Figure 1.-- This unidentified Kansas boy wears a yellow rain coat with matchhuing cap in 1967. We see the same style of rainwear being worn throughout the 20th century, althogh we are not sure when it first appeared. The closures varied more than the design.

There are a variety of rainwear garments worn by American boys. We know that American children had rubberized raincoats which were mostly used to attend school by the early-20th century. They were almost universal at mid-century. There were differences in designs, especially the cap part. The classic style here seen we think in the 1930s was commonly worn. We continue to see it being worn in the 1970s (figure 1). Many children also had galoshes which were designed to protect leather shoes from the rain and puddles. They were roundly despised by most boys. (Boys tend to dislike anything that is complicated to put on or take off.) I never minded wearing rain coats, but I hated those galoshes. They were primarily rainwear, but were also worn when it snowed. Of course city mothers could have supplied umbrellas, but most American moms are savy enough not to put an umbrella in the hands of little boys who saw it as a great sword-like weapon. We thought rainwear was almost always black until the late-1950s when colors began to appear. The first alternative color was yellow. It now appears that yellow appeared earlier than we had thought. One type of rainwear was oilskins, although they were not one of the more common styles for children.

Created: 12:07 AM 11/17/2013
Last updated: 12:08 AM 11/17/2013