Figure 1.--Here we see a class at the Ecole St Vincent Ardent in 1937. We know very little about the school. There is a small board which indicates 1937, but I can't make out the rest of the writing. I seem to make out the Roman numeral "II", but am unsure just what that means, presumably it refers to the class. All of the boys wear dark smocks. |
The school was locatedb in Ardent, a rural village in central France.
Here we see a class at the Ecole St Vincent Ardent. This is a combination of a saint's name and the viillage. This convention developed because there would be many St. Vincent schools in France. Note that even though it looks to be a state school, it is named after a Catholic saint. We know very little about the school. The little sign shows us that the portrait was taken in 1937. The small board which indicates 1937, but I can't make out the rest of the writing. I seem to make out the Roman numeral "II", but am unsure just what that means, presumably it refers to the class. The boys all wear similar, but not identical dark smocks. Note that the French, unlike the Italians did not generally wear their school smocks with white collars. Some boys have their collars outside their smocks, others wear their snocks over their collars. At many schools smocks were optional. Here the school appears to have required the boys to wear smocks.
The school was locatedb in Ardent, a rural village. We did not, however, know where in France the school is located. Presumably there was more than one St. Vincent. A French reader writes, "I know this village. " Ardentes " is located in central France."
Here we see a class at the Ecole St Vincent Ardent. This is a combination of a saint's name and the viillage. This convention developed because there would be many St. Vincent schools in France. Note that even though it looks to be a state school, it is named after a Catholic saint. We know very little about the school. We think that this is a village school, in part because of the background. Ecole here means a primary school. Presumably given the saint's name this was a Catholic school. It appears to be an all boy's school. At least the classes were separated. Our reader tells us, "It isn't a board school but a old public school named Saint Vincent. At many French village the pupils were dressed alike.
The black smock before World War II was widely worn in rural areas.
After the War this rural village was quite poor."
The little sign shows us that the portrait was taken in 1937.
The small board which indicates 1937, but I can't make out the rest of the writing. I seem to make out the Roman numeral "II", but am unsure just what that means, presumably it refers to the class.
The boys all wear similar, but not identical dark smocks. Note that the French, unlike the Italians did not generally wear their school smocks with white collars. Some boys have their collars outside their smocks, others wear their snocks over their collars. At many schools smocks were optional. Here the school appears to have required the boys to wear smocks. It also seems to have requited the same color and basic style. I think rules like this were most common in rural schools and at Catholic schools. We don't know this for sure, but whenever all the children are dressed so similarly it is a strong suggestion that the school had rules. We are not sure about the color of these smocks, but they look black. Navy blue is another possibility. All these smocks are very plain, but there are sylistic differences. Most are back buttoning smocks, but we note some side buttoning ones.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
