Maids' Caps
Some hospitals chose for their
uniforms the current fashions worn by domestic servants, including
cap and bibbed apron. During the 1870s, the nurse's cap was almost
identical to that worn by working women indoors, consisting of a
gathered oval caul covering the back of the head and the hair, and
a close-fitting headband (1999.267.34).
Another model was the mob cap, an oval or circular piece of cloth
gathered onto a band (1999.267.32).
Very soon, however, these antecedents became highly stylized. Instead
of caps designed for function - covering and keeping the hair
neat - they began to take on a symbolic form. They were reduced
in size, and heavily starched into form, so as to perch precariously
on the top or back of the head
(1999.267.5).
The mob cap developed crisp angles with a stiff and regular pleated
band, a model which would persist throughout the twentieth century
(1999.267.37). The maid's cap was
made tiny (1999.267.44), and its
gathered caul sometimes raised into a tall mound
(1999.267.48)
or point (1999.267.24) at the top.
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