Figure 1.-- As the children look to be about 4-7 years old, we suspect that the portrait was taken about 1887, perhaps 1888. George wears a blouse with a small floppy bow and stripy skirt-kilt which looks to be pleated. we think that boys during the summer may have worn their kilt suits wihout the jackets. Looking at the pattern here, however, we are unsure if there was a matching jacket. He may be wearing a skirt and not a kilt suit skirt-kilt. George is holding a straw wide-brimmed hat. His big sister on the swing has a very similar hat, which looks to be done with streamers. Perhaps they were more common with girls' hats. She wears a dress without a defined waistline. It seems to gave a marching jacket. Note the embroidery decoration and writ tassles--something not very common.

Cabinet cards largely replaced CDVs as the primary American photographic portrait in the early 1870s. The CDV did not, however, disappear and here we have on taken about 1887. The two children are identified on the back as Helen (1881-1952) and George Knapp (1883- ). Knapp is a German name. It is not all that common a name, but for some reason we have archived several in our bio section. As the children look to be about 4-7 years old, we suspect that the portrait was taken about 1887, perhaps 1888. George wears a blouse with a small floppy bow and stripy skirt-kilt which looks to be pleated. we think that boys during the summer may have worn their kilt suits wihout the jackets. Looking at the pattern here, however, we are unsure if there was a matching jacket. He may be wearing a skirt and not a kilt suit skirt-kilt. George is holding a straw wide-brimmed hat. His big sister on the swing has a very similar hat, which looks to be done with streamers. Perhaps they were more common with girls' hats. She wears a dress without a defined waistline. It seems to gave a marching jacket. Note the embroidery decoration and writ tassles--something not very common. Helen wears dark long stockings and George probably does as well. They both have high-top shoes. The studio was C.M. Tuttle in Sodus, New York.

Created: 7:42 AM 4/27/2015
Last updated: 7:42 AM 4/27/2015