* United States boys clothes : 1860s Coe family Connecticut








United States Boys' Clothes: Coe Family (Connecticut, 1860s)


Figure 1.--Here we have what looks like a 1860s photo album with 37 CDVs. It is an excellent example of a period family photo album. It came from the Coe Mansion in Meriden Connecticut. Thus we assume it represents images of the Coe family. Click on the image to see the inside. There was a key to identify the portraits, but the family unfortunately never bothered to fill it out.

Here we have what looks like a 1860s photo album with 37 CDVs. It is an excellent example of a period family photo album. It came from the Coe Mansion in Meriden Connecticut. Thus we assume it represents images of the Coe family. There are many photos of babies, children, and adults. Unfortunately the album is not dated. It looks like the 1860s to us. Curiously none of the men wear uniforms. This means that it might date from the late 60s or even the early 70s. The clothing looks to us more like the 60s. The lack of uniforms may reflect the fact the men of many wealthy families did not participate in the War and even when the draft was instituted, bought their way out of it. Here we just do not know. None of the CDVs are identified. Thus we can only categorize them by approximate age and outfits. Some of the children of course may have been photographed more than once at different ages.

Photo Albums

Here we have what looks like a 1860s photo album with 37 CDVs. It is an excellent example of a period family photo album. The family photograph album, in propsperous families several albums, was one of the most prized possessions of any Victorian family by the 1860s. As such surviving albumns are wonderful historical documents. The multiple images provide important details about how one or related families dealt with clothing styles, age appropriate clothing, cultural trends such as breeching, and hair styling. Affluent families might have albums with beauttifully tooled leather covers. Some might even have artistic script inside. Often there were metal claps to keep the allbum closed. Some even locked with a key. I'm not sure why that was seen as necessary. Less affluent families of course would have much more modest albums.

Chronology

Unfortunately the album is not dated. It looks like the 1860s to us. Curiously none of the men wear uniforms. This means that it might date from the late 60s or even the early 70s. The clothing looks to us more like the 60s. The lack of uniforms may reflect the fact the men of many wealthy families did not participate in the War and even when the draft was instituted, bought their way out of it. Here we just do not know.

Coe Family

The album came from the Coe Mansion in Meriden Connecticut. Thus we assume it represents images of the Coe family. We know nothing more about the family other than what can be deduced from the photographs. They clearly were a well-to-do family.

The Children

There are many portraits of the Coe family, including babies, children, and adults. Unfortunately none of the CDVs are identified. Thus we do not know the individals' names. We can only categorize them by approximate age and outfits. Some of the children of course may have been photographed more than once at different ages. We do not know if the various photographs ere all different children or some photographed multiple times. The clothing styles suggest a relatively narrow time frame so we sre guessing that most of the portraits of the children are different individuals. The outfits are a good overview of popular children's styles during the 1860s.

America in the 1860s

The 1860s saw the most cataclysmic event in American history, the Civil War. Civil War battles were major bloodlettings with sometimes more fataloties in a sigle day of battle than whole World War II campaigns. In a country with a still fairly small population, few families were spared. HBC has noted that the impact of wars and social uphevals frequently are reflected in fashion. HBC, however has not yet fully determined the impact of the war on boys' fashions. Some fashions were inspired by the war. American boys' clothing styles, however, did not change radically in the 1860s. Little boys continued to wear dresses. The 1860s were, however, a dividing point between early and late 19th Century fashions. The styles such as skeleton suits had completely disappeared. Tunics were becoming less common. Victorian styles such as sailor suits and kilts grew in importance. Collars that had once been open were now universally worn tightly buttoned, except for small boys who still might wear dresses with low necklines. Some of the new styles such as kneepants began to appear. The Civil War in America engendered some popular fashion trends as well as initiating some changes in the image of childhhod. Pants styles were varied. Most boys wore long pants after breeching--even quite young boys. Other mostly younger boys from affluent familiesd began wearing kneepants cut at various lengths. Knickers blouced at the hem were also worn. The most readily observable trend was before the War American boys generally wore long pants after breeching. After the War kneepants begin to become increasingly popular. This does not, however, seem to be an impact of the War as the same trend is observable in Europe. It may be that American fashion trends were not as affected by the War as they were still largely influenced by European fashions.






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Created: 9:48 PM 5/28/2006
Last updated: 9:48 PM 5/28/2006