Figure 1.--Here are the four children of a family on a ummer outing. They look about 5-12 years old. The girls all wear simple collarless summer frocks. The boy who looks to be the youngest wears a tunic suit. We would guess the snapshots were taken in the 1910s.

A Canadian reader has provided some wonderful images of an American family on a summer outing. There are three girls and their little brother. The family is unidentified and we do not know where in the States they lived. We suspect it was somewhere in the northeast. We would guess the photographs were taken in the 1910s, although our readers guess about 1925. He writes, "Thes snapshots are really artistic. We smell summer like it was during my childhood in Quebec. Something has vanished for modern children. The dresses on the girls are like those still worn by Amish and Mennonites. And the tunic with the leather belt on the boy helps to date the images. I would say about 1925. Look at their posture. The little girl holding her hand up to shiekld her eyes from the strong summer sund. They got permision to take off their long stockings to paddle in the lake and feel water on their legs, but not for long." I like those photos. Children are so natural. It was at that time when they stay childen lnger than on today. A certain taste of innocence. It was those kids who made America."

The Family

The four children of the family here are unidentified. All we know is that they are American. We have three family snap shots of the children, one with their mother.

Location

We do not know where in the States they lived. We suspect it was somewhere in the northeast. The children were more likely to go barefoot and not wear long stockings suring the summer if they lived in the South.

Snapshots

The images here are agood example of how the anateur snapshot changed photography. The snapshot greatly expanded the settings in which photographs coould be taken. They allowed the personalties of the people photographed to energe. Notice the charming little girl here (figure 1). That is something that never emerged in the studio portraits of the 19th century.

Chronology

We would guess the photographs were taken in the 1910s, although our readers guess about 1925. The girls' dresses are a bit difficult to date. The boy's tunic is somewhat easier. Tunics were very popular for American boys during the 1900s and 10s. We still see them in the early 20s, but they had largely gone out of style by mid-decade.

The Children

There are three girls and their little brother. They look to be abour 5-12 years old.

Summer Outing

The children are on a summer outing to a lake. We see a pier. Perhaps the family or grandparents owned a summer cottage. The dock, however, seems a bot elaborate for a family. The sun is clealy very strong. Intrestingly they are dressed for swimming so its not quite clear why they went to the lake. The children are allowed to take off their shoes and stockings and paddle a bit. It seems a bit strange hat the children would have worn stockings to begin with, especially long stockings.

Clothing

Notice that none of the children wears hats despite the strong summer sun. The girls all wear simple summer frocks without collars. Two of the dresses have patterns. We do not know what color they were. Two have defined waistlines, theother one is a simpe A--line dress. The boy who looks to be the youngest wears a colored tunic suit. We are not sure why color the tunic was either. All three have long stockings. Two of the girls have white long stovkings. We'te unsure about the third girl. The boy has black long stoicking. One of te girls has button shoes which helps dae the portrait to the 1910s. Whie we still see high-top shoes in the 1920s, we no longer see button shoes like these.

Reader Comments

A Canadian reader has provided some wonderful images of an American family on a summer outing. He writes, "Thes snapshots are really artistic. We smell summer like it was during my childhood in Quebec. Something has vanished for modern children. The dresses on the girls are like those still worn by Amish and Mennonites. And the tunic with the leather belt on the boy helps to date the images. I would say about 1925. Look at their posture. The little girl holding her hand up to shiekld her eyes from the strong summer sund. They got permision to take off their long stockings to paddle in the lake and feel water on their legs, but not for long." I like those photos. Children are so natural. It was at that time when they stay childen lnger than on today. A certain taste of innocence. It was those kids who made America."

Created: 12:09 AM 10/12/2008
Last edited: 12:09 AM 10/12/2008