Minnie Pearl's hat, 1970s
Minnie Pearl, the great country comedienne and entertainer, made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1940. Over the next forty years she appeared regularly onstage at the Opry, on tour with country music stars, and on the television series Hee-Haw, delighting audiences with her trademark greeting—"How-dy!"—and homespun humor. In 1993 Minnie Pearl (in real life Sarah Ophelia Cannon) donated mementos from her career, including her famous straw hat with the $1.98 price tag, to the Smithsonian.
See also:
Film and Television Memorabilia, Hats, Popular Culture Memorabilia
