Figure 1.--Here we see a primary class, probably about 1930. The portrait was undated, but we would guess it was taken in the late 1920s or early 30s. Most of the boys wear long stockings, but several wear socks. Click on the image to see the rest of the class. Image courtesy of Album1900. |
Here we see a primary class, probably about 1930. The portrait was undated, but we would guess it was taken in the late 1920s or early 30s. We note many of the boys are wearing sweaters rather than jackets which were more common in the early 1920s. Most of the boys wear long stockings, but several wear socks. worn. The lock stockings worn look to be various shades of brown. Black stockings were not common, except for formal occassions.
We do not know just when this photograph was taken. The fact that the children all wear sweaters or jackets suggest to us that it was not the really warm out. It also does not look like the peak of winter. The seasonality we believe affected the hosiery as more boys wore long stockings in cold weather. Long stockings were especially common during the winter with short pants. They were not, however, just worn in cold weather. Notice in the image here that the boys do not wear heavy coats. We are not sure just when the photigraph was taken, but it wasclearly not the peak of winter.
Here in an image we would guess to have been taken about 1930. At first we guessed about 1925, but now think about 1930 is more likely.
A HBC reader thinks it may be a 1930s image. He writes, "The large number of zip-necked pullovers and absence of sailor suits makes me suspect that the photo comes from the 1930s and not 1920s." Yhese are good points. HBC would not disagree with the early 1930s, but probably not the mid 1930s. The chronology, however remains an open question. There are secveral factors which suggest to us that this photograph was taken about 1930 rather than later in the decade. First the boys wear rather long short pants. Shorter cut shorts were more common in the 30s. Second, another factor is the prevalence if long stockings even though it does not appear to be really cold wearher. Third, there is a boy wearing a sailor suit. Sailor suits were still worn in the late 1920s and early 30s, but were much less common than in the early 20s. A German reader also believes that this is a 1930s portrait. An American reader tends to agree with her because of the nature of the boys' shirts and sweaters. He writes, "Maybe early 1930s is the best guess."
The boys here look to be about 8-9 years old. I don't think it was a beginning class. This affected the prevalence of long stockings. After about age 10 many boys began asking to wear socks instead, altough some boys still wore long stockings uo to about age 12-13,
There are a variety of interesting aspects to the clothing the children are wearing. The most mostable is only a small number of children are wearing suit jackets. None of the jackets that are worn are the old fashioned button to the collar style. One boy wears a very fashionable multi-button jacket. Another boys wears what looks like a rather military style dark jacket with brass buttons. The predominant style is a kind of sweater shirt, many with zip front closures. HBC thinks that the reader above has a good point about the zip-front sweaters. That is an innovation that probably can be dated, but our German catalog section is not yet complete enough to allow us to do that. The boys all seem to be wearing short pants, but they are uniformly long-cut shorts. The boys wear both long stockings and kneesocks. Here seasonality is a factor as well as the age of the boys.
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