Hats were on their heads, not in their heads

“The Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina began holding an annual state convention in the early 1900s, often meeting in county courthouses. In 1909 the convention met in the legislative chamber of the North Carolina House, and delegates heard a presentation on hookworm, voted to contribute to a scholarship for a young woman to attend Oxford University in England and transferred ownership of their ‘traveling libraries’ to the North Carolina Library Commission.

“The ladies posed for a picture in front of the [State Capitol], all of them with enormous hats (the current fashion) perched on their heads. … At the next convention they resolved to stop wearing hats at their meetings because apparently they felt the hats took away from the seriousness of what they were doing.”

— From “Southern Culture: An Introduction” by John Beck, Wendy Jean Frandsen and Aaron Randall (2009)