Figure 1.--This CDV portrait is undated. It does not have a revenue stamp so it may have been an early CDV about 1862-63 ot it could be a mid-decasde portrait about 1866-67. The studio was Plumb & Loomis in Portage, Wisconsin. The boy is unidentified. He wears a blouse with only a neck band and no collar. He wears bloomer knickers and white stickings. The sleeves are, however, voluminous.

There was a major shift in boys' blouses during the 1860s. We see many fewer boys wearing just vlouses without a suit jacket. Just wraring a blouse was very common ikn the 1840s and even more so in the 50s. But suddenly in the 1860s we see most boys wearing suit jackets or matching button-on outfits. This of course is what we see in the portraits, this may or masy not reflect how boys dressed every day, but there is definitely a notable shift in the studio portraits. This makes it difficult to assess blouses as so many are covered by the jackets the boys are wearing. That said we have found a number of portraits where the boys are just wearing tyheir blouses. The collars varied, but were generally small. Some blouses had no collar at all eexcept a kind of neck band. the wisconsin boy here is a good example (figure 1). Sleeves were all long, but varied. Some sleeves were voluminous which was a popular 1850s style. We are not yet sure about the age cionventions. Younger boys wore them, but we are unsure about the upper age range. We are also not sure about gender variations. Most blouses seem to be white or light colors. We note far more colored and patterned blouses in the 1840s and 50s.

Created: 12:35 AM 7/10/2010
Last updated: 12:35 AM 7/10/2010