Figure 1.-- Here we see an informal domestic snap shot from the Spencer family in Pittsburgh. This one taken in 1898 shows Charles and Elizabeth in white dresses and Mark, the oldest boy, before he put his short on. You can see the underwaist that he is wearing over an union suit. The sleeveless underwaist apparently has waist buttons for his knee pants and garter tabs for the supporters that hold up his long black stockings.

The boys when very young wore dresses, the same style as their sisters. They appear to have been breeched about 3 years of age. The most notable observation about the boys' clothes is that the Spencers like to dress them in saior outfits. Even when young, the boys wore sailor dresses. We do not know if the guiding light here was Ethel or her husband, but it was usually the mother that decided on clothing or the children when little. Sailor suits were extremely popular at te time, but most boys had outfits other than sailor suits whuch they also wore. Ethel Spencer in her family memoir mentions that the children's clothes were a worrisome expense. Some of the clothes were handmade by Mary Spencer, the children's mother, and constantly being mended. Some of the children's clothes were hand-me-downs and had to be reworked or resized for the younger children. One photograph exists showing Charles and Mark as boys which the Hillman Archives identifies as the boys being fascinated by the family sewing machine. We believe, however, that the item in the photograph has been misidentified. The children wore long stockings in most of the available images. Here we see Mark wearing the underwaist that held up his long stockings.

Created: February 4, 2004
Last updated: February 6, 2004