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Popular fashions in the 1870s are well illustrated by a wealth of CDV portraits and in the United states cabinent cards. We note a wide range of headwear. We begin to see younger boys weating kilt suits, although dresses were still worn as well. Collars and bow begin to become larger, but are still relatively small. The cut-away jacket was very popular, although by the end of the decade it was no longer the dominant style of jacket. Buttons and stupes were popular detailing ekements. We see morevboys wearing shortened-length pants, but still mostly youngr boys. American boys mostly wore knee pants. European boys often wore knixkers of various types cut well below the knee. We begin to see sailor suits. Hair length is shorter than in the 1860s. We see a few boys wearing long hair such as ringlet curls, but mostly quite young boys.
We note a CDV portrait of a little boy with greased out hair that stands up in the middle, peaking at the crown. His hair, however, is short at the sides. Our approach is to just desribe the style until we can find an actual name. He is wearing a cut-away jacket and small white bow. The word Lincoln is written right below his photo on the front side. We assume that is his last name. He looks to be about 8-years old. The photographic studio was Vaughan Photo at 18 Third Street, Chico, California. We would guess that the portrait was taken in the late-1860s, although the early-70s is possibly. This is confirmed by the fact that Vaugh opened his studio in 1868.
We have no information on this unidentified Belgian boy, except that he was from Brussels. The fancy suit suggests to us that we was from an affluent family. He looks to be about 10 years old. We believe that the portrait was probably taken in the late 1860s or early 70s. Notice his bowler (derby) hat. The suit is a little difficult to describe. We think it was a cut-away jacket. It seemns to be decorated with buttons. He wears white or light-coloted ribbed stockings. Early knee pants tended to be longer lengths like this.
A watercolor painting from 1870 shows Harlod Bate wearing intricately done ringlet curls. Unfortunately we have no provinance on the painting, except that on the back it indicates that he was 2 1/2 years old at the time and wears a blue dress or smock with a small neck frill. The fact that he had a reasonably high-quality watercolor portrait done of him suggests that he came from an affluent family. We note that he has a large top curl in addition to his ringlets. This is a style we have also noted in America, at the time. It seems to have been a destinctively boyish hair fashion. At least we have not yet noted it on girls.
This portrait shows a Peruvian boy and a girl, persumably siblings, holding hands in fancy outfits with white long stockings. The portrait is not dated, but looks like the late 1870s to us. The outfits seem similar to what Spanish children might wear. These would be affluent children from an urban family, probably in Lima. This is not how most Peruvian children were dressed. The names of the children are written on the back, but they are hard to read. I think that they are José and Issura Carrabio R.
A portrait of J. T. Chatterton, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, shows him holding a
CDV album. The portraiy dates from the late 1860s or early 1870s. He looks to be about 13 years old. He wears a suit and vest (waistcoat) which buttons like a jacket without a tie, but with a white collar. His long pants suits shows that in the 1860s and early 1870s that it was very common for boys to wear long pants. He wears his hair over his ears.
Dan Brown had his CDV portrait taken, but we are not sure where in A,erica he was from. His propername was probanly Daniel. All that we know for sure is his name and the fact he was 8 years old. There is no printing on the front or back. That helps to date it, because blank cards were most common in the 1860s and early 70s. The clothes suggest the 1870s to us. A HBC reader, however, thinks it could be the 70s or early 80s. Dan really was concentrating for the portrait, his eyes are fixed on the camera. He has an Eton collae with a soft point whoch he wears with what looks like a stock tied with a a kind of cross bow. We suspect that this represents a transition from the stocks worn in the 1850s-60s to the bows worn beginning in the 1870s. His hair is a little shorter than was common in the 60s. He has a suit with a loud check. The jacket has matching pants. He hold a hat with a wide brim, but we can't make it out very well. One interesting aspect of the boy;s clothings is the shirt or shirtwaist that he is wearing. We can't see much of it, but note the glimpse of the wrist cuff. It has wide stripes.
