United States Boys' Clothes: 1900 The Spencers--Upper-middle Class Pittsburgh Family


Figure 1.--Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson Spenser were a prominent upper-middle-class family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They had seven children--two boys (Mark and Charles) and five daughters (Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth). The two boys and three of the daughters are pictured here. The older boy presumably is a realative.

Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson Spenser were a prominent upper-middle-class family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They had seven children--two boys (Mark and Charles) and five daughters (Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth). They were solid Presbyterians like so many other prominent citizens of Pittsburgh at the turn of the century. They lived on Amberson Avenue, one of the finer streets in the Shadyside district of Pittsburgh near the University of Pittsburgh in the East End of the city. Shadyside is (and was) a lovely area with spacious houses and tree-lined avenues, giving little sense of the industrialism, especially the steel industry, that made the city so prosperous. The present photograph was taken in July, 1900, by Mr. Spencer, the father of the children, who in his spare time was something of an amateur photographer. The family spent vacations at another large house in Marion, Masssacusetts.

The Parents and Grandparents

Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson Spenser were a prominent upper-middle-class family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Mr. Spencer worked for Henry Clay Frick, one of the wealthy aristocrats of Pittsburgh, whose name is often associated with such other elite millionaire families as the Mellons and the Heinzes. The family album also included photographs of the grand parents, although we do not yet know their names.

The Children

The Spencers had a good-sized family. There were seven children--two boys (Mark and Charles) and five daughters (Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth). Several images exist of the children showing them in a variety of outfits over several years. We do not have a complete set of portraits on the children, but have a few portraits. The available prtraits provide a wonderful look at turn of the century children's clothes.

Life Style

They were solid Presbyterians like so many other prominent citizens of Pittsburgh at the turn of the century. Charles Hart Spencer was a middle-management executive with a good but not limitless income. He was not hugely rich like his boss, Henry Frick, and although the Spencers lived well, employing several household servants, they had to economize on some things, especially with seven children to rear and dress.

Amberson Avenue Home

They lived on Amberson Avenue, one of the finer streets in the Shadyside district of Pittsburgh near the University of Pittsburgh in the East End of the city. Shadyside is (and was) a lovely area with spacious houses and tree-lined avenues, giving little sense of the industrialism, especially the steel industry, that made the city so prosperous. We have an image of the boys dressed in dark sailor suits in one of the rooms of the family home. I'm not sure just which room it was.

Summers

Of course summers at the turn of the century mean that everyone, especially the children wore white. The family spent vacations at another large house in Marion, Masssacusetts. We have also noted family photographs taken by the father at Amberson Avenue home. The fmily had just returned from their Marion summer house. It was September, 1899, when the family were still wearing summer clothes. Here Mark is only 6 and sits astradle with his legs dangling. Charles (sitting on the ground in the right foreground) is only 4 years old and still apparently unbreached. The girls in white are presumably the five Spencer daughters. Their names are given already on the main Spencer HBC page. Their mother is the only person wearing dark clothing. Notice that Mark wears a summer-style sailor suit with knee pants. He has a striped dicky. He wears long black stockings even though it is still summer time. The clasp of his hose supporter is visible on his left leg.

Chronology

The photograph herecwas taken in July, 1900, by Mr. Spencer, the father of the children, who in his spare time was something of an amateur photographer (figure 1).

Ethel

The third Spencer daughter, Ethel, has written a charming memoir of the family with interesting details about the lifestyle and dress of the seven children. It was published in 1983 (although written much earlier in 1959) by the University of Pittsburgh Press and is entitled The Spencers of Amberson Avenue: A Turn-of-the-Century Memoir.

