Figure 1.--This early tin-type portrait probably taken in the late-1850s shows two unidentified American brothers. Notice only the older brother wears a suit. His little brither wears a blouse like top rather than a suit jacket. We see this convention for younger boys in tne early photographic record (1840s-50s). The boys look to be about 4-9 years old. t

We note that yonger boys did not commonly wear suits in the 1850s. Some were not yet beeched and wore dresses or skirts, but this does not seem as common as in subsequent decades. We can not yet explain this. We thought tht boys wearing skirted garments was more common in the early-19th century, but the early photographic record does not bear this out (1840s-50s). It may be tht the increasing econonomic success of the United States and growing affluence was a factor in more boys wearing skirted garments in subsequent decades. This is a topic that we need to pursue. What we see in the 1850s is that most of the younger boys not wearing suitss wear various tops that look like shirts or blouses commonly done in bold plaids and other patterns. Many of these tops were worn like tunics with belts over them. With these tops we mostly see long non-descript long pants. The great bulk of the images we have archived of younger boys show conventiom. It should be rembered that early photographs (Dags, Ambros, and tin-types) while a fraction of the cost of a painted portrait, were still fairly expensive. Thus there is a socio-economic bias to early photography. This declines as photographs become less expnsive with the albumen prints (CDVs and cabinet cards). Thus the early photographs (1840s and 50s) picture the most affluent. What is rather surprising is that so many of the images show subjects (children and adults) that do not seem very eleantly dressed. The children on the previous page are more elegantly dressed than many early portaits we have noted.

Created: 1:52 AM 10/20/2017
Last updated: 1:52 AM 10/20/2017