Figure 1.-- This portrait was taken at a Montreal studio on July 12, 1898, and shows the Armstrong children (brother and sister) at about 9 years of age (the brother) and 8 years (the sister). We don't know the Christian names of the children. Notice the boy's Eton collar and bow. The white apparently starched dress of the girl with puffed sleeves and ruffled collar seems to be very dressy. Notice that both are wearing black long stockings and similar low-cut shoes.

The HBC biography section is for people or families that have achieved some degree of notariety or fame. HBC readers in many cases have submitted family portraits. HBC has until now not added them to the biography section. We believe now that this is a mistake. Many of the HBC readers contributing family portraits can also provide details about the boy and him family. This background information help us to assess social trends and put the fashions involved in perspective. This is just why the biographical section is an important part of HBC. As a result, HBC has decided to create pages for these relatively unknown people, when some basic family data is available. Incidentally if you find a relative here, please do tell us somehing about him. Here we are listing these biographies alpahabetically to facilitate looking up individual names. The alphabdetical list is the primary data base in this section. While we have not persued geneolgical resreach on these individual, having the names and in many cases the loaction provide the potential to acquire more back ground information in the future which may provide additonal insights into the fashion and life style trends.

Agerdal, Ingeborg and Holger (Sweden, 1923-24)

Here we have a look at a Swedish family in the 1920s. We see two interesting shots of a Swedish brother and sister taken in 1923 and 1924 respectively. The first snapshot shows Ingeborg and Holger Agerdal with their collie dog. Holger is about 11 and his sister Ingeborg about 8. They are obviously dressed for winter. Holger wears a woolen stocking cap, a heavy sweater, short trousers, long black stockings with woolen socks over them with heavy winter boots. Many Swedish children wore both socks and long stockings in winter time. We notice this same style in an early scene from Bergman's film, "Fanny and Alexander".

Agnew, Carson and Mc (United States, probably the 1880s)

Here we have an older brother with his baby sister. The children are Carson and Mc Agnew. The boy wears a knee pants suit. He has a big bow with a large white collar. The baby wears a long white lacey dress. The back of the cabinet card reads, "Uncle and Aunty, Mc. and Carson Agnew". The photographer was LeRoy and Terril in Youngstown, Ohio.

Allen, Harold (United States. 1880s?)

This cabinent portraitshows a little American boy with a a faint little grin. He appears to be holding a rider's crop, a common prop to sress that the child was a boy. The writing on the back of the photo identifies the boy as ""arold Allen - Aunt Fanny's boy". He looks to be about 3 years old. He is wearing a very small jacket, an unusual sleeveless jacket with a blouse. The blouse had a fancy lace collar and rather small bow. He is wearing the outfit with a dark skirt, but we can not mke out much detail. The photographer is J.P. Rhodes, 213 W. Washingotn Street, Phoenix, Arizona. The portrait is undated and we are unsure how to date it. The Fauntleroy styling suggests the 1880s, but the bow is rather small forthe 80s. It could have been tken in the late-1870s or early 80s.

Allen, Perry (United States, about 1910)

This studio portrait was done by Rossiter, St. Ansgar, Iowa about 1910. It seems a rather bare-bones studio. The boy is identified as Larry Allen. Larry looks about 13 years old. He wears a knickers suit with a rather slender dark tie. I'm not sure about the colors. He wears his knickers with long black stockings and rather old-fashioned shoe. He is pictured with the family dog.

Aldermann, Edgar (United States, probably 1890s)

Edgar Aldermann had his portrait taken in a Philadlphia, Pennsylvania studio. Theportrait is undated, but we would estimate the 1890s. He was 7½ years old. The e-Bay seller describes "Long curls, and fancy lace dress". Edgar certainly does hve long ringlet curls. We believe, however that a blouse or tunic suit is more likely than a dress. It is not possible to be sure, however, as the portrait does not ho the entire garment.

Anderson, Sterling G. (United States, probably early 1870s)

Here we have an early CDV portrait of a New Hampshire boy named Sterling G. Anderson. The portrait is undated, but we would guess it was taken in the late 1860s or early 70s. We know nothing about the family, but the fashionable outfit suggess the family was affluent. It was taken in Keene, New Hampshire. Sterling wears a tunic suit with Scottish plaid trim. He wears white long stockings with his outfit. I'm not sure about the ethnicity of the family, but it would not seem Scottish. The plaid trim may be some of an association with kilts as a tunic is a Scottish garment. I have, however, not commonly noted plaid trimmed tunics.

Armstrong Children (Canada, 1898)

This portrait was taken at a Montreal studio on July 12, 1898, and shows the Armstrong children (brother and sister) at about 9 years of age (the brother) and 8 years (the sister). We don't know the Christian names of the children. The white apparently starched dress of the girl with puffed sleeves and ruffled collar seems to be very dressy. She wears a matching white hair bow. The black stockings and low cut leather shoes with ties seem quite typical. The boy wears an interesting single-breasted cut-away jacket with black piping on the front opening and around the breast and side pockets. The buttons seem to be cloth-covered.

Auffurger, Oscar George Henry (United States, 1880s?)

This cabinet card of Oscar George Henry Auffurger was probably taken in the 1880s, although it is not dated. Oscar is pictured with a drum. He clearly is not a Civil War drummer boy, despite the kepi cap. The fact that he is wearing kneepants clearly shows that the portrait was taken later. Hanging on his jacket is what looks like a flag decoration, suggesting a political campaign. The writing on his cap reads "COLUMBUS". I'm not sure what that means. Perhaps it was the name of a band. The photo was taken in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is identified in pencil on the back.

Augell, Montgomery Boynton (United States, 1894)

Montgomery Boynton Augell had his portrait taken at 5 years of age in 1894. We are not positive that is the spelling of his last name. The script on the back looks like there may have been another letter. The portrait was taken in Rochester, New York. Montgomery wears a fashhionable knee pants sailor suit. He has a soft white cap. There is a dark tally, but I can't make out any lettering. It is a stripped suit, but we are unsure about the color od the stripes. . The "v" collar is done with a white front and colored back. The dark dickey has white stripes. He wears dark long stockings even though the suit is a white stripped suit. He alsi has long curled hair.

Created: November 4, 2002
Last updated: 6:59 PM 3/11/2008