Figure 1.--Here we see an Engish faily possibly on vacation. Notice that the boy who looks to be about 12 years old has taken his sailboat along, possibly to give it a test sailing. The photograph is not dated, but we would guess it was taken about 1930.

Toy sailboats were a huge favorite with American, English, and French boys in the 19th and early 20th century. We are not sure about other countries, in part because we have smaller photographic archives. We see some in 19th century studio portraits showing boys with sail boats. These are probably studio props, not toys the boys brought to the studio. Boys loved to take their sailboats to the nearby park to sail it in the pond. This means that this was an important toy that developed in the mid-19th century, because this is when important urban parks were created throughout Europe and North America. Water features at these parks were very popular. We only begin to see actual images in any numbersafter the-turn-of the 20th century. This is of course the result of the Kodak Brownie and other similar systems like it. What this meant was the creation of the family snapshot. These cameras were so simple that anyone could operate them. And they were so smal, people could not only operate at home, but take them anywhere they went. Thus this is an important part of the park photographic record of the first half of the 20th century. Urban parks with their sheltered ponds were perfect places for boys to actually sail their sailboats. Something that most boys really wanted to do and looked forward to it immensly. There were boat of all sizes and designs. In the early 20th century we see any boys dressed up in sailor suits and other fancy outfits for these park visits. After World War I, boys tended to be dressedv more casually. Here most of the children involved were middle- or upper-class boys. And almost all of the children were bioys. Girls for whatever reasions had an realinterest in sailboats. This was the case for all kinds of vehicles, be it stage cizaches, trains, steam bioats, aircradt, cars and trucks. The French boy seen here is shown trying to sail his sail boat in a small pool (figure 1).

Created: 9:16 AM 1/28/2024
Last updated: 9:16 AM 1/28/2024