Figure 1.-- We have a portrait of a 2nd year class (2° año nacional). We are not sure why the word national is added to the year designation. They attended a secondary school, the Instituto Libre de Segundo Eneñanza. This seems more like a description of the school than the name. Perhps it was the only secondary school in a small town. They look to be about 13-14 years old. We do not know where in Argentina the school was located. The boys have all signed the back of the portrait. This might suggst that it was a publc school. Here we are not sure. The portrait was taken in 1929. It wold seem to be a private school because all of the boys are smartly dressed in suits and ties. But even pubic schools might have strict dress codes in the 1920s.

We have a portrait of a 2nd year class (2° año nacional). We are not sure why the word national is added to the year designation. They attended a secondary school, the Instituto Libre de Segundo Eneñanza--The Free Institure of Secondary Education. This seems more like a description of the school than the name. Perhps it was the only secondary school in a small town. They look to be about 13-14 years old. We do not know where in Argentina the school was located. The boys have all signed the back of the portrait. This might suggst that it was a publc school. Here we are not sure, but the word libre does suggest a public school. The portrait was taken in 1929. It might seem to be a private school because all the boys are so smartly dressed in suits and ties. But even public schools might have strict dress codes in the 1920s. The school did not have a uniform, but clearly a dress code. The boys had to wear suits to school. There are all kinds of different styles and colors. We see both single- and double-breasted jackets. Note the wide lapels, especially on the double-breasrted suits. Most of the boys are wearing neck ties . We see a few boys wear bowties and one boy seems to be weaing an ascot. The the boys are wearing short pants suits, suggesting that this was a school requirement. There are no knickers or long pants at least with the boys in front. But they are all in the same grade. That would suggest that they are the same sge, but the boys at back dolook a litte older. We do see one boy wearing long pants who we did not notice ar first because of the lightimg. Rarely is there such uniformity unless the school requires or incourages it. The boys wear either knee socks or long stockings, in this case black long stockings.

Created: 1:02 PM 7/7/2014
Last updated: 1:02 PM 7/7/2014