Figure 1.-- This illustration from a Soviet children's book. It illustrates the first day of school in Moscow and other cities, September 1. The day is marked on the wall calendar. Here we see a girl in ankle socks and pinafore with her brief case with school materials ready to go off for her first day. She is obviously 6 years old. Her little brother, about four and a half, is presenting her with a congratulatory bunch of flowers which he has picked for her. They will be presented to the teacer. He is wearing the common brown long stockings that so many younger Russian children wore. The supporters on his bodice pull the long stockings up unevenly at the point of attachment under the hem of his short pants. Another contribution from George. We don't know the name of the book or its author, but we have the names of the illustrators--Schwartzman and A. Model. I'm not sure if the illustrators collaborated on single pictures or contributed different illustrations separately (probably the latter).

Our HBC website releies primarily on the photographic record. It is of course the most accurate of the various availavle sources. Of course here are issues which have to be taken into count, but every photograhic image is in effect a little historical document. We may not know how common the photographic image was or how represetative, but we do know it was an actual event. And of course as the numbr of image expands in an archive we have an increasingly better chance of assessing real trends. Graphic images are different. They are creations not reality. They may are may not reflect reality. Sometimes depending on the skill of the illustrators, we sees what we all want to be rather than relaity itself. While it may not be reality, knowing what people want to be provides intereting insights that we do not see in actual photographic images. We often see in these images what parents, often mothers, want to be which is a part of understanding fashion trends, family dynamics, and childhood as well as school trends. American school images for many years included flat caps, corduroy knickers,and knee socks. The dominant school image we see in Russia is the first day wnen boys and girls begin school. The Russians stage an inportant ceremony ob First Day. Here we see girls wearing plain dark dress, often blue, fancy white pinafores, white hose, and strap shoes along wth a hair bow. We see mot of these elements in the rwing here (figure 1). The boys are commonly depicted in short pants and long stocking, often with one stocking somewhat fallen down, almost always only one. We see that in countless Russian school ilustrations. These of course are not the onlyschool illutrations, but they are alarge part of it.

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Created: 2:11 AM 7/12/2016
Last updated: 2:12 AM 7/12/2016