Tag Archives: womens fashion and hats 1900s and 1910s

Hats Galore

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Old photo, circa 1900s – 1910s.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  4 x 2 and 3/8″

Just an old snapshot that has been around for over a hundred years – it had lived most of its life in one of those old photo albums with the black pages, before being picked up at a paper fair. No writing on the back at all, and it’s blurry (but imagine you are bringing the scene into focus!) And what a great time these eight ladies are having….all in some of the most wonderful hats, no two are alike. And we get a sense that the woman in the dark satin blouse was the focal point of this photo – it was some type of special occasion for her.

Lucille Wickson, Berkeley, California

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Old photo, circa 1906 – 1916.

Price:  $12.00         Size:  3 and 1/8 x 2 and 1/16″

Availability status:  ORIGINAL IS SOLD. Digital copies only are available.

We have a last name this time:  Wickson. And I thought at first that Berkeley was the surname or it was a marriage situation, Wickson marrying Berkeley, but no such records appear online. However, we do find Lucille M. Wickson, student in 1909, boarding at 2662 College Ave., Berkeley, California (and the palm tree in the background fits). Other records show Mildred Lucille Wickson was born November 17, 1890, daughter of George Guest Wickson, II and Mary Ellen Winter. She married Walter Reeve Woolpert, July 27, 1916.

I’m estimating that Lucille was at least age 16 when this photo was taken. A fashion expert would no doubt be able to narrow down the time frame. Note that she wears both a large hair bow and a hat. But, easy to miss – she’s holding some daisies in her left hand. (It’s the little things that really bring the moment to life!)

Below, the announcement of Lucille’s upcoming nuptials from The San Francisco Examiner, July 22, 1916:

Sources:  Husted’s Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda Directory, 1909. p. 1214. (Ancestry.com).

“East Bay Society Notes.” The San Francisco Examiner, July 22, 1916. Saturday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com).

Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997.