Figure 1.--This CDV at first glance the child looks to be a girl with long hair and a lace-trimmed dress. Notice the plaid waist band and back bow. We are not sure about the gender. The side part in particular suggests that the child may be a boy. In this case we have a date written on the back-- we think 1878. The final digit is difficulr to read. It is defeinitely from the 1870s. The studio was Lambert Westin & Son in Dover, apparently patronized by Queen Victoria and Prince Arthur. Put your cursor on the image if you want to see the back with the written date.

The vast majority of girls had center parts. This center part conventyion is very useful in asessing gender in 19th century photograohy when many younger boys wore skirted garments. Boys usually had side parts, although at times center parts become stylish for short periods styling--but not dominant. Most commonly boys had left parts. When a part is apparent, it usully a left part for boys. As discussed above, this seems to be a primarily a function of the fact that most children are right-handed. Right parts are much less common for boys. We are not sure when this convention developed, but it seems rather commonly excepted by the turn of the late-19th century based on gthe phitogrphic record. There is some indication that the relaively small numbers of girls with side parts, may have preferred right parts, but thst is not something that we can confirm at this time. We are not sure why girls would have had right parts. This is a subject we are still investigating and shouild not be confused with the fact that most girls over time had center parts.

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Created: 6:34 PM 5/19/2023
Last edited: 6:34 PM 5/19/2023