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Smithsonian Honors Philadelphia Hat-maker

Lula Mae Reeves

July 27 2010

At the

African American Museum in Philadelphia

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The Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday July 28 2010

CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Taking a bow, Donna Limerick (center) and others modeling her mother's hats acknowledge MaeReeves, top photo, at the end of the ceremony at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Thirtyof Reeves' hats will become part of the Smithsonian's permanent collection.

Posted on Wed, Jul. 28, 2010

Smithsonian honors Philadelphia hat-maker

By Melissa Dribben, Inquirer Staff Writer

Donna Limerick had always believed her mother was a pioneer.

Not many women in the 1940s had the gumption and the bank loans to start their own business.Especially not African American women. Especially not African American women who designed and

made millinery in Philadelphia.

Still, Limerick didn't want to be presumptuous. She wasn't sure that her mother's legacy would qualifyfor the Smithsonian. A documentary producer for National Public Radio, Limerick had heard that theSmithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture was looking forcompelling stories about black families and culture. With modest expectations, she nominated hermother, Mae Reeves.

Tuesday, two of the museum's curators attended a ceremony honoring Reeves and announced that 30hats and several pieces of antique furniture from Mae's Millinery shop in West Philadelphia will becomepart of the Smithsonian's permanent collection.

"Oh, God bless you," Reeves said, as television cameras closed in on her. She'd just been handed a

softball-sized bronze model of the Liberty Bell that clanged happily in her lap.

"It's our biggest honor," said Melanie Johnson, city representative, apologizing that Mayor Nuttercouldn't make the event. He was in Washington for a meeting, representing the U.S. Conference ofMayors, but promised to make a personal visit upon his return.

"Oh my goodness!" Reeves said.

Now 97 and living in a retirement home in Darby, she arrived in a stylish wheelchair upholstered inteal leatherette. Her arthritic knees were covered by a black chenille blanket to match her beadedblack jacket and dress. She wore a hat (of course) - one of her favorites, a cloche layered thickly inshiny black feathers with an emerald and turquoise gleam.

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For more than 50 years, until 1997 when she retired at 85, Reeves ran her own store, first on SouthStreet and later on North 60th Street. She sold to stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and MarianAnderson; the social and political elite like Leonore Annenberg and C. Delores Tucker; and everydaywomen seeking audacious hats.

Philadelphia Inquirer (Continued)

Midway through the ceremony, held in the auditorium of the African American Museum in Philadelphia,a short video was shown. Produced by one of her nine grandchildren, it captures Reeves in a sparkyexchange with her daughter.

Having grown up in Georgia and studied millinery in Chicago, Limerick asks Reeves, "Why did youcome to Philadelphia?"

"Because I knew people!" Reeves says.

"You had a lot of celebrities as customers."

"Yeaaahhhhhh," she chuckles. "I made stuff that they wanted!"

Although all who attended had been asked to wear hats, about half in the crowd of about 50 failed tocomply - including Johnson, the city representative.

"I couldn't find one that didn't overwhelm my dress," she said apologetically. In her remarks, Johnsonpraised Reeves for helping to pave the way for black businesswomen. "Because of her, we can keepreaching and dreaming," she said.

Reeves "inspired a generation of entrepreneurs," said her grandson, Joel Limerick, who runs a datasystems company in Washington. He introduced his uncle, William "Sonny" Mincey, who ran an icecream store across from Mae's Millinery for 12 years.

Speaking from under the wide brim of her fuchsia straw hat, Michele Gates Moresi of the Smithsoniansaid Reeves' hats represented "an important acquisition" for the new African American museum,scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015.

After Reeves' daughter first told her about the hats two years ago, she said, they had not been intouch. Then in April 2009, she got a call. A leak had sprung in the pipes of Reeves' now-shutteredshop and the family was worried that the hats still stored there might be ruined. "I thought I mighthave to give them to Goodwill," said Limerick. She phoned Moresi and three days later, a white-glovedteam from the Smithsonian arrived to inspect the shop. This is history here, they told Limerick.

Tuesday, a jazz trio played. Crab cakes and wine were served on black tablecloths tied with lipstickpink ribbons. "Pink and black are Mae's favorite colors," her daughter explained. Models - some hip-swishing professionals, others game anchors and one meteorologist from local television stations -appeared on stage wearing hats from Limerick's personal collection (not the museum's.)

Other than baseball caps and lately, the stingy-brimmed fedora, hat-wearing "is so not of ourgeneration," said one of Reeves' bareheaded granddaughters. It was hard to imagine what it must

have been like to step out of Mae's Millinery in something so festooned and fabulous.

"Are you ready for the showstopper?" Limerick asked. Applause. But not enough.

"Are you ready for the showstopper?" she asked again. Better.

Removing her black velvet hat blooming with clusters of glittery pink roses, Limerick turned around,stooped low, then reemerged wearing one of her mother's boldest. An enormous awning of blackfeathers, soaring from her forehead like an ostrich's tail.

Beaming, she stepped off stage and strutted through the crowd. "A showstopper, right?"

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SATURDAY, 24 JULY 2010 17:43

WRITTEN BY BOBBI BOOKER TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

From the 1940s to 1990s, Mae Reeves was one of Philadelphias most successful millinerydesigners. As one of the first African-American women to establish a business in the downtownarea of the city, Reeves relocated her successful business to West Philadelphia and for several

decades created hats that were a veryspecial part of every womans wardrobe.

