United States Boys' Clothes: Sources


Figure 1.--

HBC is compiling lists of sources that we have consulted or hope to consult in the process of compiling our assessment of American boys' clothing. Some of these sources are specifically about fashion and clothing. Others deal with childhood in general, but may include information about clothing as well.

Children

These works deal with children in general.

Bremner, Robert. Ed. Children and Youth in America, 2 vols. (1971)

Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor (1994)

Griswold, Robert. Fatherhood in America (1993)

Jenkins, Henry. ed., The Children's Culture Reader.

Kaplan, Judy and Linn Shapiro, eds., Red Diapers: Growing Up in the Communist Left.

Kett, Joseph. Rites of Passage: Adolescence in America, 1790 to the Present (1977).

Nasaw, David. Children of the City: At Work and at Play (1985)

Palladino, Grace. Teenagers: An American History

Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives (1892)-- an excerpt from one of his chapters on children.

Riis, Jacob. Children of the Poor (1892)

Rollin, Lucy. Twentieth-Century Teen Culture By the Decades.

West, Elliot. West, Growing Up in Twentieth Century America: A History and Reference Guide. An expensive book, but it is a good place to start looking for other sources. Since there has been no formal "history of children and youth" subfield until very recently, many of pertinent works are titled "Growing Up...." or are categorized under family history.

Willard, Mike and Joe Austin. eds. Generations of Youth: Youth Culture and History in Twentieth Century America.

Boys

These works deal specifically with boys.

Girls

These works deal specifically with girls.

Breines, Wini. Youth, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties.

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls: uses diaries to trace changes in girls' attitudes toward their bodies from approximately the 19th century to the present.

Colman, Penny. Girls! A History of Growing Up Female in America by Penny Colman. TYhis book has excellent original research, wonderful prose, and many photographs culled from archives around the country.

Douglas, Susan, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media: Especially the section on 1960s "girl groups".

Inness, Sherrie. ed., Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth Century American Girl's Culture: There are several great articles.

Scholastic Books. Dear America (New York City): The books cost $10.95 each ($6.99 at Costco). There are approximately a dozen books. Each book is in a diary like format and each spans approximately one year of each girl's life. The ages of the girls in the story range between 11 and 14 and the girls came from all walks of life. And the stories are about an immigrant, a slave, a light house keeper's daughter, Native American, Irish, Jewish, etc... as well as special events - the Civil war, the meeting of the transcontinental railroad, Triangle shirtwaist factory, the Titanic and many more. Kids loved the books. In the back of each book is a brief historical synopsis of the the history each story covered - photos, songs, recipes, maps, timelines of actual events talk about in each story and what happen to the heroines in the story when she grew up (who she married -if she did, her children, etc...).





Christopher Wagner





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. country page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Bibliographies] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Contributions] [Countries] [Essays]
[ Boys' Clothing Home]



Created: May 25, 2001
Last updated: August 14, 2001