Figure 1.-- This class portrait is undated. A reader writes, "I would judge that it comes from about 1928-30, partly because the short trousers are still cut rather long and also because the long stockings are entirely black. We might expect beige or tan stockings in later years. Most of the boys wear open collars with sweaters rather than the more formal suits, shirts, and neckties that were common in the earlier 1920s." A few of the boys wear sailor suits. Notice that one boy wears knee socks and has bare knees whereas all the others apparently wear black long stockings. Some of the boys wear cardigan sweaters> instead of suit jackets. One boy on the right seems to wear a modified Norfolk-stye suit jacket. We have a bit of a different take on this school. Our basic difference with our reader is that the more casual clothing is not a chronological matter, but the fact that these are working-class children We would guess that this portrait was taken about 1920, even in the late-1910s.

A HBC contributor has passed along this German class portrait. While it is easy to comment on the clothes the boy are wearing, our assessment is complicated by the fact that the school and class is not identified and the portrait is not dated. For this reason we have placed the image in our age section as age is the easiest element to estimate. We might be off by ayear, but it is unlikely that we will be much further off. We will attempt to assess other elements of this portrait, but would welcome reader input on this. Feel free to offer any insights which may occur to you.

School Type

We are not sure about the type of school here. We do not think it was a secondary school. We think it might be a primary schooland these are the working-class boys that are not going on to secondary schools. This is, however, a little unclear to us.

Age

HBC might guess that the boys are mosty 11 years old. A reader guess they are 12 years old. Of course if the portrait was taken in the middle of the school year, there would be a mix of 11- and 12-year olds.

Chronology

This class portrait is undated. A reader writes, "I would judge that it comes from about 1928-30, partly because the short trousers are still cut rather long and also because the long stockings are entirely black. We might expect beige or tan stockings in later years. Most of the boys wear open collars with sweaters rather than the more formal suits, shirts, and neckties that were common in the earlier 1920s." We have a bit of a different take on this school. Our basic difference with our reader is that the more casual clothing is not a chronological matter, but the fact that these are working-class children HBC would guess that this portrait was taken about 1920 or at least the early-20s, perhaps even in the late-1910s. A German reader who collects old photographs tells us, "Not an easy one. I browsed through my not small collection of dated images. I see the first tan long stockings in the mid 20s but not many. By the end-20s there are already many more tan stockings but still of course black ones as well. My impression is there are more tan long stockings with girls. This might be wrong. I see already a in 1920 picture a front buttoned cardigan. In the class picture are some Schiller collars that do look too old fashioned for 1930 to me. The do look somewhat stiff. My guess is that this picture was taken somewhere between 1922-1926. Only a guess."

Clothing

A few of the boys still wear sailor suits. We see a mix of cardigan sweatrs and suit jackets. The sailor suits and suits do not look as well pressed as we see in some of the secondary school portraits. Notice that one boy wears knee socks and has bare knees whereas all the others apparently wear black long stockings. Some of the boys wear cardigan sweaters> instead of suit jackets. One boy on the right seems to wear a modified Norfolk-stye suit jacket.

Social Class

A reader writes, "Your point about class differences accounting for the different styles the boys are wearing is very interesting. This point hadn't really sunk in as it should have in my previous assessments."

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Created: 8:24 PM 2/26/2009
Last updated: 5:30 PM 2/28/2009