|
The HBC biography section is for people or families that have achieved some degree of notariety or fame. HBC readers in many cases have submitted family portraits. HBC has until now not added them to the biography section. We believe now that this is a mistake. Many of the HBC readers contributing family portraits can also provide details about the boy and him family. This background information help us to assess social trends and put the fashions involved in perspective. This is just why the biographical section is an important part of HBC. As a result, HBC has decided to create pages for these relatively unknown people, when some basic family data is available. Incidentally if you find a relative here, please do tell us somehing about him. Here we are listing these biographies alpahabetically to facilitate looking up individual names. The alphabdetical list is the primary data base in this section. While we have not persued geneolgical resreach on these individual, having the names and in many cases the loaction provide the potential to acquire more back ground information in the future which may provide additonal insights into the fashion and life style trends.
Tadashi Yoshihara was a recruit of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The portrait is undated, but was taken in the late-1930s or early 40s. He was 17 years old and came from Kagawa Prefecture. The portrait was taken at Port Aiura where he was a raw recruit. Note their are no insignias on his uniform. Even though Tadashi is writen first, that is his family name. Japanese names usually consist of a family name (surname), followed by a given name. This naming order is quite common in Asian countries within the Chinese cultural sphere (China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam). In the album where this portrait was found was a portrait was taken of his younger sister in her sailor suit school uniform.
A dealer tells us this boy's name was Minnie Tamn. We are not entirely sure about that. We had thought that Minnie was a girl's name. Perhaps it was his mother's name. Or perhaps Minnie was not as gender specific as we had thought. He lived in Minnesota. The boy has a straw hat with a large, round crown and narrow brim. He wears a knee pants suit. He has a collar buttoning jacket and long-cut knee panrs. The jacket looking rather like a suit has a button pocket. His shirt has a very small ruffled collar. We see a small bow, but it is difficult to make out. He wears lihjt-colored ribbed stockings and high-button shoe. He has high-button shoes. The portrait is not dated. We would guess it was taken in the 1870s, but the early 80s is possible.
This postcard format portrait looks to have been taken during World War I. This boy was M.H.Tappan, Jr. who grew up to be a prominent jeweler in Sherman, Texas. Many boys during the 1910s had military or other costumes, including cowboys, Indians, firemen, policmen, etc. We suspect the portrait was taken in 1917 or'18, but it is not dated. It was quite "de rigeur" for American moms and dads to have their kids dress up like soldiers and nurses and loved to have their photographs taken in the costumes.
Here we have a cabinent portrait of Arthur N. Taylor. The portrait was taken by the R.B. Lewis Studios in Wood Square, Hudson, Massachusetts. On the reverse they claim "Graceful posing, artistic lighting ... cloudy weather no objection". It is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1880s.
He is dressed in a fancy pleated dress with lace cuffs and collar. He was photographed with a stick. I think it is too slender to be a walking stick, so it may be some kind of riding crop? Alongside him is a little toy cart with a tin pail in it. We do not know if these are studio props or items Arthur brought with him.
Atril D. Taylor had his portrait taken in 1926. He was 3 years old, but must have been close to his fourth birthday. He wears a short pants outfit with kneesocks. His shirt is the open-collar style so popular in the 1920s and 30s.
Nadar was the best known commercial photographer in late 19th century France. He had a popular Paris studio. He photographed the most famous people in France as well as ordinary people. The Albumen cabinent portrait here is of 4 year old Maurice Terrillon. Maurice was born November 24, 1889 and died May 24, 1894. We do not know what happened to him. The portrait seems to have been taken some time before his death. Maurice wears a tartan dress with a large lace collar. Tartan was a popular pattern for boy's dresses because it suggests a kilt. There is weiting on the back wgich we can not yet read.
This cabinet portrait shows Theodore Red Eagle dressed in his summer clothing. The portrait was taken by Oscar Drum at the Parsons Gallery in Pawhuska, Oklahoma Territory. It was numbered number 39 in pen on the front of the card mount. Numbers like that are unusual on cabinent cards. We suspect that the photographer made portraits of a school or some other group. There is a pen description on the back, "Theodore Red Eagle. That is the way Indian children drill in summer". This suggests he was in a school groop. The portrait is undated, but was probably taken in the 1890s. The Olkahoma Territiry was organized in 1890. And as the mount style was common before 1900, the portrait was taken in the 1890s. He looks to be wearing a kind of tunic without pants. We can't tell if there is a long clothing hanging down behinf him or if it is some kind of pole.
The studio portrait of Count Nicolas Alexandrovitch Tolstoi (1907-17) was taken in 1913 when he was 6 years old and only 4 years before his early death. I am not sure if he is related to the famous author. Nor do I know if his death was connected to the Revolution hich broke out in 1917. He wears light colored sailor suit with knee pants and brown long stockings.
This carte de visite (CDV) pprtrait is of Oskar and Toni von Treskow of a noted Prussian nobel family. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1860s to us. Toni, the little girl, wears a white baby dress. Oskar, the boy, wears a cut-away jacket suit which he wears with long pants or only slightly shortened length pants. The jacket has Zouave-styled emroidery. Pantalettes were still worn by girls and younger boys. In this case Oskar seems to have white frills sewed onto the hem of his pnts to emulate pantalettes. We haven't noted this practice before. The cildren look to be about 2-4 years old. The portrait was taken by A & F Zeuschner, Posen, Germany. Posen was the capital of a province contested for centuries between Poland and Prussia/Germany. It is now
Here we have a portrait of Harry E. Trolich. We are not positive about the spelling of the boHe is an American boy, although we are not sure where he lived. y's name as the writing on the back is indestinct. He was born in 1868. We have a portrait taken about 1877. He wears a kneepants suit with what looks like a bowler-style hat. He has light-colored stripped long stockings. Harry died at a very young age in 1886. We do not know why he died.
This boy certainly had a patriotic family. At least he has a very patriotic name. George looks to be about 7 years old. He wears whay looks like a boater hat with large bow. He has a rather loud pattern knee pants suit and a blouse with a ruffled collar and matching wrist ruffles. The portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the late 1880s or early 90s. George's father was the studio photographer who took the portrait. He is photographed with a tricycle, although it is difficult to see the third wheel.
Ambrose Turner ws an English boy born in November 1835. He was the youngest son in the family. We believe that the Turner family was an affluent family, but have no specific detais. We do not know much about him at this time. He died in 1910. ll that we know about how Ambrose was dressed as a boy is a combination underwear garment his mother Ann Turner made for him when he was about 4 years old. Unfortunately we do not have a portrait of Ambrose. Photography was not yet a viable commercial process. As far as we know no painted portrait exists. Thus we do not know know how Ambrose was dressed. A age 4 he might not have been breeched and may have still worn dresses. Or he might worn a skeleton suit or though in 1840 they were going out of style.
Maurice Carmichael Tweedie had his portrait taken in Hastings during 1878. The studio was Bloomfield & Co. Maurice looks to be about 8-9 years old. We know nothing about his family, but given the fashionable outfit, we would guess he came from an affluent family. Maurice wears a kneepants sailor suit. It is not a traditional suit, but it does have the classic "V" front. Notice that he wears a collar and floppy bow in addition to the sailor collar and scarf. We know there are pockets because Maurice has in hands in one, not a common pose. The classic sailor suit three stripe motif appears in several locations including the pants legs. The pants also have stripes and buttons down the side. The knee pants are cut shirter than the mid-calf length common in the 1860s. He wears three-quarter length socks rather than long stockings that were more common in America.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main ordinary biography alphabetical page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
