Excellent condition.

Hat, 1979.69.03 is a ladies black velvet hat. No information entry found in catalogue.

Hat, 1987.30.06 is a ladies maroon velvet hat. It has maroon coloured ostrich feathers all around it and a green cloth leaf on the left side of the hat. The inside of the hat has a black net wired rim and cream net edging. This is supposed to be covered by a cream coloured lining with a tag on it reading ... "Fine Millinery -Miss Uschmann Holyoke Mass", but the lining is shredded. Hat in good condition.

Hat, 1970.02.02 is a gentleman's velour top hat. Also shown for this hat is an inset on the inside leather brim and the trade mark stamp on the inside of the hat. No information entry found in catalogue. You can just imagine from looking at the photograph, how dapper a gentleman might have looked wearing this hat !

According to the label this hat was made by Christy's in London England, expressly for,W& D, Dineen & Co. Ltd. in Toronto, Ontario, which was located at the time at the Corner of Yonge and Temperance Streets. Was this a prominent member of Whitby's citizen's hat's ? Surely there is a story and someone knows what it is.

People who have donated items over the years are very much appreciated and we endeavour whenever possible to include the donor's name when creating a display with something they have donated. It is a way of saying 'thank you' and many donors and their relatives, or descendants who have visited the museum, have really appreciated this.

Accounting for, labelling, and decisions about a particular artifact are handled by the 'Accessions Committee' together with assistance by the museum consultant/curator. This is a big job and we appreciate the dedication of the volunteers who do this. In future, the computer will make management of the collection easier. Any comments, further information, please email. Make sure you write museum hats in the subject line.