Figure 1.--Herevwe see an unidentified postcard-back school portrait. They were photographed infront of their small obe-room school, but if you look at the extrenme left you can see the flat terraine on which the school was built. This suggests the the flat northern mid-western plains. The photogroh was taken avout 1908 based on the Velox stamp box (four diamonnds) and the fact that the boys are wearing knee pants rather hn knickers or overalls. Notive that almost allmof the children are wearing black long stockings.

American Children in the late-19th century tended to dress up for school. This contunued to be the case in the early-20th century. We see a lot of boys weraring suits to school, mostly knee pants suits. Children had far smaller wardrobes at the time. And suits were a much more common item than is the case with modern children. Knee pants suits were standard in the 1900s decade, even for many teenagers. This bgan to change at the end of the decade wioth knickers rapidly rerplacing knickers. We see boys commonly wearing suits at many schools, even elementary (primary) schools, but this varied from school to school. Younger boys might wear blouses, but even many younger boys might wear suits. Some of the blouses the boys wore included Fauntleroy blouses. School age boys often wore the print Fauntleroy blouses and not the the classic Fauntleroy blouses with huge collars that younger boys wore. Many boys wore neckwear with their blouses. A few younger boys wore floppy bows which was more common in the 1890s. Knee pants were commonly worn with long black stockings. The major exception was boys going barefoot which was common in rural areas and small towns. About half of Ameruican school cvhildren were still living in rural areas. It was in the 1900s dcade, although late in the decade that we begin ti see rural boys beginning to wear overalls. The idea of wearing school uniforms was not accepted in America, at least in the public schools. In this regard, it was not unlike England. English state primary schools also did not require uniforms.

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Created: 3:56 AM 8/31/2024
Last updated: 3:56 AM 8/31/2024