Theodore Roosevelt: Childhood Clothing and Hair Styles

Figure 1.--Trrdie here looks to be about 5 years old. That would mean the portrait was made about 1963/ He wears what looks like a black velvet cut-away jacket, whte collar, and light-colored pants during the Civil War. Notice the waistband and near center part.

We do not have a lot of information about Teedie's child clothing. Right now all we have to go on is the family record, but because of the appearance of the CDV, there are several available portraits. We note early portraits of him at about 5-years of age wearing cut-away jacket outfits with white collars (figure 1). The collar is a little difficult to make out because of the neckwear. One shows him wearing what look like a velvet cut-away jackts with light-colored pants. We note him wearing suits with bloomer knickers and white socks. This was a style for boy from ell-to-do families. Most American boys at the time wore long pants suits. The portait here shows him at about 9 years of age which would mean it was taken about 1867 on the previous page. He is wearing a dark cut-away jacket with piping. One of the earliest photographs we have noted of Theodore shows him at about 4-5 years of age wearing his hair over his ears with a kind of top curl. I'm not sure how this would have been described in the 1860s. This appears to have been a popular hair style during the 1860s. A year or so later we note the top curl is gone, but his hair is still over his ears and combed with a near, but not exact center part.