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We do not yet have a complete chronology of cut-away jackets in the United States and building aprecise one will be difficult because so d\few are dated. We are unsure as to how widely worn they were in the 1850s. We do not find very many cut-away jackets in Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes we have collected from the 1840s and 50s. We have found some, especially Ambros. Dags were mostly undated, this it is difficult to destinguish the 1840s from the 50s Dags. Dags were still taken in the early-50s, but were rapidly ecliosed by Ambros at mid-decade. Most Anbro were also undated, undated, but Ambros were mostly made from about 1855 to 1863 by 1862 we aleady see many more CDVs than Ambros. Unfortuntely very few are actually dated. Thus ambros can often be see as showing 1850s styles although some were talen in the early-60s. The styling of the cut-away jacjets is quite diverse, Many are plsin, but we also note decoraion uncluding embroidery, piping, and buttons in addition to the shirts/blouses as well as the neckwear worn with them. One notable feature is wide sleeces. We do think all of the jackets had wide sleeves, but some did. We note one unidentified boy which we believe was taken in the late-1850s. Note the embroidery and boy's ring. We note two younger brothers in an Ambrotypre wearing ringlet curls and cut-away jackers who seem to have been photographed in the late-1850s, although the early-60s is possible. Another good example is John Van Horn in 1859. Another dag was identified as being from "Concert Hall, Daguerrian Gallery, Stamford, Conn." with blurb. signed GE Wright, Artist. Unfortunalely we have not yet been able to date the studio. We believe it was taken in the 1850s.
We do not yet have a complete chronology of cut-away jackets in the United States and building aprecise one will be difficult because so few are dated. Thus we are unsure as to how widely worn they were in the 1850s. We welcome reader comments on our estimated dating.
The photographic format helps to date the available images.
Most of our information on cut-away jackets cone from CDVs, but they do not pprr until the We do not find very many cut-away jackets in Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes we have collected from the 1840s and 50s. We have found some, especially Ambros. Dags were mostly undated, this it is difficult to destinguish the 1840s from the 50s Dags. Dags were still taken in the early-50s, but were rapidly eclipsed by Ambros at mid-decade. Most Anbro were also undated, undated, but Ambros were mostly made from about 1855 to 1863 by 1862 we aleady see many more CDVs than Ambros. Unfortuntely very few are actually dated. Thus Ambros can often be see as showing 1850s styles although some were taken in the early-60s.
We have primarily noted primary school age boys wearing these jackets, about 6-10 years of age in the 1850s. Some of the younger boys may have just been breeched. We have found a few younger boys. This is just preliminry assessmnt as our archive is still limited for the 1850s. This means we do not yet have a valid sampling. so we are still working on our age assessment. Before the 1860s the photograohic indutry was growing beyond that in Europe, but we only see huge numbers of images in the 1860s with the CDV and cabinet cards. Another problem here is so few images before the CDV in the 1860s are dated. Ambrotypes are basically from the mid-1850s through the early-60s. Dags could have been talenen from the 1840s through the early-60s and thus are difficult to date.
Cut-away jackets seems to have been an upper-/middle-class style. Most of the images we have found show boys that look like they are from fashionable, afflunt families. These of course are the children most likely to be photographed. Photography was not cheap. It was a lot cheaperr than a painted portrait, but still not cheap. Anfris were a little cheaper than Dags, but the price did not really began to come down until the CDV (1860s). Now the Industrial Revolution was just beginning tom impact America significantly (1850s). And Americans were moving into the growing cities and experiencing real success. America was still a very rural area, but a far wider share of the population was reaching a reasonable level of prosperity than any where in Europe. But we do not see how working-class boys were dressed because they were not having their portraits taken. We can only guess about the social background about the boys in the images, but our impression is that most of the boys we see in these cut-away jackets are nboy being raised in comfortable conditiins.
There are several elements in the construction of the cut away jacket. The most important are the collar, sleeves, degree of the cut opening the front, and the connection joining the two sides. As our archive is still fairly limited, we have only begun to collect information on these elements. And this proces is complicated by the fact that we are unabke to destinguish 1840s and 50s Dags. As best we can tell these early sut-awy jackets did not have collars. Shirt collars and bows make itg difficult to tell for sure, but this seems to be the case. We note severl images showing these jackets with very wide sleeves. We do not think that all these jackets had these wide sleeves, but mny fid an the style is notably less popular by the 1860s. The other major element with these jackets is the degree to which the two sides of the jacket are cut away fom the adjoiing top point ti the bottom. These tend to be short jckets, but we do not yet have eoough images to make any asessment on length. Another interesting feature is the top connection. We note both connecting fabric pieces and chains. This is also difficult to asess because of collars and bows. The imafe here shows how the top elements were often covered up (figure 1).
The decoration of the cut-away jacjets is quite diverse, Many are plain, but we also note decoraton uncluding embroidery, piping, and buttons. The jacker hereis an exmole of a very plsin one (figure 1). Another good example is John Van Horn in 1859. Another dag was identified as being from "Concert Hall, Daguerrian Gallery, Stamford, Conn." with blurb. signed GE Wright, Artist. Unfortunalely we have not yet been able to date the studio. We believe it was taken in the 1850s.
The shirts/blouses as well as the neckwear worn with cut-away jackets is also diverse. It is difficult to destinguish shirts and blouses. Some may be shirt waists, We so not yet see blouses done with draw-string waists. Many seem to be whire shirts/blouses. We note at least one Ambrotype portrait of an unidentified boy wearing what may be a shirt waist with a detchabke Peter Pan collar (figure 1). The portrait was not dated, but it looks like the late-1850s to us. The term Peter Pan for these collars was not yet used. The collars seem larger than became popular in the 1860s. We note one unidentified boy which we believe was taken in the late-1850s with a wide ruffled collar and no neckwear. Notice the tassles. The jacket is beautifully embroidered. Note the boy's ring.
Color information is limited in the 19th century. It comes mostly from paintuings, but the nomber of these are limited. Thanks to photography, beginning in the 1840s we have steadily increasing numbers of images. Thus we know a great deal about fashion trends than any other time in history. The one thing all these images do not tell us is about color as they are all black and white images. The cut-away jackert for boys went out of style well before color photography appeared. While the photograohy untl well into the 20th century was black and white, a few were colorized, Niw of course the cikorizer does not have to do so accurateky. We belkieve, however, that studios generally tried to do so. And their custimers expected then to do this. Now they may not get the precise shades right, but we believe that the availalble images do correctly reflect actual color trends. And the Ambros that appeared in the 1850s, were easier to colorize than the Dags that appeared in thev 1840s.
Boys seem to be mostly wearing long pants with these cut-away jackets, despite the fact that they are worn by younger boys. This is a little difficult to confirm because somany of the availvbe images are torso portraits that do not show the pants vey well. This was standard for Dags and Ambros because of the slow speed of the emulsions, it was better to photograph subjects sitting down. The standard drapery covered table was often employed. Almost all of the trousers worn with cut-away jackets in the 1850s were long pants. The photogrphic record provides us countless examples. A good example is an unknown boy, we think in the late-50s. Note the jacket and pants do not match.
Many of the boys wear their hair down to the ears in the 1850s with these cut-away jackets. We note two younger brothers in an Ambrotypre wearing ringlet curls and cut-away jackers who seem to have been photographed in the late-1850s, although the early-60s is possible.
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