Archibald Roosevelt: Clothing


Figure 1.--Here is a wonderful photograph of Archie at the age of 9 years old about in 1903. He is holding a favorite pet in his lap, a badger named Josiah, which he often had to chase on his knees. You can see that he has worn out the knees of his black stockings playing with the animal.

We do not have detailed information on the clothing Archie wore as a boy. We have not fiund any family letters or memoirs addressing the topic. Available photographs, however, show some of the outfits he wore. We have only a few portraits at this time, but hope to gradually add more. We suspect that the boys all wore similar, especially Archie and Quinten. We note tunics and dailor suits. His hair was commonly done in bangs.

Hair Styles

Archie's hair as a boy was usually cut in bangs.

Tunics


Sailor Suits

We see both Archie and Quentin in the White House often wearing sailor suits. The ones we have noted are summer knee pants sailor suits. These seem to have been worn nore as play suits than dress up outfits, but the sailor suit was a flexible garment that boys could wear when dressing up. We are not sure at what ages Archie wore sailor suits, but we note him wearing a striped aailor suit for play at age 7 years. We see him wearing the same sailor suit both to ride Algonquin and a bicycle. The blouse had the traditional V-collar, but it did not have traditional detailing. I am not sure about the color. While his suit was a striped summer suit with knee pants, he wears them with black long stockings. Archie may have also worn sailor suits to school, but we are not yet sure about that. We are not sure what the President thought about sailor suits for the boys, but we know he was a strong advocate of naval power. He was famous for sending a Navy squadron on a show the flag mission around the world. Congress only approved a small appropriation. The President's reaction was to send the squadron out forcing the Congress to apprive the money to get the fleet home. One of his major accomplishments was building the Panama Canal.

Riding Gear

Archie sometimes wore sailor suits when ridung Alginquin. There is a photograph of the family with Archie, probably taken about 1902. Both the President and Archie are wearing what look like riding breeches and high boots. It looks like they have just gone riding together. Archie's pony was Algonguin. The President, of course, was a noted outdoorsman and even worked as a cowboy in the West. We suspect he often went riding with the children and that all of the family had riding clothes.

Play Clothes

Here is a wonderful photograph of Archie at the age of 9 years old (figure 1). The photograph was taken in 1903. Archie is wearing play clothes. He has on a long-sleeve white shirt or sweater. (Short sleeves were not yet common.) He also wears white or light-colored knee pants. This would have been summerwear. Summer can ve very hot in Washington, D.C. With his white summer play clothes he wears long black stockings.

Josiah

Archie is holding a favorite pet in his lap--a badger named Josiah. Note the claws on Josiah who is not a cuddly little cub. Badgers are not the best tempered animals to keep as pets. Josiah was not declawed to keep the boys safe. We doubt if the President would have allowed that. Archie absolutely loved to play with him. He apparently often had to chase Josiah on his knees, explaing the holes in his stockings.

Long Stockings

You can see that Archie has worn out the knees of his black stockings playing with Josiah the badger. This was a common problem for mothers. Many mothers would have to darn the stockings. One can understand why so many advertisements for boys' long stockings during the 1900s made a point of recommending doubly reinforced knees. A good example of advertisements for stockings stressing reinforced or double knees is a York Knitting Mills ad for "four-thread stockings" sold for boys and available in either "single or double knees." The advertisement is dated 1903 about the same time as the portrait of Archie. A German reader writes, "I do not remember from my youth during and after World War II having such holes in my long stockings. Coming home and going out for play, I had to put on "Knieschoner" (knee protectors). These were leather pads, say 15 cm times 15 cm (1/2 feet by 1/2 feet) with four bands at the corners to be bound behind the knees. Now, playing on the floor was allowed. And mother had not much work with patching holes in the stockings." It is interesting that Archie is wearing long black stockings for play. Quintin a few years younger at the sme time wore outfits with short socks during the summer. I'm not sure why Archie was wearing long stockings. The weather is clearly not cold. Apparently age 9 was considered an age that long stockings were considered more appropriate.






HPC






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Archie Roosevelt page]
[Return to the Main Theodore Roosevelt page]
[18th Century] [19th Century] [20th Century] [21st Century]




Created: 8:06 PM 3/30/2006
Last changed: 6:00 PM 3/31/2006