Figure 1.--Here we see a German boy wearing aam for his first day of school. Here it looks rather like a sailor cap. The CDV is not dated, but looks like it was taken about the turn-of-the 20th century.

We note both boys and girls wearing tams to school. Thec tam was popular in the late-19th and early-20th century. It was not one of the more popular styles, but we do notice children weating tams to school. The tam was much more common for girls to wear to school than boys, but we see some younger boys wearing them as well. We are not entirely sure about country trends. Most of the examples of boys wearing tams we have found are German. In some cases, it is difficult to destinguish between sailor caps and tams. We are not sure about the countries where girls commonly wore tams, but the photographic record provides some clues. We note American girls wearing them. Some American girls called berets tams, but the tam is fuller than a beret and usually a knit garment rather than felt like a beret. We see girlswearing both berets and tams. Also tams commonly had poms on top. The tam was not apecifically school style, but was worn to school by children. The tam was to a large extent a seasonal garment, most commonly worn during the winter. English schools had all kinds of headwear for girls. A few may have had tams, but we are mot yet sure about that. Perhaps our readers will know. We do know that some girls in state schools where there were no uniforms wore them. Avaialble images suggest that in the 1880s that the tam was widely worn by children throughout Britain. We have noted for example a charming school scene in Cornwall, as far as you can get in Britain from Scotland--"School Is Out", painted by Elizabeth Armstrong in 1889. It shows children, both boys and girls, wearing knitted tams as everyday wear to school.

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Created: 8:19 AM 8/8/2011
Last updated: 8:19 AM 8/8/2011