Figure 4.--This 1911 portrait shows two American boys, Lester and Chester VanTine wearing tunics and long stockings. They bpth have long hair, but cut differently. Photograph used courtesy of Mary Catherine (VanTine) Fairbanks.

Lester VanTine and Chester VanTine (United States, 1910s)

A HBC reader, Mary Catherine (VanTine) Fairbanks, has provide us some charming photographs of her father Lester VanTine and his fraternal twin brother Chester. The boys were American and they grew up in Pennstlvania. Their parent's ancestors were from Holland, albeit originally from France. Mary was told by her mother that the boys were dressed in the style that the Dutch had dressed their young children. These tunic outfits were very popular for younger boys in America during the early 20th century. HBC is not at all sure that this was such a popular style in the Netherlands, but HBC has not yet throughly assessed Dutc styles during this period. The boys in a 1911 photograph look to be about 3-4 years old. They wear matching tunics. The tunics are white or a light color. The boys wear their tunics with dark long stockings. They both have long, but not quite shoulder length hair. Although they are twins and wearing identical tunics, there hair is done differently. Long hair was quite common for younger boys in the late 19ty century, byt declined in popularity after the turn of the century. Boys that did wear long hair in the early 1900s, generally wore some what shorter cuts than did boys in the 1880s and 90s who might have shoulder length hair. The boys had their hair cut about a year later anf began wearing trousers.






Christopher Wagner







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Created: August 21, 2001
Last edited: August 21, 2001