Figure 1.--This boy who looks to be about 12-13 years old and poses with his little sister. She wears a smocked dress, large hair bow, light-colored long stockings, and strap shoes. Her big brother wears a knicker suit with black long stockings and lace-up high-top shoes. Note the informal open-collar shirt.. The portrait was by Harts in Springfield, Masschusetts. Also note the center hair part. The portrait is not dated, but we believe was taken in the 1910s, primarily because of the girl and her large hairbow.

Most of he imges HBC has arcghived are not dated. We this have to etimte the dates. We think hat we can usually identify the decades to a fair degree of accuracy. But of course readers should understabnd that unless indicated that the dating is estimates and thus our dating could be slightly off. There are a range of indicators ht areparticularly useful. The knickers in the 1910s weee generally worn at knee length. Some what older boys wire knickers than in he 20s. Abd we do not yet see mny boys wearing low-cut shoes. The imges are easier to date if there are girls in the portrait. This is because 1910s was he peak of popularity of hair bows. If there is a girlin the portrait with a large hair bow, the prtrasit was probably taken. Black long stockings were standard. This was also true of the 1920s, althiough by the late 20s we begin to see knee socksj, including brightly patterned ones.

Created: 4:10 AM 7/28/2026
Last updated: 4:10 AM 7/28/2026