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These peaked military caps for boys were first and foremost school caps--Schülermütze. Many schools, we think mostly secondary schools, had caps with specific styles and band colors to identify the school. We note relatively few portaits with these caps where the boy is not dressed for school. Not all of these caps were school caps styled for wear at specific schools. German schools did not have unforms, but they did have uniform caps. Other caps were done in a generalized school style and band colors may have been done more to match the suit. The generalized caps were worn mostly by primary school children, but not styles set by their school. While primarily a school cap, we notice some caps styled a little differently that may not be school caps, although this is not always easy to tell from the available photographic record. One reader thinks that they may been worn by messenger boys.
This was especially common for boys schoolwear. A far as we can tell, this style of cap was used primarily for school. We note relatively few portaits with these caps where the boy is not dressed for school. We have noted quite a few impages of German boys wearing these caps for school. These caps were called "Schülermütze". This translates as student (schüler) and cap (mütze). While in the 19th century, a school might have destinctive student cap styles, we believe that many of the boys we have noted were not weaing a cap adopted by a specific school. We could be wrong about this, but believe this is the case, especially for primary-age boys. Rather these caps were simply reminissent of school cap styles, a kind of generalized school cap. This was particularly true of primary school childeren. Secondary schools apper to have had specu=ial styles and color combinations. I am not sure that boys were required to wear these school caps. Some may have been worn more for special occassions.
While primarily a school cap, we notice some caps styled a little differently that may not be school caps, although this is not always easy to tell from the available photographic record. One reader thinks that they may been worn by messenger boys. Fir some reason, however, we do not see nearly as many German messenger boys as we see in the American photographic record. We don't think this was very common because we don't see many examples in the photographic record.
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