Date

Materials

Description

Fox fur hat with tail and badge. The fur covers the entire hat and ranges in colour, with various shades of brown and orange. The tail attached to the back of the hat is mainly a light brown colour, but has four thin darker brown stripes encircling it. The very tip of the tail is white. The main body of the hat has various shades of orange around the bottom half of it with longer, lighter strands of fur sticking out. The top of the hat is much lighter and has an orange stripe the runs down the middle. Attached to the left side of the hat is a green and white badge with the image of a husky surrounded by writing. The lining on the inside of the hat is mainly made out of leather and stitched together with black thread. The front of the hat, where it would touch the forehead, is made out of woven fabric. Along the sides, the hat has black and white striped leather and fabric. The portion of the hat that would touch the top of the head is made out of plain white leather. 

The Prince Albert Winter Festival originally began in the 1920s but ended in 1929. However, in 1964, the festival was revived and has been an annual tradition for the community ever since. While the festival now is a chance for the community to come together and take part in a variety of different events like dog sled races, trade shows, dances, cook-offs, fiddle shows, and snow sculpting, the festival was originally a celebration of Prince Albert's origins as a fur trading post. In 1862, James Isbister, an English Métis fur trader, settled on a river lot farm in what is now the west end of Prince Albert. Over time, more of Isbister's family came to the area and it was called Isbister's Settlement for a few years. It was not until 1866 that James Nisbet, a Scottish-born missionary, came to the area and established a Presbyterian Mission called Prince Albert. In 1867, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) started their own farm about four kilometres west of the Prince Albert Mission. Over time, the HBC's involvement in the area grew and they continued their operations in Prince Albert for many years. However, by 1915, the HBC was gone from the area. But, a raw fur division continued to operate in the city until 1987.

While every Prince Albert Winter Festival has a new badge made, they all follow the same design of an image of a husky with the year and name of the event. The badge on this hat is the green version of the badge that was created for the 1971 winter festival. Coonskin hats have roots in Indigenous traditions, and when Europeans came to North America they quickly copied this style of hat and it became a symbol of frontier life. By the early 19th century, the coonskin hat had fallen out of fashion among Europeans and was associated with more negative connotations. However, the coonskin hat regained popularity in the 1950s (particularly among young boys) due to the appearance of one on ABC's “Disneyland” show. This hat was likely made in Saskatchewan, and there are two main species of foxes that reside in the province that could have this pattern of fur: the red fox and the swift fox. Based on the colouring of the fur and the size of the tail, it is likely that this hat was made from a red fox.

Marks/Labels

“80.5.899a” written in black pen on the tag inside the hat.

Category