Figure 1.--We see very few boys barefoot in 19th century potraits until the late-1890s. Here we see a 19th century tin-type, but are unsure just how to date it. It looks to be a carnival tin-type and came in a sleeve. We are not sure about the date, but would guess the late-1880s or early-90s. We are not sure because tin-types are not easy to date, but it us nitable that it was a tin-type. Generally speaking tin-type studios were badsuc set ups more like to be patronized by low-income customers. .

Going barefoot was common for American boys in the 19th century. Shoes in the 19th century shoes could be uncomfortable. Many wre made as generic shoes and not specifically for left and right feet. And in the early-19th century America was still very rural. Most families made very little actual cash money and shoes were something that wss not easy to make at home. Many boys appear to have preferred going barefoot in the summer. There are many literaty references to this. Several factors affected the tendency of children to go barefoot and all of these factors varied over time. We do not see very many boys barefoot in 19th paintings, mot of which were formal portraits. But we see a more representative depiction in genre paintings. We also rarely see barefoot boys in 19th century photography, presumably because most photographs were studio portrait for which the children were dressed up. Interestingly, we seem to see more of these barefoot portraits in the 1890s and 1900s than before or after. Especially notable are portriats of boys all dressed up in suits, but barefoot. We are not sure why. We do not believe that going barefoot was more common than in the early- and mid-19th century. It was probably less common for a variety of reasons (urbanization, higher incomes, more comfortable shoes, ect.). We believe we see more brefoot images because we supect two factors at play. One was the declining cost of a photographic portrait. The other was that there were more opportunities, such as itinerate photographers and studios set up in places like county fairs. A good example is the Kemp brothers in 1898. Perhaps readers will have some thoughts here.

The 1800s

Going barefoot was common for American boys in the 19th century. Shoes in the 19th century shoes could be uncomfortable. Many wre made as generic shoes and not specifically for left and right feet. And in the early-19th century America was still very rural. Most families made very little actual cash money and shoes were something thatws not easy to make at home. Many boys appear to have preferred going barefoot in the summer. There are many literaty references to this. Several factors affected the tendency of children to go barefoot and all of these factors varied over time. Aeader writes, "I would guess that children went barefoot just as much in the early-1800s as later, it's just that there are more photographic images available in the later decades to show this." Here we would not agree. Remenber that in the early-19th century, America was a mostly rural country. The great bulk of the population lived in rural areas and smll towns. Onlnly a little ober 5 percent of the population livd in cityies. America was not yet industrilized and while most Americans were better off in terms of hosing and food consumption than Europeans, they did not have much actual money for purchsing consumer goods. Thus we believe that virtually all boys on farms and in small towns went barefoot during the summer, this was no longer the case at the ebd of the century.

The 1840s

France invented commercial photography with the Daguerreotyoe (1839). Photography thus appeared in the 1840s and no where more than America did it take off. The great majority of 1840s photograohic images are American. We do not, howerver, see barfoot boys in these early Daguerrotypes. Although children going barefoot would have been especially common in the early 19th century. We have not yet found any early photographs of American boys going barefoot. There must be some, but not very msny sas we hasve asrchived a substntial number of Dags. A lmimitation here is hat the poses were usully the children sitting down (because of slow plate speeds) and the feet are oftn not shown. hen they are we ee shoes. But this is because people dressed up for portraits and Dags were expensive limiting the subjects relatively to the well to do. The American population was still mostly rural. Over secveral decades, the kevel of irbanization had only risen to a little over 10 percent. Painted portraits also show children with shoes. This contrasts with what we know to be the case. A good example is the Mark Twain books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckeberry Finn. Both books were written after the Civil War, but describe Antebellum Missouri, no doubt drawing from Twain's own boyhood. This is almost surely a good depiction of how boys commonly went barefoot in rural areas and small towns. We see this beautifully depicted by Winslow Homer. There are also some wonderful genre paintings by Allen Smith. Genre paintings in cintrast to expoensise portraits are a good relection of actual trends among the wider population. We have very few 1840s school images, but the ones we have found show the children coming to schoolin shoes.

The 1850s

Dagererotypes continued to dominate photographt in the early-1850swhich was almost entirely studio photography. Ambrotypes and tin-types were introduced in the 1850s both of wehich reduced the cost of photography. Thus we have more images, but rarely see barefoot boys in available images. This may in oart because most poses are the subjects sitting down by a small table draped with a paterned cloth. Often footwear or the lack of it does not show. There are some images of barefoot boys, but not very many. Mother wanted the boys to dress up in their best clothes and this generally mean that they put on shoes. It is nitable that many boys are not wearing suits. We take this as an economic indicator. The modern American industrial economy was just beginning to accelerate. The United States was begunning to urbanize by the 1850s. It has was just slightly over 15 percent in 1850 and nearly 20 poercent by the end of the decade, a huge increase over levels at the beginning oif the century. This was important because going barefoot was much more common in the countrysuide than in the cities. Painted portraits also show children with shoes. The exception is genre painting which aimed at capturing real life scene, often depicting averge people of modest means. A good example is "The County Election", an election day scene--the County Election. This was a 1852 painting by George Bingham. It is probably a very good representation of how boys dressed in rural and small town America at mid-century. And unlike the photographic record, we see boys mostly going barefoot. The situation in the growing cities and well to do would be different, but generally speaking, going barefoot was very common with American boys.

