*** American individual first communions: post-war era








Individual American First Communion Celebrations: Post-War Era (1945-70)

post-war First Communion
Figure 1.--We see a range of First Communion celebrations in the post-War era. Some were more formal than others. This is a formal First Communion at St. Joseph Hill Academy in Staten Island, New York. It was a girls' school, but appreently they took boys in the early elementary years. Like many early color photographs, the prints and negatives are deteriorating.

There were substantial changes in First Communion outfits after World War II. This varied chronologically and among different schools and churches. Some were more moral than others. Here a factor was the community. We note very formal First Communion events among well-to-do church communities. And in the post-War era, the Catholic immigrant communities that were the foundation of the various churches were entering the American mainstream and experiencing substantial economic affluence. Some schools/churches were very strict about how the children dressed. Others were less insistent tht they all be dressed exactly alike. The more strict schools/churches generally wanted the boys to wear white short pants suits with white knee socks. The clothing worn by the boys at some schools/churches could be quite varied, but the girl's first communion dress was much more standard-white junior wedding dresses. But even here there many possible variations in the dresses. We note white suits becoming popular for the boys in the 1930s and seem to have been most popular in the 1940s and 50s. We still see them in the early-60s, but such formal suits begin the decline in popularity by the late-60s.

Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania (1946)

This is the first communion class at Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1946. Sharpsburg is a suburb of Pittsburgh with a historically large Catholic population owing to a history of European immigrants who settled there (German, Polish, etc.). Sharpsburg is famous for the birth of H. J. Heinz, the founder of the famous canning and bottling firm that produces Ketchup and other well-known brand foods and is still located in nearby Pittsburgh. The children are the traditional age for first communion--about eight and nine years old. Notice that the class is disproportionately boys--a somewhat unusual feature, since most first communion classes of the period in other parts of America tend to be dominated by girls. The much fewer girl participants are massed at the rear or ranged along the side railings. The children are standing on the steps of the church with their priest and mentor in the center at the rear.

Western New York (1940s)

This First Communion scene has no accompaning information. The dealer believes that the photograph was taken in the 1940s, somewhere in western New York state. We see children doing their First Communion all dressed in white. The girls are wearing the junor wedding dresses. The boys are wearing white short pants suits. In the example we have, we see with white knee socks. We only see a few of the children. Accompnying the First Communion photographs asre som school images, apprently the school attended by the children doing First Communion. The photographs are not dated, but based on the school images, we think we are talking about the 1940s, probbly the mid- or late-40s. We say that in part because we no longer see any knickers (which were common in the 30s) and the boys are not all wearing long pants (which was common in the 50s).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1952)

Here we see a boy named Francis in his First Communion outfit. Unfortunately we do not know his last name. He was photographed with his brothers and sisters. The family was from Philadelphia. He wears a white blouse and short pants with white long stockings. We were a little surprised by the long stockings as the family snapshot was dated 1952. We do not see American boys commonly wearing long stockings, especially white long stockings in the 1950s, but First Comminion was a very special event and white long stockings were once very commonly worn for First Communion. The date could be wrong, but the girls' dresses look about right for 1952. We are less sure his brother, who seems to be wearing knickers, although we are not sure. Knickers had really disapperared in America by the early 1950s, but we see a few boys wearing them when dressing up.

Unidentified School (1953)

We do not know where this First Communion event was held other than in a church. We suspect somewhere in the northeast. The church looks fairly modern. We do know that ws held in May 1953. As a nun was present, we assume the church had a school attached. The nun was probably the boys' teachers. We only see the boys, but the girls may be behind the boys. The school had very strict rules about First Communin outfits. All the boys had white suits, although it hard to make out much detail about the jackets. They all appear to be lpel jackets. One boy may have an Eton collar. Mothers could choose short or long pants and we see both ankle and knee socks for the boys wearing short pants. Almost all the boys wear white shoes, there were no sandals. One boy wearing long pants has saddle shoes. We also see a big brother waiting for the boys outside the church dressed in a suit.

Boston, Massachusetts (1960)

One HBC contributor reports that an Italian friend took his First Communion about 1960 at a Catholic school in a northern suburb of Boston. (We suspect he may be a few years off on the date.) His parents were first generation Italians. He wore a white short pants suit with a floppy bow. The jacket was an Eton style without a lapel. He wore it with white tights. He wore white, patent leather strap shoes with bows on them. He was about 7 or 8 years old. The other boys wore similar suits, all white. He and the other boys didn't care for their suits at all--though now he laughs about it! He wore in on a few formal occassions (weddings etc. that year), but didn't care at all for the idea, he did wear it 2 or 3 times more.) Our HBC contributor also reports, "I also remember he mentioned that some mothers were worse than his and some boys wearing these white Eton style suits had lace or ruffled blouses on with stockings. He thought tights were less bad than stockings. He also stated that some of the hats were very sissy and some of the ties were pastel colors."

St. Joseph Hill Accademy, Staten Island, New York (1959)

We see a range of First Communion celebrations in the post-War era. Some were more formal than others. This is a formal First Communion at St. Joseph Hill Academy in Staten Island, New York. It was a girls' school, but appreently they took boys in the early elementary years. This was a very formal First Communion celebration. The boys all wear short pants suits with white knee socks and shoes. We are guessing that the jackets were the same, but we can not tell from the image here. The girls also wear similar, perhaps even identical junior wedding dresses. Note the hems wee about the same length. The girls seem to be all wearing white ankle socks, but it is a little difficult to tell. The parents wee obviously given very strict insdytructions on how to dress the children. All these outfits woukd have been especially purchased for this event. Obviously the junior wedding dresses were. A few boys may have had white short pants suits, but we doubt if very many did.

Unidentified Location (1961)

Here we see a First Communion in 1961, although the location is unidentified. We are not sure who the children are. Perhps they are brothers and sisters, but usually the ages do not work out right for this. Perhaps only the girl is doing her First Communion, but their hands folded gesture suggests that they both are doing First Communions. Perhaps they are friends or cousins. The way people are dressed. it must have been a cold day. The girl wears the traditional junior bridal outfit. The boy wears his school uniform, but we can not tell what school.

Natrona, Pennstlvania (1962 or 63)

A HBC reader sent us the photograph shown here taken a day after his First Communnuin in 1962-63 with the priest in front of the church. The boys wear dark, mostly navy blue, long pants suit with a yellow carnation in therir lapels. They all are wearing their white shirts unbuttoned at the collar, but for their First Communion they all wore ties. The firls all wear long white dresses, except for one girl who seems to be wearing a light-colored dress. Most of the firls wear veils, but the girls in fromt appear to be wearing some kind of crown. Notice the one girl wearing saddle shoes instead of the more formal Mary Jane strap shoes. One HBC reader comments on the fact that the boys are not wearing thir ties, "The universal lack of a tie by the boys is amazing to me, even though it is after the actual ceremony. In 1962-1966 when my friends had their First Communions or even enter a Catholic Church ever boy always wore a tie. The town was middle class maybe even lower middle class. Some males wore bow ties but every male had a tie on. I wonder whether the lack of tie was regional, ethnic or a class distinction?"









HBC







Navigate the Historic Boys' First Communion pages:
[Return to the Main American Post-war First Communion page]
[Return to the Main First Communion page]
[Return to the Main Confirmation page]
[American] [Belgian] {French] [Italian]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web chronological pages:
[The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Sailor hats] [Short pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Blazers] [Jackets] [Kilts]
[Sailor suits] [Ring bearer/page costumes] [Shortalls] [Long stockings]




Created: 5:07 PM 10/18/2011
Last edited: 9:08 PM 4/21/2023