Hats off to Grainger!

Two students in the Museums and Collections Projects Program, Crystal Baptist and Sharon Wong, are working on a project in the Grainger Museum with Curator Heather Gaunt, to rehouse the large collection of hats.

Crystal and Sharon will be working on a multi-stage collection management project, redistributing the hats over an increased number of storage boxes for conservation reasons, packing each hat internally to support delicate fabric and structures, photographing any hats that do not have digital image records, and updating the new data and locations on our collection management software. It is a wonderful opportunity to see the diversity and richness of this part of the collection. When all the data is loaded, digital images and item data will be available to the public on this part of the collection via our online search engine: Grainger Museum Collection Online .

The Grainger has some 68 hats, ranging from bowler hats to bonnets, and beanies to balaclavas, and multiple hat accessories such as veils and nets. They were all purchased and worn by either Percy, Ella or Rose Grainger, between the late 1890s and 1960s.

Caption: Bottle green bonnet with crocheted lace edge belonging to Rose Grainger, c.1910. Grainger Museum Collection, 04.5200

Caption: Sharon Wong working to rehouse some of the 68 hats in the Grainger Museum Collection.