Figure 1.-- American kids would never dress like this nowadays for a camping trip. It is obviously a summer photo. It is not dated, but it comes from an album dealing exclusively with the decade from 1910 to 1920, so I would guess that it was taken about mid-decade although we can't be sure. Note the white dresses and the light-colored Norfolk-style suit worn by the boy. The girl in the center wearing a white outfit with long white stockings seems to be about 14. Her younger sister looks as though she were about 9 while her brother seems to be about 12 or 13. Only the youngest child wears short socks. Note the high-button shoes, white for the girls, black for the boy. The boy wears above-the-knee knickers with his suit. He also wears a necktie with a collar pin underneath, holding his shirt collar tightly in place. These children seem to be siblings from an affluent family. We don't know the location.

American kids would never dress like this nowadays for a camping trip. It is obviously a summer photo. It is not dated, but it comes from an album dealing exclusively with the decade from 1910 to 1920, so I would guess that it was taken about mid-decade although we can't be sure. Note the white dresses and the light-colored Norfolk-style suit worn by the boy. The girl in the center wearing a white outfit with long white stockings seems to be about 14. Her younger sister looks as though she were about 9 while her brother seems to be about 12 or 13. Only the youngest child wears short socks. Note the high-button shoes, white for the girls, black for the boy. The boy wears above-the-knee knickers with his suit. He also wears a necktie with a collar pin underneath, holding his shirt collar tightly in place. These children seem to be siblings from an affluent family. We don't know the location. A reader writes, "Perhaps this was a backyard scene with the the children just playing at camping. This might explain why the children were so formally dressed. Or perhaps they were at summer camp. I'm not disasagreeing with you--just wondering. These seem to be rather upperclass kids. Could they possibly have pitched a tent on the grounds of their estate?" HBC finds these life style questions interesting as they help us to better understand the period and the clothing conventions. Of course there is no real of knowing. We don't think, however, this is a backyard scene for several reasons. One is the age of the children. They look too old to me forf backyard play camping. In addition note there is no indication of any houses nearby--rather a large backyard. The tent also looks like a substantial one that might be used for serious camping. Nor do we think that the children are at summer camp. Camps in the 1910s were as far as we know single gender camps. The fact that siblings are together here is a strong indication of family camping. As to rich children camping on a family estate. This is a possibility, but we think more likely that the family piled their gear in the trusty Model T (or Cadilac?) and took off on a camping expedition.

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Created: 11:01 PM 3/25/2005
Last updated: 6:06 PM 3/26/2005