Figure 1.--We have an unidentified image of a brother and sister, probably taken in the 1900s. The boy wears a rounded white hat with an embroidered white smock, small white collar, a narrow bow that extends to the shoulders, white kneebreeches, and white stockings.

HBC and its readers have been trying to assess this image. We areincreasingly coming to the conclussion that the childrn may be dressed in Hessian tracht or folk costumes. We believe it is a good example of the interest n folk culture that swept Grmany in the early 20th century among the increasingly prosperous middle class of Germany's expanding cities.

The Children

We have an unidentified image of two children. Almost certainly a brother and sister. We believe that these are children from an affluet Germany family living in a city that has costumed the children for this portrait.

Chronology

Th portrait was probably taken in the 1900s.

Location

The image was taken by the Andr. Kothe studio at Grünberg i/H, rather than 1/H which I originally thought. We think, however, that this is a street address rather than a city. The location of this folk costume occassionedconsiderable debate among readers. We were not sure what Landen this is in, but our readers tend to think that it is Hesse. A HBC reader mailed the City of Grünberg in Hessen to ask if there is a Trachtenverein that could help identify the picture. The City Government in Grünberg reports that there was a Andr. Kothe photographic studio in Grünberg. The firm ceased to exist after Wold War II. No successors are known. There is no Heimatverein in Grünberg that could help identify the costume on that picture.

Costume

The boy wears a rounded white hat with an embroidered white smock, small white collar, a narrow bow that extends to the shoulders, white kneebreeches, and white stockings. The girl wears a hat that I have no idea how to describe and a very large bow. She has a white blouse, dark dress with small white polka dots, and a white apron. Hopefully our German readers will be able to identify where these folk costumes come from.

The smock that the boy wears look quite similar to the smocks commonly worn by agrcultural laborers in rural Britain. We believe that they were orn in France and apparently areas of Germany as well.

Reader Comments

A German reader tells us, "The brother and sister here is difficult to locate. If the writing "Grünburg1/H. would be an adress (post code or something like that) it would be written like this: Berlin W66 or Berlin SW 61). These post codes were common once, but are now no longer used. The only Grünburg I could find is in Austria near Steyr. They've got a Trachtenmusikkapelle, but I don't know if they look like this. The river in the background of the picture is surely faked, as it has been photographed at a studio. What does the "1/H" mean then? I don’t know. Andreas Kothe doesn't sound very Austrian to me, but he could have moved there from elsewhere. Notice that both kids wear black riffled ribbons over their white stockings. The boy wears a rather large black bow tie. The girl doesn't wear a hat but a bonnet. There are different forms of these bonnets in Germany. The book I consulted suggested that the folk costume of Thuringia had these kind of bonnets with long black ribbons. But no uniform Tracht was developed there. Look at Trachten index and click on "Thüringer Bäuerin" to view the picture. These kind was called "Thüringer Haube" (bonnet of Thuringia). Both wear also the same kind of shoes with metallic plates. These kids look interesting but I cannot determine their tracht up to now."

Another reader tells us, "I did some research and found that these costumes are (were) worn in the state of Hesse(n), specifically around the city of Marburg."

Another reader comment, "A most intriguing portraiic! The girl's costume looks like Southern Germany but her stockings rather make me think of Central or South-eastern Europe. The boy's clothes look strangely un-German, especially his tunic/smock. A very wild guess: the Banat or Siebenbürgen (Transsylvania) or some such part of the German diaspora? Grünberg certainly sounds more like a place-name than a street name. The naming of streets after towns, villages and castles is a fairly recent fashion. 1/H could be a house number but are you sure the 1 is a figure, nor a variant of i? If so, it could be read Grünberg im + any valley or region starting with an H."

Another reader writes, "I´ve just had a look at the full image. I wish to point out first that it says Grünberg not Grünburg as you originally said. Not an insignificant detail as I´ve been able to locate only one Grünburg (in Oberösterreich/Upper Austria) whereas there are several Grünbergs one of which is in Hessen (Germany). You may be quite sure that it reads i/H not 1/H even though there is no dot on the i. There are several reasons for this. Mark that it's written superscript, which would be done only with the less important part of a notation. If meant to be a house number the 1 would be the most important digit, indicating the actual number of the parcel in the land registry. The H would then specify a subdivision, like an apartment or an annexe, and would more likely be written small/superscript than the 1. Also it seems rather odd for a photographer to mention only the street + house number and to leave out the town's name. I could only imagine him doing so in a very large city --in fact only in THE city, Berlin - for even in Hamburg or Munich he would mention the city as well. It's easy to see how in a place-name the second digit would be the most important element and the first one likely to be shortened to a superscript i. A likely candidate is Grünberg in Hesse, some 60 miles north of Frankfurt. There are at least ten more Grünbergs in Germany, two in the Czech Republic and five in Austria.

Another German reader writes, "Grünberg i/H is in Hessen - part from many other Grünbergs all over Germany - says KlickTel. There are also streets with this name, but as another reader suggests, it must be a village or city. The writing i/H shows it is a town or village. By the way: it seems on the background photo you see the foot of a crucifix at the crossway. This means, the area is catholic. To me, too, the tracht as shown on the picture seems to be very phantastic and a little exaggerated."

Folk Culture

Germany at the beginning of the 19th century was still a larely rural country. Some areas of Germany such as Prusia still had an economic system based largely feudal in nature. The industrial revolution begun in Britain in the mid 18th century, began to change German after the Napoleonic Wars. Germans flooded to the city to find jobs in the expanding industries. As a result, many city dwealers had roots and family in rural areas and small villages. Many Germans in the late 19th and early 20th century began to look nostalgically at their folk culture. Thus yoy seen many portraits of children done in folk costumes. Some are authentic. Others appear to be anytype of folk-looking costume--more of a folkstyle rather than an effort to accurately recreate a specific folk costume. This is similar to the interst that 2nd and 3rd generation immirants in merica began to show in theur ethnic/national origins.

Assessment

HBC has noted a number of these portraits of children in folk costumes. We believe that these costumes vary greatly in accuracy. Some may have been fancigul creatins of affluent city mothers, trying to costume her children in a folk style rather than the actual folk costumes worn in villages and rural areas. This particular image looks like a rlatively accurate costuming.

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Created: November 15, 2002
Last updated: December 1, 2002