Figure 1.--Here we see boys playing a gane of what looks like marbles, appaently in Richmond, Virginia. We believe the photograph was taken in 1865. Outside photographs of children were fairly rare at the time. Most photographs were studio portraits. This looks like one of the series of photographs taken by Mathew Bradyadter the fall of Richmond,m the Confederate Capital, during the Civil War (April 1865). Notice how common +heaswear w2as. The boys are mostly wearing rounded-crown hats and all wear long pants. "

Major changes occurred in the 19th century. America was still mostly rural at the beginning of the century. This farm chores and hunting and fishing were major activities. Unfortunately even when photography appeared at mid-century, the predomintly indoor studio photographt does not capture activities, especially outdoor activities. We have a few photographs, like the boys palying marbles in Richmond at the end of thee Civil War (figure 1). Thus we have to turn to artists who did genre pintings. Fishing was often depicted because it was so popular among rural children throughout the century. And remenber that America was still promarily a rural country. A good example is George Lambdin's painting of rural children, 'The Bittle Children on the Schuylkill' (1869). The public school system steadily increased in importance, so school became increasingly important. Urbanization and industrialization brought important changes. Pets were brought into the home for the first time by average families. We see more manufactured toys, both wood and cast iron. Sports grew in importance and were very popular by the end of the century. Younger boys might play games. Religion was another important acvtivity and First Communion and Confirmation were important events. The Sunday School movement began during the century. We also see early summer camps at the end of the century. We see boys playing with hoops, knives, marbles, tops, and other items. Information is limited on the early 19th century, but the invention of photograpohy begins to provide more information (1840s). At first we just have clues suggested by studio props, but gradually we begin to in to see actual images of boys playing. This is especially the case at the end of the century. We are developing pages on each decade. So far we only have a page on the 1890s.

Created: 4:44 PM 2/28/2020
Last updated: 4:44 PM 2/28/2020