Figure 1.--All we know about this image is the mother's name was Alice. Both her sons wear kneepants suits and go barefoot. Neither boy has a fancy collar. Notice that the one boy has his collar buttoned.

Background Information

Some background information is needed in assessing the images of barefoot boys in the early 20th century. These factors pertain to all the dressy or more formal outfits worn by boys. Studio photographic protraits taken in the late 19th century rarely showed boys wearing suits without shoes. We believe that this was because the boys were dressed up for their portraits. Some of the boys in these portraits almost certainly went barefoot in the summer. We believe that this was especially true in the South and West. We do have some photographic evidence of this from the 1900s and 1910s because the Kodak Brownie was released in 1900, making amateur snapshots feasible for virtually any family, except thise in abject poverty. During the 1920s in became much less common for boys to go barefoot when wearing suits or other dress outfits, although many boys did continue going barefoot when wearing casual clothes. We believe that this was especially true in the south and west in rural areas and small towns. It is usually difficult to tell and most of these images are not labeled. The background, however, can offer some clues. We believe that the boys in these photographs showing the boys going barefoot was the way they actually dressed. This was not just for play and around the house, but for school or even going to church. It is possible that boys took their shoes and socks off after church, but we would have thought that if they had done so, that they would have taken their dressoutfits off as well. In fact we know that some boys did go bare foot to church and other events. We know this because we have seen images of weddings and other affairs where the younger boys are barefoot.

Suits

We note numerous images of boys to about 10-12 years old wearing kneepants suits and going barefoot in the summer. Images of older boys are not as common. Thereare, hoiwever, many images of the younger boys. Almost all of the images look to have been taken in th 1900s and 10s, primarily becuause this was when amateur snapshots were feasible. It is likely that this was also common earlier in the 19th century. The suits seem to be generally simple single breasted suits, but we notice some double breasted suits as well. They are a range of different colors, although this is difficult to assess because of the black and white photography. Often the boys wear kneepants rather than knickers. We do, however, also see boys going barefoot in knickers suits. A good example is the Welch family during the 1910s. We believe that there are more images of boys in kneepants because in the 1900s kneepants were still more common than knickers and also, but to a leser extent, in the 1910s. By the 1920s when knickers were more common we see fewer boys going barefott when dressed up in suits.

Image

All we know about the image here is that the mother's name was Alice (figure 1). Both her sons wear kneepants suits and go barefoot. Neither boy has a fancy collar. Notice that the one boy has his collar buttoned. We would guess that this photograph was made about 1910. It may be that the boys do not wear fancy collars becuse the style as the fashion was being to go out of style.