Face mask repurposed from a commemorative Mardi Gras baseball cap: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic. In the months before the WHO’s declaration, the SARS-CoV-2 virus had already begun to circulate in the continental United States. However, in the absence of effective testing, the spread and presence of the virus was unknown in the United States during January, February and much of March, 2020. This lack of testing and the corresponding lack of evidence indicating the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus led many to assume that it did not pose a threat. As a result, activities and unrestricted travel across the United States continued to occur during February of 2020.

Typically, many Americans travel to New Orleans for Mardi Gras parades and events. 2020 was no exception. More than a million people from across the United States came to the city to celebrate Mardi Gras at events that began on February 14th and culminated on February 25th (the actual date of Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday”). Because no federal, state, or local public health warnings about COVID-19 had been issued, there were no restrictions on any of the events traditionally associated with Mardi Gras. Parades and block parties went on as scheduled and tourists crowded into bars, restaurants, hotels, and major tourist destinations such as Jackson Square as well as the city’s famous streetcars. Specific practices associated with Mardi Gras greatly exacerbated visitors’ proximity to other tourists; the tradition of throwing items from floats, for example, often led revelers to come into extremely close and repeated contact with others.

Within twelve days of Mardi Gras itself, local hospitals detected COVID-19 cases among their patients. Ultimately, public health officials would come to believe that New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebrations caused approximately 50,000 cases of COVID-19. Unlike the outbreaks in New York City and Washington State which were instigated by travelers from outside the United States, the Louisiana outbreak appears to have been instigated by domestic travelers, clear evidence that COVID-19 was widespread and prevalent in the United States by February of 2020. The discovery that New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebration was a super-spreader event led the city’s public health officials to cancel the parades associated with Mardi Gras in 2021.

W. Patrick Bynum, a resident of Florida, was in New Orleans during the March 2020 Mardi Gras. Mr. Bynum attended the Endymion parade. Founded in 1967, Endymion is one of the “super-krewes” and traditionally has the largest parade during Mardi Gras. As host of Samedi Gras (“Fat Saturday”), Endymion brings together large crowds of about 20,000 to 30,000. The hat that Mr. Bynum collected was from a specific float (the Moulin Rouge float) and the #18B designates where his beads were assigned to be tossed along the parade route.

Mr. Bynum re-purposed the cap to create a mask which he used for a few weeks. The mask was created in the wake of the N95 mask shortages and provides a dramatic illustration of how Americans demonstrated extraordinary ingenuity in creating masks for themselves and their families, using objects that they had on hand.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 2020
• used date: 2020-02-14 through 2020-02-25
• Object Name: face mask
• Object Name: baseball cap
• Object Type: Baseball Cap
• Physical Description: polyester; cotton; metal; foam; plastic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 15.2 cm x 20 cm x 19 cm; 5 31/32 in x 7 7/8 in x 7 15/32 in
• place made: United States: Louisiana, New Orleans
• decorative motif; used: Carnivals
• general subject association; used: COVID-19 (Disease)
• decorative motif; commemorated: Memorabilia
• associated subject: Infectious diseases
• associated subject: Public Health
• associated subject: 2019-nCoV disease
• associated subject: Disease prevention
• associated subject: 2019 novel coronavirus disease
• ID Number: 2021.0160.01
• catalog number: 2021.0160.01
• accession number: 2021.0160
• Credit Line: Gift of W. Patrick Bynum
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.