Figure 1.--This family snapshot shows three boys at what looks to be a play center of some kind. Two of the boys look too young for it to be a school, perhaps a day care center. we are not sure if the women with treats are mothers are center staff. The boys are playing wity pedal cars. They look to be about 3-7 years old. The boys are dressed differently. They look to be all wearing short pants, white knee socks, and closed-toe sandals. Their tops are, however, different. the older boy in front wears a casual T-shirt. The two younger boys have dressy blouses. We would guess the image is German or perhaps French because of the white knee socks, but there is no way to be sure.

HBC has acquired many photographs with no accompnying information, including the country and date. This often can be determined by the clothes or various clues such as house styles and cars. But this is not always the case. We have found some images with white knee socks. While we can make some guess in some cases, some we can niot udentify the country with any certainty. We are hoping that HBC readers can provide some insights to help identify the countries involved. This is one of the benefits of the internet.

Photograph 1

This family snapshot shows three boys at what looks to be a play center of some kind. Two of the boys look too young for it to be a school, perhaps a day care center. we are not sure if the women with treats are mothers are center staff. The boys are playing wity pedal cars. They look to be about 3-7 years old. The boys are dressed differently. They look to be all wearing short pants, white knee socks, and closed-toe sandals. Their tops are, however, different. the older boy in front wears a casual T-shirt. The two younger boys have dressy blouses. We would guess the image is German or perhaps French because of the white knee socks, but there is no way to be sure. The white knee socks and sandals rule out America, although the T-shirt looks American. The women do not sem to be dressed like American mothers. England is a possibility. Some younger English boys did wear white knee socks. And sandals were very common in England. The sandals here are, however, a litle different than the popular school sandals worn by English boys. This leaves France and Germany. Here school-age boys did wear both white knee socks and closed-toe sandals. And the sandals in these countris were not as standardized as in England. A British reader writes, "Definitely not an English scene. The toy pram is the give away. I think the children are France. The child in the peddle car might be a girl. She could be wearing a blouse and skirt. The hair style does not look like a boys and the face is not shown. It seems to be break time and there are tasty looking items on the plate." Our British reader could be correct, the child with his or her head turn has hair that does not look right for a boy. We note, however, that younger French boys at the time did wear fancy blouses like the one here.

Created: 2:06 AM 2/7/2015
Last updated: 7:44 PM 2/7/2015