Figure 1.-- This Daguerreotype of a young boy from New England shows a kind of plaid shirt, with a white collar. It may be a detachable collar, but do not think so. Collars like this may have been lightly sewed on so they could removed for washing. Notice all the buttons more than tice as much as needed. Also note the heavy bloucing at the shirt cuffs. We believe the portrait was taken in the early-1850s.

Shirts have several standard elements. The collars and sleeves are the most prominant. Shirts with small collars seem the dominant type at mid-century, but we do see some larger collars as well. The collars here seem on the larger side of the collars popular at the time. Notably boys commonly wore shirts without jackets. This changed in the 1860s. But it means that we have a lot of images showing boys wearing shirts in the 1850s without jackets covering them up. We think that many boys did not have proper suit jackets. This was much less common in the 60s which probably is a reflection of growing affluence in America. The collars were mostly part of the shirt and not detachable, an inovation that appeared at the end of the 1840s and was grew in popularity. It is not always possible, however, to detect detachable collars. We note collars done in white even with colored and patterned shirts. These may be detachable collars even though some are relatively short. We are not yet sure about this. White collar of course would be easier to wash. We note collars in a range of styles. We see mostly pointed collars, inclusing Eton styles. We see some rounded collars. Most shirts buttoned at the collar. The shits worn here were a less common style. All shirts had long sleeves. Most blouced at the wrist cuff, but less elaborately than in the 40s. Younger boys had shirts which buttoned on to their pants.

Photographic Record

Noteably boys commonly wore shirts without jackets at mid-century. In the 1840s and 50s when photoigrapht firstv appeared, we see more boys wrearuing shirts and blouses than suit jackets, especially younger boys like the boy here. This for some reson changed in the 1860s. We are guessing that it had to do with the industrial develooment and increasing affluence of Americans. But it means that we have a lot of images showing boys wearing shirts in the 1850s without jackets covering them up. We think that many boys did not have proper suit jackets. This was much less common in the 60s when we see far more boys wearing suit jackets.

Collars

Shirts with small collars seem the dominant type at mid-century, but we do see some larger collars as well. The collars here seem on the larger side of the collars popular at the time. We notice both attached and detachable collars. The collars were mostly part of the shirt and not detachable, an inovation that appeared at the end of the 1840s and was grew in popularity. It is not always possible, however, to detect detachable collars from available photographs. We note many collars done in white even with colored and patterned shirts. These collars in white may be detachable collars even though some are relatively small. We are not yet sure about this. White collar of course would be easier to wash. We note collars in a range of styles. We see mostly pointed collars, inclusing Eton styles. We see some rounded collars. Most shirts buttoned at the collar. The shits worn here were a less common style.

Sleeves

All the shirts and blouses we have found had long sleeves. We do not yet note any sign of short or shortened sleeves for boys. We think it is safe to say that shirts and blouses for boys were commonly done with long sleeves. This seems to have been fairly standard in the 19th century. Curiously we do notice different short sleeve lengths with dresses. We do not yet have information on the blouses girls wore with skirts. We have no idea why there was such a gender difference. Of course gender differences in clothing were pronounced, but sleeve lenth seems a strsnge phenomenon. As we see here, there were commonly tight sleeve cuffs (figure 1). Most sleeves blouced at the wrist cuff, but we think less elaborately than in the 40s. This still needs to be confirmed. The degree of blousing varied quite a bit in the images we have archived.

Pockets

We see a lot of shirts wihout and pockets at all, including the breast pockets. The boy's shirt here is a good example.

Buttons

Many shirts had long rows of buttibs, far more buttons than were really needed to hold the two sides of the shirt together. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). We also notice this with jackets. Perhaps people at the time though more buttons were needed. This seems far more than hat was needed. We suspect that fashion was a factor and not just utility. There werecalso shirts with more widely separated buttons. White buttons were very common.

Suspension

Shorts played ino trouser suspension. Belts were not yet common. Younger boys had shirts which buttoned on to their pants. Buttons on the shirts fit into button holes in the waistline with the pts.

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Created: 11:57 PM 1/26/2014
Last updated: 11:45 AM 9/10/2020