Clothing

The boys when very young wore dresses, the same style as their sisters. They appear to have been breeched about 3 years of age. The most notable observation about the boys' clothes is that the Spencers like to dress them in saior outfits. Even when young, the boys wore sailor dresses. We do not know if the guiding light here was Ethel or her husband, but it was usually the mother that decided on clothing or the children when little. Sailor suits were extremely popular at te time, but most boys had outfits other than sailor suits whuch they also wore. Ethel Spencer in her family memoir mentions that the children's clothes were a worrisome expense. Some of the clothes were handmade by Mary Spencer, the children's mother, and constantly being mended. Some of the children's clothes were hand-me-downs and had to be reworked or resized for the younger children. One photograph exists showing Charles and Mark as boys which the Hillman Archives identifies as the boys being fascinated by the family sewing machine. We believe, however, that the item in the photograph has been misidentified. The children wore long stockings in most of the available images.

The Boys' Clolthes

The Spencers were clearly partial to sailor suits. All the images we have of the boys show them in sailor outfits, inclusing sailor dresses and kneepants sailor suits.

Younger boys

The two younger boys, Mark and Charles, are shown in the front row of this 1900 photo taken by their father. Charles and Mark are 5 and 7 years old, respectively. Both Charles (shown standing, the second child from the left) and Mark (sitting on the right) wear sailor suits, so popular in the period, with very deep chest openings and white dickeys that come up tightly to their necks. Note that the material is light-weight for summer wear, as the picture was taken in July. Both boys wear kneepants and, like the girls, long black stockings, even though it is mid-summer and presumably hot. It was the standard practice in America to have children's legs covered for any dressy or formal occasion. This had begun to change in 1900, but was still a prevalent convention. This was especially the case for older boys. Note that the black stockings are quite long. Mark's stockings come well up his leg, --a necessary length, obviously, because he wears rather short kneepants, almost reminiscent of the short pants that came into style at a later period. Possibly the knee pants are rather short because he has almost grown out of them. They seem very form-fitting and tight around his legs. Mark also wears a small flat cap while the two other boys are uncovered. The cap seems to match his suit in color, but sailorhats and caps were more commonly worn with sailor suits in the 1900s, especially boys from prosperous families. Since he is the only child wearing a cap, it may well be that he particularly liked it and wanted to wear it for the portrait. Perhaps it was a recent purchase and repalced a sailor hat that he had previously worn with his sailor suit. Charles, the youngest of the three, may also have a center part although his head is turned so that one cannot be quite sure.

Older boy

The older boy, unnamed, standing at the back is not one of the Spencer sons but apparently a neighbor boy or visiting cousin. Note that he too wears a sailor suit with the same style of dickey fittiing closely about his neck. His suit has narrow white and colored stripes (probably blue) and white buttons down his front--a summery touch, it would seem. The pattern looks rathrer like that used for blazers that were also popular for summer wear. The material is also lightweight like that which the younger boys are wearing. The unnamed older boy standing at the back looks as though he were about 12 or 13 years old. Although we can't see his trousers, he too probably wears knee pants with long black stockintgs like the younger lads. Other photographs of the family show very few images of knickers for boys, even when the boys grew into their early teens. The two older boys obviously wear their hair parted down the center, not an unusual style for the period.

Mother's Clothes

The mother, Mary Acheson Spencer, wears the conventional blouse (white for summer) and floor-length skirt. Her dress is typical of a middle-class mother of the period.

Girls' Clothes and Hair

The three girls in the photograph are probably the younger Spencer daughters, perhaps Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth, but we can't be quite sure. One or two might be neighbor children. The girls all wear white or light-colored dresses, very common in the 1900s. The style of the dresses vary substantially, especially the collars. The older girl wears a sailor dress. The youngest child is presumably a girl as the Spencer's had five girls, although the children are unidentifed in the ophotograph and this child may be a relative or even a family friend. More likely she is one of the Spencer girls. Shd has her hair cut short in bangs, even though the other girls have longer hair. This child could be easily be mistaken for a boy as younger boys still commonly wore dresses in the 1900s. This is a good indication that hair styles, while a useful gender indicator, can not be used alone.






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Created: July 16, 2003
Last updated: 12:28 AM 7/17/2005