We note an unidentified portrait of an Anerican boy. Unfortunately there is no information associated with the portrait, not even the location where it was taken. Perhaps the photo was taken in a southern State, but there is no way of knowing this for sure. We believe that it was probably taken in the 1870s because of the boys clothes. The boy's round hat I think clearly dates it before the 1890s. And I think the cut-away jacket dates it before the 1880s. The long pants I think suggest that it was takrn before the 1890s. But it should be recalled that ling pants were worn more commonly in rurl areas than the more stylish urban areas. The portrait seems to have been taken by an itinerant photographer, perhaps at a country fair. There is a backdrop, but the floor looks rather than outdoors in the open air rather than the inside of a portrait studio.
John James Cutsaw appears to be an English boy from an affluent family. A CDV portrait of him in a suit with bloomer knickers out for a ride was taken in the 1870s. We have no additional information about him.
This Rhode Island cabinet portrait shows the three Drowne boys identified as Chrissie, Robbie and Fred Drowne. It was probably taken during the 1870s. The studio photographer was Brownell & Co., 90 Westminster St, Providence, Rhode Island. We are not sure who is who, but the normal convention was to use the same order as the boys were depicted beginning from the left. The boys proper names were Christopher Stafford, Robert Holden, and Frederick Peabody Drowne. These names were from our own research. The card uses only their identifies sentimental names. Only two of the boys have been breeched. Here the boys wear a dress, a kilt suit, and a knee pants suit. Family images like this help to clarify breeching conventions. The boys look to be about 2-7 years old. The two boys wearing skirted outfits are clearly pre-school bioys, we would say about 2-4 years old.
This cabinet portrait shows a boy on fancy horse drawn cart. The portrait was taken by Vail, 254 Main, Poughkeepsie New York in 1875. The boy is Tom Kamnst 1875. Tom wears striped long stockings, fancy jacket and pointed hat. Tom holds the reigns of a marvelous cart with painted wing sides and drawn by two great wooden horses. This was a hobby horse affair any little boy would die for. A whip sits in a holder on the side.
This CDV portraut was taken in the Henry Lambert studio locted in Bath. The boy may be Edward Rendall. The portrait was probably taken in the early 1870s. He wears a cut-away jackets and vest. Notice the button detailing of the vest is continued on the knickers.
This CDV portrait was taken by Monsieur A. Bouche, a portrait studio in Brighton. The use of "Monsieur" was presumably to give a classy French image to the studio. The boy pictured is Hugh Davey Rendall. He is wearing a stylish velvet double-breasted suit. He wears his outfit with a boater. Hugh has longish hair down to his ears. The CDV is undated, but a 1879 medal award is mentioned on the back. We believe that this usually meant recently earned medals, so the portrait was presumably taken about 1880.
Montague John Rendall was a student at Harrow School in the 1870s. We have little information about him except that he came from an exytended, well to do family. We note a portrit of him in his Harrow School uniform which was a type of Eton suit.
We know nothing about the boys here except that their portrait was taken in Bayreuth in 1877. The boys look like they are about 9 and 11 years old. This CDV portrait has two brothers in matching suits. The boys wear doubled breasted long pants suits. You can't make out the shirt, but they wear stocks. I'm not sure how common stocks were in Germany during the 1870s, especially the late 70s. I associate them more with the 60s. Long pants were still common, even for boys this age. Also note their shoes which seemed to be made out of two materials.
This boy's name is Louis Dubois. Written at the bottom of the CDV is "Louis Dubois fils d'Oscar". (Louis Dubois son of Oscar Dubois.) A French reader tells us that Dubois is one of the most classical French family names. He looks to be about 5 years old. We do know he was from Macon. We are not sure where that is in France. The portrait was probably taken in the late 1870s. We know that because a 1877 prize was noted on the back. Thus the portrait was surely tken in the late 70s or very early-80s. It is a little difficult to make out Louis' outfit, but it looks like a tunic with a white collar. He seems to be wearing long white stockings and pantalettes with his tunic.
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