The 1860s

We do not see very many boys barefoot in 19th century photography, and by the 1860s with the CDV and tin-type we have very large numbers of images to sample. The price of the portrait had fallen to a point that all but the very poorest Americans could afford them. But we still virtully never see boys barefoot in 1860s portraits. Presumably this was because most photographs were studio portrait for which the children were dressed up. We know for a fact that many boys went barefoot in the 1860s. Incresing urbanization probably affected this to an extent, but the rarity in the photographic record we believe is misleading. We do note that some boys are dressed up for their potrtraits. We do se a few of these boys barefoot. The vast majority of boys were dressed up for the portraits and we never see these boys barefoot. There were major developments concerning footwear. The Civil War was fought during the decade (1861-65). This significantly boosted the production of ready-made clothing as aresult of lucrative Goverment contracts. This not only included uniforms, but also footwear. This was largely in the North. Federal troops were well uniformed and provided with footwear. This was less true in the South which was less well finnced and had fewer factories. As a result, many Confederate soldiers were at times barefoot. The Battle of Gettsburg bgan with Confederate units looking for boots. The end result in the North was a greatly expbded footwear industry. This affectedthe price and availbility of children;s footwear. Industrial expansion in the North also increased personal income and the ability of families to afford shoes for their children. This was a trend which only increased in subsequent decades. We still do not have many 1860s school images, but we mostly see the children wearing shoes.

The 1870s

Boys continued to commonly go barefoot in Amweica during the 1870s. We have very little indication of this, however, in the mostly studio-based photographic record of the time. Images of barefoot boys in studio portaits are very rare. We have archived thousands of images and have found only a handful of barefoot boys. Mostly boys are wearing long pants with shoes or longish knee pants with long stockings and shoes. Mothers for the most part insisted on dressing up the children in their best clothese for these studio portaits. We have found one portait of of a fashiinable North Carolina lady. This is the only portait we have managed to archive before the 1890s of a barefoot boy with a fashionably dressed mother. Notably it was in the south where for both economic and climatic reasons, going barefoot was esppecially common. Boys in the Deep South could go barefoot nearly year round. In the North this was not possible. The further north you went the more limited was the summer period in which children could go barefoot. Going barefoot was to a degree also afected by urbanization. Urbanizatioin incrreased significnyly in the 1860s andf by 1870 had reached the 25 percent milestone. This increased only slightly during the rest of the decade. We note a few photographic portraits in which boys were barefoot. One example is an unidentified boy, we believe in the 1870s. These portraits are rare and often look to be of boys of modest circumstances or from what look to be low-cost studios. We have begun to collect 1870s school images, but can not yet draw any conclusions.

The 1880s

Going barefoot was still very common in the 1880s. This does not show up for the most part in the photographic record which was still primarily studio photography. We see a few examples of barefoot bboys in studio photograohy, but not very many. And the examples we have found are mostly from what look like very basic studios with low-income clientele. Here we are kargely referring ti very basic studio sets. Photographic technology was advancing and photographs taken outside the studio are more likely to show boys going barefoot. Going barefoot continued to ne common, especially in the countryside, but even in the cities many younger er boys from working-class families went barefoot during the summer. Urbanization was proceeding a apace. At the begining of the decade, urbanizatiion was approsching 30 percent of the American population. It surpased one-third of the population by the end of the decade as Anerica wsas becoming a major industrial power. School photography was becoming more common. We have more 1880s school images. Most images show the children wearing shoes to school. We note many boys barefoot at some mostly rural schools. Thus was especially the case in poorer areas. One ssource wiutiunhg about the Ozarks expains, "All year till frost everbody went barefooted to school. We just had two pair of shoes a year. Get a pair in the winter and then in the spring of the year when they got kinda ragged we got a pair of what they called Sunday shoes to wear through the summer." A variety of factors seem to be involved, including regional, demographic, seasonal, and social-class factors. Most footwear by the v1880s was factory made. Shoes were the most expensive garment and thus going barefoot was most common in the countryside and among the urban working class.

The 1890s

America by the 1890s had gone through a remrable transformation. About half of the contry now lived in the large industrial cities. And the country had developed a large affluent middle class. we continue to see boys in rural areas going barefoot. A good example is a n 1896 Boisseau painting. Thus while going barefoot in the summer was still common, it was not nearly as common as it once was. It is interesting to note how many boys, even working-class boys, that wore shoes. We see this both in 1890s school portraits and in the 1900s images of child labor that were taken in the 1900s. Many of these children are barefoot, but it is interesying to note sjust how many wear shoes. Most of the city newsies, for example, wear shoes. Interestingly, we seem to see more barefoot portraits in the 1890s and 1900s than before or after. We are not sure why. We do not believe that going barefoot was more common than in the early- and mid-19th century. It was probably less common for a variety of reasons (urbanization, higher incomes, more comfortable shoes, ect.). We believe we see more brefoot images because we supect two factors at play. One was the declining cost of a photographic portrait. The other was that there were more opportunities, such as itinerate photographers and studios set up in places like county fairs and photographs around the home. This is an issue we are still working on. A good example is the Kemp brothers in 1898. What is paricularly totavle is that we begin to see large numbers of boys dressing up for formal portraits, but barefoot. A reader writes, "By the end of the century shoemaking machinery had been developed that greatly reduced the cost of children's shoes. And they were much more comfortble than early mass produced shoes. I wonder if there is a connection with encouraging children to wear the 'new' style sandals by calling them 'Barefoot Sandals'? I have traced this name back to 1901."