Figure 1.--

George Byers, who is a retired professor at Fairmont University in West Virginia, has published a memoir of his mother who grew up in Oblong, Illinois, during the Great Depression. Byers tells of his mother's memory of herself (Peggy) and her brother Tony as children of 10 and 12 years in 1923 when they wore long black stockings which were fastened by garters to a "pantywaist" (the term often used in the 1920s for a child's underwaist). The children hated having to wear long stockings and, unfastening their supporters, would roll the stockings down as soon as they got out of sight of their parents. This memory adds a bit to our knowledge of the "pantywaist" as a garment for boys and girls up to the age of 12 and also to the habit of surreptitiously rolling down long stockings when adults weren't noticing.

The Family

George Byers, who is a retired professor at Fairmont University in West Virginia, has published a memoir of his mother who grew up in Oblong, Illinois, during the Great Depression. Byers tells of his mother's memory of herself (Peggy) and her brother Tony as children.

Social Class

George Byers's mother's family were essentially rural (they owned a farm) and were certainly not affluent. My impression from the book is that they had quite a struggle during the 1920s and 1930s.

Long Stockings

I think dressing younger boys and girls in long black stockings (held up by garters attached to a pantywaist or underwaist) was just a normal, if quite conservative, custom of the time. Warmth may well have been a consideration, but I think such clothing was just thought appropriate. Long stockings and underwaists were widely advertised in the Sears and Wards catalogs that rural people used for shopping. And Peggy and Tony's parents seem to have simply dressed their son and daughter in the same way as other children from the same region. See, for instance, a photograph of a rural Indiana family from about the same period in which we see the youngest boy, who is sitting on his mother's lap, wearing very similar clothes--i.e. long black stockings with supporters which are almost certainly pinned onto a pantywaist (underwaist). Certainly black long stockings during the 1920s were not unusual. Note, for instance, two boys from a California family in the 1920s who wear long stockings with supporters (in one case black stockings), and warmth in California would not have been the chief consideration. Children varied as to their attitudes, although as they grew older many began objecting as Peggy and Tony did. They at the age of 10 and 12 years in 1923 were still wearing long black stockings which were fastened by garters to a "pantywaist" (the term often used in the 1920s for a child's underwaist). The children hated having to wear long stockings and, unfastening their supporters, would roll the stockings down as soon as they got out of sight of their parents. This memory adds a bit to our knowledge of the "pantywaist" as a garment for boys and girls up to the age of 12 and also to the habit of surreptitiously rolling down long stockings when adults weren't noticing. Here is the passage, "Up until Tony and I were 10 and 12, we wore long black stockings, and I mean long. They came up [high] and fastened to what you called a `pantywaist.' We were embarrassed by those stockings. We used to roll them down below our knees as soon as we got out of sight of the house where Dad could see us." [Byers, p. 15]

Dad

I was a little surprised to see dad mentioned here. I had rather assumed that it was usually mom who insisted on long stockings and that most dads left such matters up to mom. I think the reason "Dad" is mentioned as the feared enforcer of the children's dress code is that Peggy and Tony's mother tended to be somewhat less strict. Later, for instance, she relented and let the children wear knee socks instead of the long stockings which embarrassed them. Dad was less inclined to be indulgent with his children. I think it is likely that dad here was justvenforcing a rile that mom set. But I am only guessing here.

Sources

Byers, George Jr. Momoirs: The Family Stories of Peggy Kerr Byers (New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2006).

Created: 6:24 PM 9/22/2006
Last updated: 5:53 PM 9/23/2006