Figure 1.--This small rural school is not identified or dated. We would guess it was taken in the early-1920s. We see quite a range of outfits. We were not sure at first where it was taken, but the two boys wearing overalls we think identifies it as American. At least two boys are wearing overalls. One boy looks to be wearing a smock, but as this is America, it must be a tunic suit whixh is confirmed by the belt. Many boys are wearing blouses, but we also see shirts. Several boys are wearing knickers and long stockings. On might be wering knee pants, but we don't see short pants. At least two boys wear long pants. The combination of long pants and tuni suits is unusual. Two boys are barefoot. The girls wear dresses, but notice there are no hair bows.

We continue to see differences between city and rural schools. The most obvious difference was that boys in rural areas often wore overalls to school. This became very common in the 1910s and continued until World War II and the 1940s. The change was due to improving economic conditions and schools system introducing bussing as part of aost saving measure to close small schools. Another importance difference was that we see fewer children wearing suits to school. We also see rural kids coming to school barefoot. We still see suits in the 1920s, although it had begun to decline in popularity. The clothing at rural schools could be quite varied. This is because some of these schools had children from both farms and small towns. Thus you getfamilies from quite varied family circumstances. nother factor is that conditios in rural America deteriorated after World War I. American farmrs geared up to feed Europe, but fter the war, the countries in Wurope which needed food during the War soon began recovering and producing their own food. As aesult, the Great Depression hit rural America several years before the rest of the country.

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Return to the Main U.S. country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Kneesocks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals] [Page/Dutch boy bangs]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main U.S. School 1920s Demograohic Page]
[Return to the Main U.S. School 1920s Chronology Page]
[Return to the Main American 20th century school page]
[Return to the Main American 1920s page]
[Return to the Main U.S. School 20th century Chronology Page]
[Return to the Main U.S. School Chronology Page]
[Return to the Main U.S. School Page]
[Return to the Main National School Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany] [Ireland] [Italy]
[Japan] [New Zealand] [Poland] [Singapore] [Scotland] [Singapore]

Navigate the HBC School Section
[About Us]
[Activities] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]

Created: 7:19 AM 12/31/2015
Last updated: 8:56 PM 1/1/2016