The Strangest Objects Housed in the Smithsonian’s Collections

A bright red hat accompanied by a flamboyant feather boa might seem more appropriate for a costume party than a Smithsonian collection, but these accessories document the rise of the Red Hat Society. The organization developed around the idea that women approaching or experiencing later life should embrace friendship, humor, visibility, and freedom from conventional expectations about how older women were supposed to behave. Members became instantly recognizable through combinations of red hats and purple clothing inspired in part by Jenny Joseph’s poem “Warning,” which imagines old age as a period of playful independence. What began as a small social gesture around the late 1990s expanded into a widespread organization with chapters across the United States and beyond.