Figure 1.-- This family was an actual Austrian family and not a Austro-Hungarian Empire family (figure 1). We do not know what the family name was, but we do know that they were from Bregenz and the portrait was taken in 1892. Bregenz is an Austrian city at the eastern end of Lake Constance (Bodensee). This was near the western-most extent of the Empire along the Swiss border. We see very fashionavly dressed parents. Fsther has a Napoleonic pose. There are four children, two boys and two girls, about 5-14 years old. The girls wear identical dresses with velvet trim and long skirts. The boys wear knee pants suits. The yonger boy wears a collar-buttioning jacket with a double row of buttons. His older brother wears a sailor suit with a wing collar. There is a message on the back, but we cannot make it out. The sudio was William Lay in Bregenz. .

The HBC familiy section is an important section in HBC because it puts children's fashions in a larger context. We see both how boys and girls are dressed at different periods and ages becuse families often had several children. We also at the same time see how adult men and women were dressed. But in the case of Ausria-Hungary we made a mistake. We have archived images as part of modern borders because the cities where the portrais were taken were commonly indicated on 19th century CDVs and cabinet cards. We realise now that we should have also linked them to the Austro-Hungarian page. They help show the multi ethnic character of the Empire. Of course Austrian (German) and Hungarian are just two of the many ethnic/national groups that made up Austria-Hungary. We intend to go back and link the mostly 19h century portraits to the family section page here as HBC develops. Photography was invented in France (1839). We have not yet found examples of family portraits done in early processes like Dags and Anbros. It is not until the adoption of the albumen process, CDVs and cabinet cards, that we begin to see Hungarian family images (1860s). Notably, most od whatb we see are prosperous urban families. This is in sharp contrast to Ameruica where we see many farm families coming into towns and cities to have portraits taken. This was uncommon in Hungary because most of the farmers did not own their own land, but instead were the Slovak, Romanian, and Ruthenian (Ukranian) peasantry that worked on large estates. We have few images of their families. We are less sure yet about Austria and the Czech Lands, but furthereast, basivally the Hungarian lands, large cestates were how much of the africultural hasrvest was profduced and industry was less important.

Arpov Family (1870s)

This is a beautiful tinted cabinet photo of a fashionable Budapest lady and her two children. I believe it is the Arpov family. All three undoubtedly wear their best outfits and they suggest a very prosperous family and a mother keeping up with the fashionable trends of the day. We are not sure where father was, especially as this is a studio portrait. The daughter has long braids (Zoepfen). One has been carefull placed in front for best display. She has a very full-skirted white dress, perhaps made of crinoline. She looks about 14-15 years old.The son wears a tunic suit with stripe and button trim. Note the small ruffled collar. The tunic suit has bloomer knickers. He wears white socks only just long enough for his fashionble high-top shoes. They look like button shoesxwhich must have taken a little doing to button up. He looks to be about 8 years old. They were photographed at the Studio Kozmata Ferencz, Pesten. I think the writing on the back is their names.

Unidentified Austrian Family (1892)

This family was an actual Austrian family and not a Austro-Hungarian Empire family (figure 1). We do not know what the family name was, but we do know that they were from Bregenz and the portrait was taken in 1892. Bregenz is an Austrian city at the eastern end of Lake Constance (Bodensee). This was near the western-most extent of the Empire along the Swiss border. We see very fashionavly dressed parents. Fsther has a Napoleonic pose. There are four children, two boys and two girls, about 5-14 years old. The girls wear identical dresses with velvet trim and long skirts. The boys wear knee pants suits. The yonger boy wears a collar-buttioning jacket with a double row of buttons. His older brother wears a sailor suit with a wing collar. There is a message on the back, but we cannot make it out. The sudio was William Lay in Bregenz.

Budapest Brothers (1892-1911)

Here we do not have informtion on the entire family. We do know that there were four brothers. While we do not have information on the other members of the family, we have very extensive informtion on the brothers over an exteded period, 1892-1911. As we result we have decided to include them her in the family section. This 20-year period provide a wonderful look at boys' fashions at the turn of the 20th century. We at first thought the boys were Hungarian, but we hve since learned that they were probably Austrian.

Hungarian Family in Transylvania (1890s)

Here we have an Austro-Hungarian family in Kolozsvár. This was a city in Transylvania, among the most easterly of the Austro-Hungarian provinces. It was a Hungarian province of the Dual Monarchy. There was a substantial Hungarian and Romanian population and would become a major issue when the two countries became independent after World War I. First Hitler and then Stalin would settled the issue as a result of World War II. Kolozsvár is now located in Romania. The family is unidentified and the portrait is undated. It was probably taken in the 1890s. We see a prosperous-looking mother and father with two children, a boy and girl about 10-13 years old. The boy wears a lighty-colored standard knickers suit with a small bow and dark long stockings. In Europe boys wore both knee pnrs and knickers. In America boys mostly wore knee pants until the 1910s. The girl wears a fancy white dress with a long skirt, also with long stockings. The boy's hair has been basically shaved while his sister has incredible long hair. In Germany and the Austro-Hunmgary it was common to crop the hair of school-age boys. The styles are essentially German, worn by urban populations throughout the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The rural poulation, primarily a Romanian peasantry, dressed differently in what we would now call folk styles. The portrait here indicates a prosperous urban family. We suspct that they were Hungarian because the fancy art noveau back of the card has printing in Hungarian. The studio was Dunky which also had a studio in Miskolcz to the west in northern Hungary. We do not know much about Kolozsvár. During World War II the Germans set up a ghetto in the city. In Poland it took months to establish ghettos. In Hungary in was done in a week after the German seized contol of the country late in the War (1944). Conditions were horrible. The ghetto had no facilities and the Jews were tranported to Auchwitz where they were murdered.

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Created: 11:53 PM 4/15/2023
Last updated: 11:53 PM 4/15/2023