Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows a mother with her two children who look to be about 5-8 years old. The children wear very similar white dresses with black long stockings. We suspect thevyounger child is a boy. Note the floppy bow. The portrait is undated, but mother's dress helps date it to about 1895. (the small bow suggests the 1870s or early-80s. Mothers's puffed dress sleeves seem more in keeping ith the 1890s as do the black long stockings. The studio was Jensen Brothers in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

There were both fashion and practical matters that made white so popular. White was appeling for younger children because it emphasizes their innosence, giving them the appearance of little angels. We also see school age children commonly dressing up in white. The portrait here is a good example (figure 1). There was also the practicality. Unlike colored dresses, white does not fade even after repeated washings--something necessary with younger children. Modern reaaders do not fully appreaciate the laundry problem. In an era before machines and modern detergents, it was a major, labor intensive undertaking. A full day had to be put aside for washing and it took the entire day of boiling water, scrubbing rinsing, and hanging out on the line. And in addition to all the hard work, you can imagine what all of this did to the hands. The well-to-do had help during the work. Most mothers did not. There was a real advantage to white clothing. There were no laundry detergents available, but with white, you could pour in bleech--something you could not do with colored clothing. Thus we see large numbers of younger children wearing white, including boys wearing white dresses. White today is not seen as the ideal color for younger children as it shows up dirt. But that is because modern mothers have washing machines and effective laundry detergents. There was also a seasonal factor at play. White and other light colors are also popular for spring and summer wear. Notably the cabinet card on the orevious page is a summer portrait, presumably from an itinerate phitographer..

Created: 8:28 AM 5/12/2022
Last updated: 8:28 AM 5/12/2022