Figure 1.--Here we have the Calvo brothers. They look to be about 7-9 years old. The photograph is from the George S. Bain collection in the Library of Congress. It is labeled "sons of Senor Calvo". The spelling leads us to believe that the boys are Italian rather than Spanish or Latin American. We do not think that they are from a prominent family although they are well dressed.

Calvo Brothers (Italy/United States, 1912)

Here we have the Calvo brothers. They look to be about 7-9 years old. The photograph is from the George S. Bain collection in the Library of Congress. It is labeled "sons of Senor Calvo". The spelling leads us to believe that the boys are Italian rather than Spanish or Latin American. We do not think that they are from a prominent family although they are well dressed in summer outfits. Notice the wide-brimmed sailor hats. It was fashionable in the 1910s to bend the brim in various shapes as has been done for these boys. They wear similar white sailor outfits. The younger boy wears a sailor tunic with colored trim, I think it might be red. The dickies have embroidered anchors. Notice the band on his sleeve and belt. The older boys wears a middy blouse. Both boys have bloomer pants and short white socks. They have high-top shoes. The only prominent Calvo we know from the time is an Argentine diplomat. Rather than Italian boys photographed in Italy, we think that the boys are recent Italian immigrants. Of course we do not know when the boys immigrated from Italy, but the fact the their father is identified as Senor Calvo suggests to us that they are very recent immigrants. Unfortunately the attached document card offers no further information. We are sure where the photograph was taken. We tghought that it was was probably taken some where in New York City. Quite a number of the photgraphs in the Bain Collection were taken in New York. We believe that is the entrance to a baseball stadium. The boys are selling the game program. It was a charity game between the Metropolitan and Chevy Chase Clubs. These would be minor league clubs. Metropolitan could be many different cities, but Chevy Chase suggests a suburb of Washington, D.C. I'm not sure what the charity was. I am guessing that it might be a charity event for Italy, but this would be more likely for New York City than Washington. (Washington did not have the ethnic neighbirhoods that were common in New York.) The image is undated, but we know it was taken Jine 1, 1912 as we can make out the date on the program. The Bain Collection includes images from about 1900-20, but the vast majority are from abput 1905-15.






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Created: 4:16 AM 11/9/2005
Last edited: 4:16 AM 11/9/2005