Figure 1.--Photography in the 19th century was largely studio photography, but we begin to see more photographs outside the studio in the 1890s. Many were group portraits, especially school portraits. We can not always tell what the group is. Here is one example. It most likely is a school portrait, but there are more adults than in most school portrasits. We are wondering if it might be Sunday chool group. The building does not give us any clues, but is probanly lovated in a state wiyh a timber industry like Wisconsin or the Pacific Northwest. Notice the unusual vertical planking. Even though this is a rural scene, many iof the boys are wearing suits with Fauntleroy trim. The girls wear a variety of dresses , several with pinafores.

We notice a range of group photographs in the 1890s. We can not identify them all, but some are easy to identify. These are very valuable in assessing children's fashions. Fanily portraits with one or two children can be misleading. Some mothers dressed children differently from the mormal trends. Of course the more individual children archived, the less this becomes a factor. When you have group portraits with multiple children of all ages and gender, hioever, the more you are likely to see the larger trends. You are more likely to get a range of outfits providing a good idea about the major fashion trends. It is in the school images of course that The most useful is school portraits which in the United States, unlike Europe included boys and girlss. We have both a school trend section and pages on individual schools. School portraits in the 1890s became very common photogrphy improved and became incerasingly affordable. We see class portraits from all over the country, including one-room schools on the rapidly shrinking western frontier. We see boys commonly wearing suits to school, even in country schools, although there boys in warm weather commonly just wore blouses and knee pants. Many boys wore straight-leg knee pants. Knickers were not very common, but we see them at some private schools. The type of pants did vary. We see boys at some schools wearing long pants. We are not entirely sure why there were such variations. Age of course was a factor. Boys and girls commonly wore long stockings. Black long stokings were especially common. Many younger boys wore blouses with large collars, sometimes ruffled Fauntleroy collars. We also see sailor suits, especially in urban schools. Girls wore dresses, often with pinafores. Many children came to school barefoot, especially in rural areas. School groups are esily the most available, but not the only groups to study. There are several other groups we have found in the photographic record. There are also religious groups. We notice both Church groups as well as Sunday School groups. Sometimes children attended the services. In other cases they attended special Sunday Schools for them. There were also revivals. Here we commonly see the children dressed up in their best clothes. Other popular group event were family reunions and community picnics. It is not always possible to discern the group involved in images we have found.

Created: 4:41 PM 3/30/2023
Last updated: 4:41 PM 3/30/2023