https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/01443966-fc9a-4b74-b319-e0272591c3fd Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Help us preserve, scan and post more rare and endangered films! Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com One of a series of films that showed "Americans at Work", this episode showcases hatmakers or milliners, the people who make hats -- which, at the time the film was made, was a big industry. It shows the history and craftsmanship of hat making as hats evolved from practical methods of protection from sun and rain into fun and fashionable accessories. Various materials are used including straw and felt. The film dives deeper showing how hatters pay specific attention to detail and form. It also contrasts the methods of hat versus cap making. The hatting industry was on the decline in the 1950’s post war period forcing manufacturers to produce more variety and extravagant toppers. Some workers from Stetson, a famous Philadelphia based company established in 1865, are featured. (John B. Stetson Company, founded by John B. Stetson in 1865, was the maker of the Stetson cowboy hats, but ceased manufacturing in 1970. The brand continues to this day.) "Americans at Work" was produced by Norwood Studios in an effort to educate the American public on various industrial jobs. In total, 99 films were created and released weekly. AFL-CIO is a major national trade union center operating since December of 1955 through the merger of AFL; established in 1886, and CIO; established in 1935. This episode opens with a man forming men’s style hats (:11) by hand. The title screen appears (:14). It is presented by AFL-CIO (:23). A sportsman in a sports car slips on an Ivy style cap (:38). Golfers tee off under straw Burmese hats (:44). Street scenes watch pedestrians (:53) under various styles. One man presses down a boater straw hat (1:09). A Coastline Cab runs behind (1:10). A Greyhound bus zips in front (1:14). A hatless wanderer peers at straw hats in a window display (1:20). The store clerk helps him select a purchase (1:36). Female hat makers feed woven straw through a sewing machine (2:00) in order to craft summer hats (2:02). Another worker from Stetson fabricates a Skimmer straw hat (2:18). She presses it onto the hat block (2:37). Hats are hung in the finishing room (3:01). Special attention is given to form and durability (3:50). The intricate process of forming felt into hats (4:35) begins with combing the underfur’s of animals. The material is stripped from the cone (5:09). Materials are measured by feeders (5:20). These spin within the forming dome (5:19) and are then sprayed with hot water (5:32). Materials are peeled from the cone (5:42) and sent for processing in the sizing machine (5:51). Operators dip finger tips in cold water (6:05). Stiffening materials are blended into formed cones (7:04). An example is crowned and brimmed (7:10). Hands tug the brim outward (7:41). Felt is immersed in hot water (7:55). Machinery clamps onto the brim as hats are pressed into shape (8:12). Finishing processes (8:43) include light blocking with sandpaper on a rotating shaft. Hats are brushed (9:00), greased and powdered. One final blocking finishes the hat (9:15). Trimmers (9:22) complete decorative work. A female hatter maker sews the brim down (9:36). A cloth cutter (10:16) cuts through fabric layers using precut patterns. Male and female seamstresses (10:48) join crown sections with liners and straps. Materials are fed under a Singer sewing machine (11:53). Caps are blocked (12:29). The film is presented by AFL-CIO (13:13). The seal closes the film (13:26). Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLuXVPBHJpo Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:01:41 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/01443966-fc9a-4b74-b319-e0272591c3fd All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.