Mae Reeves, a famous Philadelphia hatdesigner from the 1930s to the 1980s,admires hats she created. Reeves hatcollection will become part of theSmithsonians National Museum of African

American History and Culture inWashington, D.C. -ABDUL R.SULAYMAN/TRIBUNE CHIEFPHOTOGRAPHER

In April 2009, the Smithsonians NationalMuseum of African American History andCulture (NMAAHC) acquired part of

Reeves extensive hat collection, antique furniture from her millinery shop and other personalitems to tell the story about her illustrious career.

Reeves, now 97, recently discussed her contributions to the fashion world in a special interviewconducted by her daughter, former NPR documentary producer Donna Limerick and NMAAHCrepresentatives. Her 50-year collection will be part of a permanent fashion exhibit at themuseum, expected to open in 2015.

Its a typical American story and as a museum that tells the American story from a Blackperspective, Black businesses play some extent in that, said Michele Gates Moresi, NMAAHCcurator of collections. And also, the issue of gender and that women are represented enoughand given their due in the museum, so doing Black womens businesses certainly makes a lot ofsense.

During the early 1930s, Reeves attended the Chicago School of Millinery where she learnedhow to shape hats with special molds, using steam and wires to hold the shapes. Her goal wasto learn the art of making handmade hats and her favorite work was decorating the hats withunusual feathers, flowers, bows and other materials. A hat expresses something special abouta womans personality, said Reeves. I try to make one-of-a-kind hats so my customers donthave to worry about going out and seeing themselves somewhere else. You never want to seeanother woman wearing the same hat that you have on.

On a 1934 visit to her brother in Philadelphia, Reeves decided to make the region her home.While working sales at Seymours Ladies Apparel Shop on South Street in 1936, the ownertaught Reeves business skills such as how to buy the stock, manage the shop and decorate thewindows. At age 28, Reeves secured a $500 bank loan from the Citizens and Southern Bank(also on South Street) and in 1940, opened Maes Millinery Shop at 1630 South St.

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Continued....

By 1953, Reeves business had grown substantially. At that time the 60th Street area of WestPhiladelphia had many prosperous businesses, Woolworths 5 & 10 store, several banks, otherwomens and mens apparel shops and shoe stores all run by white businessmen. The hatdesigner soon found the perfect place for her new shop at 41 N. 60th Street and became thefirst African-American woman to own a business on 60th Street corridor.

It was at the 60th Street location where Reeves designed and created some of her mostmagnificent hats, including her famous turbans, feather and veil hats. Customers came from asfar north as Boston and as far south as Virginia to order her special creations. Over the next 30years her customers included Mrs. Philip DuPont, Mrs. Walter Annenberg, women from the

Biddle family, the Honorable C. DeLores Tucker and many others who became friends andcustomers. To accommodate customers, Reeves traveled to New York and Paris to find thebest materials of silk, feathers, ribbons, flowers, velvet and ornaments for her ladies hats.

By the 1970s, the world of fashion changed drastically as women began to wear bouffanthairstyles, wigs and Afros hats were no longer fashionable, except with older women. Reeveskept the shop open until 1997, retiring when she was 85-years-old. In 2003, at age 91, Reevesmoved to Darby, Pa., where she now resides.

I always encourage my customers to wear hats that make a statement about fashion andthemselves, said Reeves. I love women to wear hats because it makes them look so pretty.You know, on days when you feel you need a lift hats are a good way to boost your morale.

Every woman should have at least one special hat they can put on strut out the door and say,Here I am, world. I feel good and I know I look good.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will present Mae Reeves a key to the city during the Hats Off to Mae Day

reception at 5 p.m. on July 27 at the African American Museum of Philadelphia, 700 Arch St.

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July 27, 2010

Smithsonian interested in creations by local entrepreneur who started her

business 70 years ago!

97-year old Lula Mae Reeves is the first African American woman to open her own business in

downtown Philadelphia.

She became a milliner in the early 1930s making hats and lots of them. "The more I made, the more they

liked them."

She opened her first hat shop on South Street in 1934.

Miss Mae's local customers included Marion Anderson and Lenore Annenberg. She was even sought out

by celebrities like Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald when they visited the city.

Last spring, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture asked to acquire

Mae's hat collection, along with some of the antique tools she used to make them. It as an opportunity to

tell not only Mae's story, but:

"But many, many stories from her life and her business in terms of how African American's lived, how

they became and were productive members of society," said Dr. Renee Anderson, a Smithsonian Museum

specialist.

So Mae was honored with a fashion show, where Action News' own Lisa Thomas-Laury was delighted to

be a model for some of Mae's unique creations.

She was also awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Bell.

"You don't have to own a business to find her inspirational. You just look at her as a woman and know

what's possible," said Philadelphia city representative Melanie Johnson.

And for the several generations of loved ones who gathered to honor Mae she has been much more than

an inspiration.

"She definitely deserves to get the keys to the city, I'm honored that I'm related to her," said great

granddaughter Kasmira Gray.

(Copyright2010byTheAssociatedPress.AllRightsReserved.)

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Smithsonia Honors Philadelphia Hat-maker - Lula Mae Reeves on July 27, 2010

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