Figure 1.-- Here we see a birthday party in Brattleboro, Vermont during 1917. Note how the children dressed up for the party. The party made have been held indoors, but it was easier to photograph them outdoors. |
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Brattleboro is a New England river town. It was the location of the first permanent English settlement in Vermont--Fort Dummer (1724). Brattleboro itself was chartered in 1753. The major industry was printing and Battleboo was a printing town since William Fessenden
began publishing books in 1805. For more than 100 years Brattleboro was the home of the renowned Estey Organ Company. Wells Fountain, pictured on the Society's logo,
stands at the north end of Main Street. The images from the Brattleboro Historical Scciety provide a wonderful view of America in the early 20th century.
Brattleboro is a New England river town. It was the location of the first permanent English settlement in Vermont--Fort Dummer (1724). Brattleboro itself was chartered in 1753. The major industry was printing and Battleboo was a printing town since William Fessenden
began publishing books in 1805. For more than 100 years Brattleboro was the home of the renowned Estey Organ Company. Wells Fountain, pictured on the Society's logo,
stands at the north end of Main Street.
The images from the Brattleboro Historical Scciety provide a wonderful view of America in the early 20th century. We see events in the town like birthday parties as well as collections of photogrphs from various families. The images give the feeling of what life was like in small town America at the time.
This photo shows a group of children assembled for the birthday celebration of Leona Moon on May 15, 1917 in Brattleboro. It is not clear which girl is the birthday child. But notice the hair ribbons worn by the girls in the rear and the knee pants and long stockings worn by the boys in front. Two of the boys wear white shirts and ties and one of the boys (the one in the front row center) wears white long stockings whereas the others wear the more typical black stockings. They are probably sitting on the front steps of the birthday girl's house.
The Crown family was from Brattleboro, Vermont. Photographs of the Crown family are part of this collection. At this time we know nothing of he Crown family, bit it looks to be a very affluent family. We would assume that in the early 20th enturythat it was oine of the town's leading family. We wonder if there is any relationdhip to Crown Books.
Here we have the Whitney boys in Brattleboro. This one shows two elaborately dressed boys from the Whitney family. One source suggests that the portrait was taken in 1917, but it looks like an earlier portrait to me. We don't know their Christian names. The boy sitting on
the chair wears a Faunterloy suit with a ruffled blouse and a large lace collar. Notice how much shirt sleeve shows under the short jacket. Notice also the clasp of his hose supporter which can be glimpsed at the hem of his knee trousers. The older boy sports a fancy ruffled jabot running down the front of his shirt. He also seems to be wearing a knee-pants suit with black stockings. Both boys wear large bows at the neck. The boys seem to be aged
about 7 and 11. This photo looks like a studio portrait. Notice the draperies at the back, the carved chair, and the oriental carpet.
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