I found this interesting photo in the New York Public Library archives. I don’t think we really have milliners (hat makers) anymore, though it would be great if we did. A hat looks very nice on most people.
A couple of interesting points about this picture: This photo is from 1917 but the class is racially integrated. Also, you see from the caption beneath it, the class was from Spellmans Seminary. I thought it might be Spelman College, which is a historically black college, but I didn’t know they had a seminary. It’s also possible it refers to another institution because the spelling is different.
old spirituals 
Britain has all kinds of milliners which is where the royals et al get all their glorious hats. In America there is a guild:
https://www.millinersguild.org/
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Ah so they do, Jennie! How did I forget them? I love their fascinator hats. I do think it would be great if people wore hats and dressed up more. (Should probably start with myself!)
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One recollection I have of London is that the streets have “haberdashers” superior to those in America. Businessmen and women in America today only want to wear “Business Casual” attire.
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That sounds so quaint and lovely!
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I lived in Atlanta for a number of years, so I know the history of the Atlanta University Consortium. Spelman has come a long way since it was teaching millenary skills to women.
Spelman College was originally Spelman Seminary, founded in 1821. The person who had this photo printed incorrectly spelled the school’s name. It became Spelman College in 1924. It was and still is a women’s college.
In 1929, Spelman became part of Atlanta University Consortium that includes the historically black colleges and universities of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College and Morehouse School of Medicine. Spelman is today a women’s liberal arts college and Morehouse is a men’s liberal arts college.
Many prominent Black Americans attended both Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. I believe Spike Lee went to Morehouse College then on to NYU for his MFA. Other notable Morehouse alumni are Martin Luther King, Jr., Julian Bond, Samuel L. Jackson, Herman Cain, Jeh Johnson, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Spelman also has very notable alumni as well, many of whom are writers, academicians, actresses, and even a Board Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
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Thank you, Jax! I hate to say something like “it’s probably the same school” when I don’t know for sure. Spelman has a storied reputation, but I bet its own faculty doesn’t know they once offered millinery!
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