A quick break from postcards today. Here's a class picture from about 1910. I don't know for sure where it's from, but I suspect it was a school in or near Binghamton, New York.
What fascinates me, besides the adorable faces of all of these children, is the number and variety of sailor suits. According to the Fashion Industry of Design Museum blog, the sailor suit became popular, first in England and then in the United States, after Queen Victoria dressed 5-year-old Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, in a scaled-down version of the Royal Navy uniform for a portrait. The article's author also points out that boys seemed to actually like wearing sailor suits, which was not the case with previous fashions, such as the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.
Sail on over to Sepia Saturday for more great photos from the past.
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A wonderful photo. i love the sailor suits too. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat sailor suit was one of the cutest old outfits seen. They must have looked so crisp and clean. I don't have any photo with children. I just started genealogy about 3 years ago and it is an addiction. Love it. Great post.
ReplyDeleteQMM
What a lovely photo, i too love all the sailor suits and I am intrigued with their hair styles, the majority of these children have the same style no matter if they are a boy or a girl. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteBoth my grandfathers were born in 1910. It's strange to think about these children, in another part of the world, already established in school, by the time my grandfathers were making their entrance. Nice post.
ReplyDeletewhat a fabulous photo, I love it!
ReplyDeleteand all those neat fringes! (bangs?)
It is worth spending time looking at each face and to imagine what each one must have been thinking when they were clicked.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the sailor dress was the in thing in those days.
I used to help make real sailor boy suits for the Naval Cadet Corp in the 1960's, so I'm no stranger to sailor's collars! Stitching the braid on needed a straight eye, and all the buttonholes on the trousers needed the patience of Job.
ReplyDeleteI love the sailor suits, too --but what I love most is the impish look on some of those faces. That teacher must have had her hands full!
ReplyDeleteI just read on the paper that blue and white striped sailor shirts were back in fashion again, not sure about the scarf though... Most of these kids look pretty happy, glad to see that, as I'm sure times were tough for alot of them.
ReplyDeleteI've collected some photos of kids in sailor suits. The first one I bought probably over 30 years ago, the most recent last year. I put them in the childhood book I did.
ReplyDeleteThis school photo is wonderful. It reminds me of the cover of the book "In the Vernacular: Photography of the Everyday."
This is adorable! Where in the world did you find this?! I've never seen anything like it!
ReplyDeleteCeCe
PS - I think the boy in the last row, second from the right corner is a redhead! How cute!
ReplyDeleteCeCe,
ReplyDeleteThis photo belonged to my favorite postman and father-in-law who began collecting all things beautiful many decades ago.
Here's a post dedicated to him: http://postcardparadise.blogspot.com/2009/12/tribute-to-our-favorite-mailman.html
Looks like a contact sheet, Christine, without ID, such as "First Grade, XYZ Elementary School, Miss Jones". Contact sheet doesn't make much sense either, because small-format film doesn't fit with school photos typically done with larger-format view cameras.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm a contrarian here, but those animated expressions don't look at all like institutional photography. Jack/Youngstown
Great photo! Everybody loves a kid in a sailor suit! My father wore a sailor suit in a formal portrait in the mid-1920s, and I wore one in the mid-1960s. Some things just never go out of style. I love the unisex haircuts, too.
ReplyDeleteJack,
ReplyDeleteIt does look like a contact sheet. Maybe the photographer just used it to show the parents so they could decide whether or not to order prints of the photos?
Fascinating
ReplyDeleteI'm mostly baffled, Christine. You could show a contact sheet, but you'd usually want individual photos so Mom and Dad wouldn't be distracted by other people's kids. I almost want to say it's a photog working for a clothing manufacturer who's putting together a portfolio to send to advertising illustrators. Jack/Youngstown
ReplyDeleteFascinating history!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful photograph - and the bonus is the information about sailor suits.
ReplyDeleteaside from the bad haircuts... i remember my mom dressing me in a sailor suit. let's see if i can find THAT pic. oh!! the shame...
ReplyDelete:D~
HUGZ
Such lovely !! The boys and girls are so sweet !!
ReplyDelete