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EDEN - Jean Harrington pulls another hat from its original box and squeals.

“I wore it to church and parties and luncheons,” Harrington says as she gingerly places the deep fuschia bonnet, circa 1950s, atop her head. “Oh, everything we went to we had to have hats that complemented our outfits — our gloves, shoes, jewelry, just everything.”

The next one is a wide brim made of black velvet and lace with ostrich feathers that belonged to Annie Morehead Bullard Ray, a distant relative of Harrington’s. Ray’s father built the house, now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, where Harrington and her husband Tommy now live.

“I think it was left in this house,” said Melissa Whitten, director of the Eden Historical Museum.

The hats, recently taken from Harrington’s attic, are part of a new exhibit at the Eden Historical Museum, titled “Hats From the Attic: A Special Exhibit Brimming With Style.” Ray’s ostrich feather hat is one of the oldest, likely dating back to the 1890s, in the exhibit, which runs through June.

Whitten, along with curator Julie Ganis, recently spent the morning removing the hats from the attic for the display. Another hat in the display belongs to the late Judge Susie Sharp of Rockingham County, a former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.

Until recently, the museum, created in 2007, opened only periodically for special fundraisers and exhibits, such as the ones on Jesse James and World War II. During that time, volunteers collected artifacts and raised money for permanent displays.

In February 2009, a $24,000 grant from Home Savings Bank allowed the museum to open with permanent exhibits. The museum is open Saturdays and during special events, such as Ladies Night Out, which is May 6.

With this most recent exhibit, Whitten, Ganis and other volunteers had in mind a display that would be informative and fun — including the window display with an oversized brim covered in flowers and even a nesting bird.

“Sometimes museums are too serious, which is why we want to do something like this,” Ganis said.

She also wanted to tie in the local hats, photos and milliners, or hat makers.

Hat makers in the 19th century and beyond worked closely with cobblers, dressmakers and plumassiers — people who dyed and arranged feathers and sprays of flowers.

Milliners were often dressmakers as well.

“Dressing a woman was almost an art form,” Whitten said.

For example, a woman’s hat might have a whole bird as part of the design of the hat. In the early 1900s, conservationists were in an uproar over the rampant use of feathers and birds in hats, according to Whitten’s research, which was used to write the collection’s text. For example, those birds caught for feathers and fashion disrupted the natural mating process. That was one of the ensuing issues behind the federal Lacey Act for the protection of wildlife and birds.

“So here’s a bizarre offshoot that milliners caused,” Whitten said.

After the start of WWII, there was a decline in hat wearing, Whitten said.

“Soldiers went to war, and the women went to work, so they weren’t so prone to spend their time that way,” Whitten said.

Hat-wearing did come back in vogue. But in recent decades, Whitten said, it has lagged.

“Now, our hats are generally relegated to the Kentucky Derby and church,” Whitten said.

Many of the hats in the collection were purchased by Harrington’s mother, Sallie Gray Ivie Dunn, and her aunt, Chattie Ivie Ray, who like many of the women of their day, had a hat and color for every occasion.

“She was quite a fashion plate,” Harrington said of her Aunt Chattie, while stepping past boxes stamped Montaldo’s and Belk, but also the more exquisite Harmony Hats and John’s Hats of New York and Paris.

“I come from a long line of pack rats so I have lots of history in this house,” said Harrington, a longtime member of the Eden Preservation Society and the N,C. Museum of History Associates. Her granddaughters raid her attic for clothes that have cycled back in style.

“They have no interest in the hats, of course,” Harrington said.

Some of the photos used as part of the display include yet to be identified local women in the Francis Photography Collection, taken by local photographers over the past 100 years.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com