A REAL Pudding Cap!

In both of my historical novels for young readers, The Riddle of Penncroft Farm and A Buss from Lafayette, I referred to "pudding caps'.



Pudding caps were padded hats which were sometimes worn by toddlers in the 18th and 19th centuries to protect their heads. (I think that "pudding head", meaning a simple or unsophisticated person, is derived from the fact that these "pudding caps" were worn by the very young.)

Recently, I visited Williamsburg, Virginia. While looking around in a millinery shop, I spotted this on the counter:

I asked if this was a pudding cap, and the answer was yes!

I was surprised to see the gaps between the padded bits, and I'm wondering if this was a summer version, open for ventilation.  Perhaps those worn when it was cooler were more solidly padded.

Anyway, this is the first real pudding cap I have ever had the opportunity to see. Very exciting!

At Williamsburg, I spotted a number of other items from the 18th-early 19th century that are in my stories and I photographed them all.  I  will be posting them soon.

Cheers,

Dorothea