Figure 1.-- All we know about this American boy was that he had a postcard portrait taken probably about 1905-20. He wears a striped sailor tunic and bloomer knickers. The tunic is cut well above the knees which suggests that the photograph was taken in the 1910s. He looks to be about 6 years of age. He looks to be wearing a beanie which is similar in color, but not striped. He also wears dark long stockings.

The peanie was similar to a peaked rounded crown cap, better known in Britan as a school cap. The difference of course is the peak or bill. This is a major difference with the more modern peaked cap. In the 19th and early-20th centuries, however, many of these peaked caps has very small peaks. In some cases the peak is so small that theyalmost look like beanies. And we have found a few images in which they actually look like beanies. Beanies and peaked caps may have been chosen because the color and even the material could havevbeenbchosen to match the tunic suit. We do not, howver, see many examples of either caps and beanies being worn with tunics. Buster Brown was never pictures with these choices. We believe that many mothers saw caps as only suitable for somewhat older boys. We believe that given our very substantial American archive that the prevalence in the images we have found are a realtively good indicator of actual prevalence. Of course mother may have affected headwear choices for formal studio portraits, but note in the home snapshot on the previous page the boy is wearing a rather formal wide-brimmed hat.

Created: 12:15 AM 1/3/2014
Last edited: 12:15 AM 1/3/2014