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U.S. school clothes -- chronology: United States 1910s classroomss
U.S. Schools: The 1910s--Classrooms
Figure 1.--Here we see the inside of a small rural school. The teacher has eightcahrges. They look to be about 8-13 years old. It looks like they were doing a math class, a long division class. It you look closely at the teacher's class, you can see the handle of the school bell. The overalls the boys are wearing confirm that it is a rural school. The portrait is undated, but this was a postcard-back portrait. The AZO stamp box was used 1904-18. The clothes suggest it was taken during the 1910s portion of thar range. Click on the image fora a wider view of the classroom. We are not sure who the bearded gentleman is on the wall or the lady on the door. For some reason the door is not in use.
Most of he 1010s school photographic record consists of pictures of class goups or in the case of rural schools the whole shool taken outside their school, usually with the school in the background. Photographs inside of the class room are a small part of the photographic record. Taking photographs inside was moke complicatd than outside in the sunshine. But we have some examples. Here we get a good example of the class set up, the desks for the students , ads sometimes what was being taught. The blackboard if pictured often provides interesting information. We see books furniture, maps, pictures on the wall, perhaps a globe, and other interesting details of the class room environment. Usually w get the perspective as to how the students were seated. Someyine we get to see thev front of the classroom where the teacherr's desk was located. A fixture in small rural schools was the school bell, often kept on the teacher's desk. Often but not always we get to see the teacher as well. There could be a substantial difference between rural and urban schools. And in the 1910s, half of Americans still lived in rural areas and most attendig small rural schools.
