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Fedoras to cloches: Designed to define

Staff photo by Gage Cureton Terry Sveine (above) wore a crown fashioned out of a sausage and forks during the Hats Off to History - Designed to Define event Tuesday. Sveine was a model for a variety of hats that were featured.

NEW ULM — From fedoras to bearskin caps and flapper-style cloches, dozens of styles of hats from across a broad scope of historical periods were featured at Hats Off to History – Designed to Define Tuesday.

The event, organized by Brown County Historical Society, had attendees showing up in their favorite hats at the New Ulm Country Club to celebrate the special place hats hold in history.

Kathleen Backer, Brown County Historical Society Executive Director, said the historical weight hats hold is immense. She said hats helped people draw an image of their neighbor’s character and defined the people who wore them.

Backer presented a slideshow featuring old photos of people from the community and surrounding area.

She said she decided to center the program around hats when she was examining archival photos and noticed in almost every photo people were wearing hats — regardless of the occasion.

In the presentation, Backer showed a photo of a train wreck that occurred near New Ulm in the early twentieth century. In the photo, hundreds of curious spectators dotted the landscape and hillside surrounding the twisted wreck.

They were all wearing hats.

“Years ago it was expected that you wore hats or it was the norm,” Backer said. “Today it’s an exception except for sports, law enforcement and so on and so forth.”

In addition to the presentation, models donned hats and walked about the room. Some hats were formal. Others were a bit more zany — such as a crown fashioned out of forks and sausage.

“History is exciting and fun,” Backer said. “It’s not boring and dusty. I see my role as using history, or an aspect of history, to demonstrate to the public that it can be fun.”

Gage Cureton can be emailed at gcureton@nujournal.com.

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