Figure 1.--This photograph is interesting because of the variety of the clothes shown. This family snapshot is undated, but based on the clothing was probably taken in the late 1920s. the porch they are sitting on was an important part of American homes before World War II..

Here we see the four children of a middle class family. They are sitting on the front porch of their home. The photograph unfortunately is undated. We might have guessed it was taken in the 1930s, but the fact the older boy is wearing aabove the knee knickers leads us to believe the photigraph is from the 1920s. We do have the names and ages of most of the children. We would guess that they are from a city or town somewhere in California based on the house style.

The Children

Here we see the four children of a middle class family. They are sitting on the front porch of their home. The children are: Calvin age 2, John age 4, and Catherine age 7. The older boy is unidentified but looks to be about 10 years old.

Chronology

The photograph unfortunately is undated. We mught have guessed it was taken in the 1930s, but the fact the older boy is wearing aabove the knee knickers leads us to believe the photigraph is from the late 1920s. We might have guess the 1930s, but all of the other images we have noted of boys wearing above the knee knickers with kneesocks come from the 1920s. A reader writes, "I think you are right about the dating--perhaps mid-1920s. Calvin's long stockings seem to be beige, a color that was becoming fashionable for boys in the 1920s. The black slong stockings that John is wearing were still worn but less popular, which leads me to think that the date range is probably 1922-25."

Location

We do not know where the photograph was taken. We would guess that they are from a city or town, perhaps in California based on the cement porch. The front porch was an important part of homes built before World war II. Home in small towns and city suburbs commonly had these porches.

Clothing

This photograph is interesting because of the variety of the clothes shown. Many parents dressed children in similar or identical outfits. Here each child is distintcly dressed. They are all dressed up, perhaps photographed after Sunday school.

Calvin

Calvin who is 2 years old wwers a blouse with a large, colored collar with suspender shorts. He wears light-colored long stockings which seem to show kneesocks underneath. A reader writes, "Note that you can see the white hose supporters under Calvin's short pants. The younger boys are almost certainly wearing underwaists of the type shown under the 1929 catalogs section or perhaps the type of Ward's garter waist shown under 1926 (catalog section). It might be worth making these links." Another reader writes, "I doubt that Calvin is wearing knee socks under his stockings. Wearing two kinds of stockings would be impractical and unnecesary and too bulky--also too warm for California weather. I can see why you reached this conclusion, but I think this is just an optical illusion due to a peculiarity of the photography." Another reader writes, " The younger boy Calvin, his short trousers are very short also you can see his white stockings and the bottoms of the clasps holding the stockings. You can see the underclothes and it looks a lot like the vintage nainsook suit I have added to the HBC vintage clothing archive."

John

John who is 4 years old wears a sailor suit. It looks to be a light-colored suit. The slleve rank device clearly identifies the boy as American. John wears long black stockings with his sailor suit. A reader writes, "The boy in the sailor suit, John, appears to be wearing a sailor suit with short trousers and knit underwear because the long black stockings appear to go over the underwear which is visible from the shorts. Such knit waist suits were offered in the 1923 Ward's catalog. I think this might help. Especially in the dating because the type of underwear was prevalent in the 1920s. It also appears that John's shorts are longer than Calvin's though that could be related to recently purchased and they are sized large vs.. Calvin's being a hand me down or some stylistic difference. It is hard to tell. Also, John's middy top sailor suit has a shield which is totally white without any stripes. He also appears to have a sling shot (though it is hard to tell) in his left trouser pocket. So he definitely has pockets."

Catherine

Catherine who is 7 years old wears a sweater over a dress. She wears kneesocks with paerened tops.

Older boy

We do not know the name of the older boy, but he looks to be about 10 years old. We at first thought he was wearing a short pants suit, but on closer examination he is wearing above-the-knee knickers with kneesocks. He has a wide tie. Notice the boy has a pin on his lapel. We wonder wht it was for. The oldest child wears his knickers way above his knees. The knee socks for the oldest boy, along with the stockings from the two younger boys matches the hose in the 1923 Montgomery ward catalogue so this adds some more proof that it is probably the early 1920s."

Hair

The boys all have short hair. Curiously two have left parts and one a right part. We would have thought that a mother would have parted the children's hair on the same side. We find it curious that John's hair is parted differently.

Created: 5:07 AM 11/8/2004
Last updated: 2:47 PM 11/8/2004