Figure 1.--This undated image was taken in Berlin, probably in the 1900s, certainly before World War I. At first examination it looks like a girl, indicating that German girls also wore tunics. HBC is not, however, positive that it is a girl. In fact there are several indicators suggesting that the child is a boy.

This undated image was taken in Berlin, probably in the 1900s, certainly before World War I. The tunic is quite long and has a double row of vuttons. The pants do not show as was the normal convention. There is a large square white collar trimmed in lace and and repeated at the wrist cuffs. The collar is worn with a small bow. The outfit is worn with heavy long stockings. The child is photographed with a favorite doll. At first examination it looks like a girl, indicating that German girls also wore tunics. HBC is not, however, positive that it is a girl. In fact there are several indicators suggesting that the child is a boy. A French reader tells us that he is possitive that the child is a boy.

Child

This child is unidentified. We no nothing about she or her, other than the child apparently lived in Berlin. One HBC reader believes that the face looks more like a boy than a girl. HBC is unsure. At first examination it looks like a girl, indicating that German girls also wore tunics. HBC is not, however, positive that it is a girl. A French reader tells us that he is possitive that the child is a boy. "I am sure this child is a boy. This tunic was for boy, note the belt placed low. I have some photo of my family in the early 20th with boy in similar tunics. It seems that the fashion in Germany and France were quite alike at this time. Dresses for girls normally had the belt at the waist or no belt at all."

Chronology

This undated image was taken in Berlin, probably in the 1900s, certainly before World War I.

Photographer

The photographer was Stein. As a street address rather than a city is given, we are assume that he was a Berlin photographer.

Tunic Suit

The tunic is quite long and has a double row of buttons. The pants do not show as was the normal convention. Notice that the tunic is belted in a contarasting white belt. These belts had no practical purpose and were purely decorative. We are unsure at this time about the gender connotations. The length of the tunic may reflect a thrifty mother's buying of a large size garment more than a fashion statement.

Collar

There is a large square white collar trimmed in lace and and repeated at the wrist cuffs.

Collar Bow

The collar is worn with a small bow. Our general asessment is that collar bows were much more common on boys' outfits than girls outfits, but are not sure if this was also the case in Germany.

Long Stockings

The child wears heavy, darl long stockings, suggesting that the portrait was taken during the winter. Both boys and girls in Germany wore these long stockings.

Hair Style

The child has long uncurled hair held in place with hairbows. Our information on German hair styles is still very limited. We do note that school age boys before World War I often had their hair shaved. We do not know how common such long hair was for younger boys.

Hair Bows

The hair bows certainly look very girlish to us today. As we have discussed in the hair bow section, many boys in the late 19th and early 20th century had long hair done in hairbows. We have, however, little information on this fashion in Germany.

Doll Props

The child is photographed with a favorite toy, in this case a doll. Dolls are generally seen as a girl's toy, but this is not always the case. Generally the choice of a doll strongly suggested a girl. This may be especially true in Germany. As so many clues in these old photographs, such clues were not absolute and we have noted images of boys photographed with dolls. Younger boys were often allowed to play with dolls, especially if they had older sisters. In this case, note that the child appears to have a boy doll. Most girls preferred girl dolls. A French reader takes issue with the HBC assessment, "HBC here is not correct. Many European boys in the 19th century had a cloth dolly, even boys without sisters. This was true in France and Germany and probably others European countries as well. Until World War I (1914-18) it was quite common for boys to have a doll. At this time boys very often had a cloth doll. My godfather had had one, perhaps my father too. It is easy to find early 20th century boys photos of boys with dolls. My brother in the 1940s was unable to sleep without his teddy. Untill 10 years old he needed it!) Myself I stopped at 4-5 years old , but quite often I played dolls with a little girl after coming at home for school. The doll and teddy are essential for the children. They can't live without. In the early 20th century, girls had different sorts of dolls. There were little and big dolls in cloth and celluoid ( the most popular). There were also dolls with porcelain heads (the most expensive type). After the War the " nounous " / teddy bears became more common. To sleep, a boy needed his doll or teddy. Later (teddy bears) became more popular for boys." HBC comfirms that young American boys in the 19th century might have dolls, especially but not omly if they had sisters. What was not very common in America was to be photographed with a doll, especially in a formal studio portrait. HBC have seen several thousand 19th century images and boys with dolls are very rare. An American reader, however, reports that he has seen a few. A very large percentage of the images assessed by HBC are American. An English reader familiar with 19th century English photographic portraits, reports that he has not noted English boys being photographed with dolls in formal 19th century portraits. We can not speak authoritatively about France or Germany, but we note that HBC European readers have not yet provided such images to us. After the turn of the 20th century, there are indeed more photographs of boys with dolls. This is because of the many informal amateur snapshots that began to appear at the turn of the 20th century becauuse of the Kodak Brownie. HBC has archived some of these images. A HBC reader writes, "In the case of French images around the turn of the century, Zola son was photographed holding a doll with long hair and a dress." (HBC has a biography of Emile Zola, but does not have the image of his son with a doll. That specific image can be viewed at the HBC toy page) As far as HBC can determine, however, studio portraits of boys will dolls are are relatively rare. Our French reader believes that German boys in the 19th century also had dolls, but we do not yet have confirmation from German readers. We believe, however, that the fact the doll in the image here is a boy doll (figure 1) is a strong indicator that the child pictured here is a boy.