Figure 1.--Here we see a group of American children at a birthday party in 1948. In this case the events seem to be taking plce outdoofs. The birtday child may be Orva. The location seems to have been Kirkland, Washington. The girls all wear dresses. The boys are more variously attired, but we see collared white shirts.

We have found countless images of American birthday parties in the 1940s. This was after the Depression years of the 1930s. Americans had jobs and wre wiorking. Many dads were in the service during the war years (1941-45), but life went in at home and children's birtdays could be celebrated. A lot of the images were still taken outdorrs, but mostly in in backyards, at least during the summer. It is difficult to very far from the neigborhood because of transport issues. Dress is becoming increasingly casual at these events, but thus still varied.

Missouri (1942)

On the previous page we see a family snapshot from a photo album which belonged to the the Mathews family of Kansas City, Missouri. Most are of Jan Mathews, a little girl, who was born on April 30 of either 1936 or 1937. Her parents were Hugh and Dorothy. They lived at 1220 W. 64th St. Caption on the back of this photo identify Jane O'Malley and Jimmie Gillespie, and mention a French convent school that apparently the girls attended. It was probably taken about 1942. Looks like mother has used paper cups.

Washington (1948)

Here we see a group of American children at a birthday party in 1948 (figure 1). The smiling birthday girl was 4 years old. In this case the events seem to be taking place outdoofs. We think it is a spacious back yard, but it coulf be a neigborhood park or oopen area. The birtday child may be Orva. The location seems to have been Kirkland, Washington. The girls all wear dresses. The boys are more variously attired, but we see collared white shirts.

Created: 2:56 AM 3/27/2023
Last updated: 1:31 PM 3/27/2023