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The hat that killed a billion birds : the decimation of world avian populations for women's fashion / Arthur G. Sharp.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Sharp, Arthur G., author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Millinery--United States--History--19th century.
- Millinery.
- Women's hats--United States--History--19th century.
- Women's hats.
- Feather industry--United States--History--19th century.
- Feather industry.
- Birds--Conservation--United States--History--19th century.
- Birds.
- Fashion--Social aspects--United States--19th century.
- Fashion.
- Physical Description:
- viii, 259 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
- Place of Publication:
- [S.l.] : MCFARLAND, 2023.
- Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2024]
- Summary:
- "During the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was common practice for milliners to decorate women's hats with birds' feathers and plumes-and sometimes with the birds themselves. As many as 300 million birds per year were killed for this fashionable enterprise, causing the extinction of some entire species and the endangerment of others. Lawmakers and bird aficionados were slow to react to the effects of this practice, which went on almost unabated for a quarter of a century. Then, noted naturalists like George Bird Grinnell, William T. Hornaday, and President Theodore Roosevelt, who recognized the economic benefits birds provided, banded together to pass meaningful legislation to protect them and to curb the production of murderous millinery. This book explores the troubled history of millinery and its complicated relationship to birds and conservation. It explores why it took so long for the slaughter to end and how the efforts of individuals and groups brought about change"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- The birds start slipping away
- How did it happen?
- Follow the money
- Bird murder and women's hats
- Bicycles, tricycles, and fashion cycles
- But did the ladies listen?
- Which birds is it okay to kill?
- Who was to blame?
- Fashion writers play a key role
- Another skirmish in the war between the sexes
- Editorial license
- Blow guns, knives, and other cruel weapons
- There's an endless supply of birds-isn't there?
- Save the birds
- The audubon society picks up the cudgel
- "Arbird" day
- Laws are literally for the birds
- Who owns the birds?
- The turning point arrives
- Embarrassment knows no boundaries
- Regional rivalries
- The audubonists' antithesis
- Reading the signs
- Silz courts the Supremes
- Welcome to Finley's world
- Meet Max Schlemmer
- Looking at the moon without rose-colored glasses
- Delaware thanks the milliners
- The law of fashion prevails
- From Missouri to Massachusetts
- Milliners and hats are on top
- The milliners fight back
- Two sides to the story
- The business of business
- Calling all ladies
- White herons and birds of paradise
- The ostrich
- Game wardens
- The hunters
- Birds don't have to die when they can be dyed
- Those who refuse to see the birds for the trees
- The campaign goes international
- Epilogue: One good "tern" deserves another.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-253) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781476693286
- 1476693285
- OCLC:
- 1425892876
- Publisher Number:
- 99995711344
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