The Right Hat by Mae sign from Mae's Millinery Shop: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Painted cardboard sign with an illustration of a portrait of a woman advertising Mae's hats from Mae's Millinery Shop. The woman is in the lower half on the right side, seen in three-quarter view. She looks to the left and wears a wide brimmed hat, pearls, and earrings. The woman is illustrated in a pale blue color. Surrounding the woman as well as the sign text, is a green scalloped and stylized floral oval. The oval is cropped at the bottom edge, and appears incomplete. Within the border, above and to the left of the woman is text in black and red reading "Above all... / THE RIGHT HAT / In / Modern / Design / by Mae". Behind the oval is a pin striped background of red and green. There are eleven (11) green pin stripes on a dark red background. The lower edge of the corrugated board is folded under to the back. The reverse is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1941-1994
• Created by: Unidentified
• Owned by: Mae Reeves, American, 1912 - 2016
• Subject of: Mae's Millinery Shop, American, 1941 - 1994
• Type: signs
• Medium: paint on corrugated board
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 19 1/2 x 14 x 3/8 in. (49.5 x 35.6 x 1 cm)
• Place collected: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Millinery
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2016.48.44
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Donna Limerick
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.