2 minute read
Beloved Hats
By Carrie Barker, Collections Specialist
We are knee-deep in hats in Collections!
Okay, not literally, but the working spaces in Collections were inundated for weeks with the many hats the Museum of the Albemarle has collected over the decades. Bright and colorful with feathers and netting, or dark and somber with black ribbons for funerals, selections from our extensive hat collection will be on display on the first floor beginning in January 2024.
Choosing which hats to display required many discussions. Hats were pulled from their storage boxes and laid out for staff consideration, organized by men’s, women’s, children’s, feathered, and bonnets. We successfully narrowed it down to 10-12 hats.
Collections staff laid out hats for a memorial exhibit to honor former curator Thomas R. Butchko. The small hat exhibit will be on display beginning in January 2024 on the first floor of the museum.
This exhibit, which the entire staff collaborated on, is a small memorial to noted historian Thomas R. Butchko, who served as curator of the Museum of the Albemarle for many years until his passing in 2009. Tom loved the hats in our collection—as we all do—and his memorial fund will be used to address their special needs.
If you would like to join us in our efforts to preserve our many artifacts, please consider contributing to our Adopt an Artifact program. To learn more, visit: www.MuseumoftheAlbemarle.com/collections/adopt-artifact
