If you wanted to look like a gentleman, you wore a beaver hat. A beaver hat didn't look anything like a beaver. It was made of beaver fur that had been rubbed until it was smooth. Ellen wore a beaver hat. It made people think she was a gentleman.

The picture shows Abraham Lincoln raising his hat. It was probably made of beaver fur. What other kinds of hats do you see on this page?

Beaver hats were so popular that people used up most of the beavers in Europe. So European men explored the U.S. and Canada to find more beavers. They often worked with Native Americans. This man is French.