Figure 1.--This Daguerreotype of two siblings about 4-7 years old is undated, but we believe was taken in the 1840s. The girl look to be wearing a dress wih a pinafore sewed on it. I thought the boy was wearing a blouse, but it seems to long to be a blouse. It bmay actually be a dress. It is a little difficult to tell. The 1840s was before the advent of redy-made clothing, thus we still see a huge diversiy in garments.

Thanks to the appearance of photography, almost entirely Dags in the 1840s, we know much more about garments children wore in the 1840s than any other previous decade. There are not as many images as will be seen in upcoming decades, but far more than in the decades where we have to rely on painted images. We see a range of head wear, including straw hats, rounded-crown hats, and military-styled peaked caps. Younger American boys by the 1840s wore dresses. A good example is Thomas Hardwick about 1840. Note his tasseled Tam O'Shanter. School age boys were no longer wearing skeleton suits and tunics were becoming less common. The ruffled collars still seen as late as the 1830s were being replaced by plainer white collars which still could be quite large. We note quite a number of boys wearing tunics, mostly pre-school boys, but some older boys as well. The long trousers inspired by the skeleton suit were now commonly worn by boys after breaching. Knee pants were not widely worn even by quite young boys, but were not yet very common. We see a lot of boys wearing shirts with long trousers held up by suspenders or button-on arrangements. America was still quite rural and inexpensive ready-made clothes not available. Boys in the city dressed much smarter with jackets. They were more likely to wear shoes. Photography was invented in France (1839), This we have the first photographic images are available during the 1840s. These images are almost entirely limited to the studio. Genre and historical paintings provide us images outside the studio. We see moving West across the Great Plains.

Imagery

Thanks to the appearance of photography, almost entirely Dags in the 1840s, we know much more about garments children wore in the 1840s than any other previous decade. There are not as many images as will be seen in upcoming decades, but far more than in the decades here we have to rely on painted images. This is a bit tricky because few early photographic portraits are dated. They are all Dags, but distinguishing between 1840s and 50s Dags is difficult.

Gender

Boys and girls were dressed very differently in the 1840s. The only exception was younger boys who were dressed like their sisters. Girls mostly wore dresses, commonly with long white pantalettes. There was not a lot of diversity--the dress was the standard garment. But of course there was great diversity in stress styles. Women wore long dresses. Girls wore dresses with shorter hems, the younger the girl, the shorter the hem could be. There was a reluctance to actually exposed legs, even for children. Thus panatalettes were a very important clothing item for girls and younger boys. Some pantalettes were fancy with lace and frills. Others were very plain. We don't see girls wearing blouses and skirts, at least for the 1840s portatits we have found so far. Many pre-school boys wore dresses like their sisters. Breaching usually occurred by about 4 years of age, but some5yearr olds were still not breached. Older boys wore pants. Some of the pants were white, looking rather like pantalettes/drawers. We also see younger school-age boys wearing tunics. Skeleton suits had largely disappeared, but we still see high-waisted styles. Jackets included cut-away and collar-buttoning styles.

Garments

We see a range of head wear, including straw hats, rounded-crown hats, and military-styled peaked caps. Younger American boys by the 1840s wore dresses. A good example is Thomas Hardwick about 1840. Note his tasseled Tam O'Shanter. School age boys were no longer wearing skeleton suits and tunics were becoming less common. The ruffled collars still seen as late as the 1830s were being replaced by plainer white collars which still could be quite large. We note quite a number of boys wearing tunics, mostly pre-school boys, but some older boys as well. The long trousers inspired by the skeleton suit were now commonly worn by boys after breaching. Knee pants were not widely worn even by quite young boys, but were not yet very common. We see a lot of boys wearing shirts with long trousers held up by suspenders or button-on arrangements. America was still quite rural and inexpensive ready-made clothes not available. Boys in the city dressed much smarter with jackets. They were more likely to wear shoes. Photography was invented in France (1839), This we have the first photographic images are available during the 1840s. These images are almost entirely limited to the studio. Genre and historical paintings provide us images outside the studio. We see moving West across the Great Plains.

Families

We also have infiration on garments in our 1840s Aerican family page. This included both paintings and and photographs. Becase of phoography we have more family images than ever before. The 1840s photograpohic record is commony individuals or pairs, perhaps more with small hildren. There e very few 1840s photographic portraits of large fmilies. Family photographic portarits tended to increase as photograhic technoogy increases after the 1840s. Painted famiy portraits are helpful, but after the 1840s tend to decline in number as clients increasigy turn to photography because of the much lower cost and better liknesses, especially in the case of naive artists. The work of trained artists was for the most part beyoind the price range of most people.

Schools

Photography began with the development of the Daguerreotype in France (1839). Within months, studios began opening in America. America from an early point would develop the largest photiographic industry in the world (1840s). The Daguerreotype was the only photographic process of anyb imprtance throughout the 1840s. We do not see school portraits ar first because photograohy was so new. But also the early photographic processes like the Daguerreotype only created on image. So images coukld not be sold to parents. So at first we only have images of children, mostly noys, in theitr school clothing. At the time, while American primary schools were coeducastional, few girls continued their education beyond the primary years. American children wore their regular clothes to school. Oliver Twist caps were popular for boys, a military style appearing during the Napoleonic War. Tunics were worn earlier. We are not sure about the 1840s.

Created: 3:52 AM 7/21/2024
Last updated: 12:24 AM 4/19/2025