Figure 3.--This 1919 photograph shows Canadian children in a general store, the kind of store wher people brought most dry goods at the time. Self service store were not common. You asked for the items you wanted. The boy wears a jacket with some Norfolk stylng with above the knee knickers and long stockings.

After the turn of the century we notice boys fashions in Canada that seem rather like America. Younger boys wear fancy blouses. Sailor suits are still very common.Boys commonly wear suits. Norfolk suits area popular style. We note knickers began to replace kneepants. We have very few inages from the early 20th century at this time, but many of the boys we have note appear appear to be wearing kneepanrs or knickers with long stockings. By World War I (1914-18) we increasingly see boys wearing knickers rather than knee pants. Many of the knickers are above the knee styles. We notice boys wearing flat caps. Canadian catalogs provide useful information on available clothing styles in the 1900s. We have some interesting images from the period showing children in stores such as grocery stores and drug stores.

Demographics

We are not sure yet to what extent Candian children dressed differently in rural and urban areas. It is difficult to tell in the 19th century because photograohy was mostly studio portraits. Thus we do not know if the subjects libed in the country or city. This changed at the turn of the century when thanks to Kodak and other compnies, the amateur snapshot became a major pheomenon. In the neighboring United States overalls suddenly appeared about 1908 and then unto the 40s there were majoe differences between how boys in the city and country dressed. Overalls appeared much earlier, but for some reason do not appear in the photograohic record until the 1900s. We do not have a lot of early-20th century snap shots yet so we are just beginning to assess demographic trends. We see some children in the countryside dressed similarly to city childrren.

Garments

After the turn of the century we notice boys fashions in Canada that seem rather like America. Younger boys wear fancy blouses. Sailor suits are still very common.Boys commonly wear suits. Norfolk suits area popular style. We note knickers began to replace kneepants. We have very few inages from the early 20th century at this time, but many of the boys we have note appear appear to be wearing kneepanrs or knickers with long stockings. By World War I (1914-18) we increasingly see boys wearing knickers rather than kneepants. Many of the knickers are above the knee styles. We notice boys wearing flat caps. Canadian catalogs provide useful information on available clothing styles in the 1900s.

Stores

We have some interesting images from the period showing children in stores such as grocery stores and drug stores. They provide wonder glimses into life styles in the early 20th century. Here these two children are shopping during the winter, notice the heavy clothes. Also notice that most goods were behind the counter, There was no self service at the time. We have another image from an ice cream parlour in New Brunswick. There were of course few places that boys would like to go to more than an ice cream parlour.

Created: July 24, 2003
Last updated: 8:16 AM 2/4/2018