Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy is dressed to the nines in a knee pants suit. He wears uin unbuttined to show off his fancy blousesand floppy bow. The sioft hat seems inffoprmakl with syuch a dressy outfifr, but we see many boys wearing them. The cabinet card is undated, but lookslike the portrait as taken in the late-1890s.

We are nor sure about the chronology here. We have archived only a few examples. We have found examples from both the the 19th century and 20th century, but only the late-19th century and early-20th century (1880s-1910s). Boys wearing knicker suits are commonly seen with flat caps. At this time we have noted these hats during the 1880s-1910s. Soft hats becme much less common, as flat caps became ubiquitous. We are not yet sure about the 1920s, but we do not see them in the 1930s. So far we have noted them in the 1900s-20, but do not see them in the 1930s. This is just our initial assessment. As HBC expands, we hope to build a more definitive assessment of the chronology.

Created: 8:07 PM 10/30/2022
Last updated: 8:08 PM 10/30/2022