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Camp Marienfeld was one of the first boy's camps in America. The camp was founded in 1899. It was located on the heights above Silver Lake near in Harrisville, New Hampshire. The Camp was organized into three age-based divisions: Senior, Junior, and Midget. The youngest boys were the Midgets. The boys were age 8/9 through 12 years old. The Midgets were divided into six groups consisting of six-eigh\ts boys each. Each group was supervised by two masters. (Masters was a term commonly used for teaches in private schools--addopted from Britain.) The next group was the Juniors who were 13-15 yeats old. The were divided into groups of seven boys supervised by master. The oldest boys were the Seniors, boys 15-16 years old a a few 17-year olds. They were also divided into groups of seven boys supervised by a master. The three division had about equal numbers of boys--about 40 boys and 10-12 masters. The masters of the different groups in each division developed their own unique program and daily routine based on the age group the age group involved. They also has separate dining rooms. Sports were an important part of the program as was swimming and boating in the lake. The Camp was meant only for "gentlemanly well-bred boys". The camp was closed in the 1950s.
Camp Marienfeld was one of the first boy's camps in America. The camp was founded in 1899.
It was located on the heights above Silver Lake near in Harrisville, New Hampshire.
The Camp was organized into three age-based divisions: Senior, Junior, and Midget. The youngest boys were the Midgets. The boys were age 8/9 through 12 years old. The Midgets were divided into six groups consisting of six-eigh\ts boys each. Each group was supervised by two masters. (Masters was a term commonly used for teaches in private schools--addopted from Britain.) The next group was the Juniors who were 13-15 yeats old. The were divided into groups of seven boys supervised by master. The oldest boys were the Seniors, boys 15-16 years old a a few 17-year olds. They were also divided into groups of seven boys supervised by a master. The three division had about equal numbers of boys--about 40 boys and 10-12 masters.
The masters of the different groups in each division developed their own unique program and daily routine based on the age group the age group involved. They also has separate dining rooms. Sports were an important part of the program as was swimming and boating in the lake.
Marienfeld like many other private summer camps, had the ethos of British public schools. This was copied by impportant American private schools. The Camp was meant only for "gentlemanly well-bred boys".
Like private schools and many other private camps, there was a camp uniform. Here we see the Marienfeld boys in front of the main buoildfing in 1915. They are wearing the white camp uniform. The arm-less shirts (tank tops) were worn at many camps at the time. Note there is no large "M" or other logo on the shirts--a common convention at these camps. Also note the short pants. That was not very common in 1915. A HBC readder writes, "I notice that some of the boys appear to be wearing longer pants than other boys. Was the shorter pants reflective of children attending the camp for more than one season and the parents not thinking the child needed new shorts as clothes in those days were more likely to be worn out or was there something about this camp in particular?" Our reader raises some interesting points. We are not sure why some of the boys wear such short shorts. It was not common at the time, even for younger boys. Presumably the athletic all boy environment was a factor. As our reader suggests that some of the uniforms may have been older ones from previous yesars. Camps like this would often make their uniform available in leading department stores, much as these stores handeled school uniform items. We do not have specific details available on Marienfeld. There were no logos on the shirts so they may have just easy to obtain standard undershirts. We are less sure about the short pants.
The camp was closed in the 1950s.
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