Tag: Artifacts

In Part 2 of this series, I concluded that despite scarce photographic evidence, American women who participated in the movement West in the early to mid-19th century really did wear sunbonnets on a regular basis. Surviving physical examples, newspaper references, and written recollections help to paint a picture of the frequency with which sunbonnets would have been in use. While researching the topic, I came across a rare and unusual photo taken in St. Louis, Missouri in 1848, showing a large group of women and girls wearing sunbonnets. After looking at thousands of daguerreotypes in online collections, this photograph stood out as unique and compelling.