Figure 1.-- The boy in this 1903 cabinet card portrait is identified as Wayne Mayo. He is pictured with a wooden stick horse. Wayne wears a tartan dress with a large ruffled collar and matching waistband. Plaid was a popular dress pattern for boys because it was associated with kilts. Dresses were going out of style for boys in the 1900s, but the comvention had not yet disappeared. The hem was knee length as was standard for young, but not yet teenage, girls. He has black long stockings and high-top shoes which in America were virtually universal at the time. Wayne was 'probably age 4'. The imprecesion means that the notation was made some time after the portrait was taken.

The boy in this 1903 cabinet card portrait is identified as Wayne Mayo. He is pictured with a wooden stick horse which he seems to be enjoying. Wayne wears a tartan dress, it was a bright plais pattern. Wayne's dress was done with a large ruffled collar and matching white ruffled waistband. This was rather unusul. Plaid was a popular dress pattern for boys because it was associated with kilts. The skirt is, however, not pleated like a kilt. Dresses were going out of style for boys in the 1900s, but the convention had not yet disappeared. The hem was knee length as was standard for young, but not yet teenage, girls. The dress seems to be worn with a frilled petticoat which can just be glimsed at the hem. He has black long stockings and high-top shoes which were virtually universal at the time. The shoes seem to be lace ups, buttonshoes were more common at the time. Wayne was 'probably age 4'. The imprecesion means that the notation was made some time after the portrait was taken. But as the date is known, we can assume that the age estimate is fairly accurate. The cabinet card is one of the new style card, this one slightly larger. With an image that covered most of the card. At the same time there were also small cards with small images. The card measured 6-1/4 by 5-1/4 in. The photographic image is 5 by 4 in. The studio is not identified, but given the basic back drop and poorly composed pose, was clearly not a well-estblished or very competent phototographer.

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Created: 12:55 PM 5/27/2017
Last edited: 12:55 PM 5/27/2017