U.S. School Clothes: St. Anthony--First Communion, 1917


Figure 1.--We believe that these boys are doing their First Communion and Confirtmation at St. Anthony in 1917. Unfortunately we do not know where in America the school/church was located. Click on the image to see the rest of the group.

One photograph was taken in the Spring when the younger boys were doing their First Communion. The older boys may be doing their Confirmation. The younger boys in the front row are clearly doing their first communion. They wear a variety of fancy white blouses witha variety of collars. One boy wears a crisp Eton collar. They wear various types of bows. The whiteness of these outfits makes it difficult to make out the details. They are holding flowers. They also wear white kneepants and white long stockings for the event. The older boys look to us like they are doing their Confirmation. They wear dark suits, most with white ties. We suspect that many are knerepants or knicker suits, but some of the boys may be wearing long pants as well. The older boys have buttonaires instead of flower bouquets like the younger boys. One boy definitely looks to be wearing kneepants and black long stockings. The photograph is a good example of American dress boys wear in 1917. Also notice the hair styles.

First Communion

One photograph was taken in the Spring when the younger boys were doing their First Communion. They were probably in the 2ndcgrade and about 7 years old. The younger boys in the front row are clearly doing their first communion. They wear a variety of fancy white blouses with a variety of collars. One boy wears a crisp Eton collar. They wear various types of bows. Clearly the mums were instructed to dress the boys ijn white blouses, kneepants and long stockings, but were allowed to imptovise a bit with the collar and bows. The whiteness of these outfits makes it difficult to make out the details. They are holding flowers. They also wear white kneepants and white long stockings for the event. Unlike the older boys' suits, these are probably not outfits that these boys wore on many other occassions. Note the hair dos and how different some of them were to the older boys. Some boys had various kinds of longer hair cuts before they began school. This phitograph suggests that some boys still had longish cuts in their first year or two of primary school. Most of these boys have their hair done in bangs, but not all have their bangs cut straight across the forehead. The boy at right has his hair styled rather wrong for a schoolboy, even a younger boy.

Confirmation

The older boys look to us like they are doing their Confirmation. These boys would be about 12-13 years of age and just finishing primary school. (One HBC reader believes that some of the boys look older, perhaps 14 or even 15 years old.) Many of these boys undoubtedly received new suits for the occassion which would be worn for best after the Coinfuirmation ceremony. They wear dark suits, most with white ties. We suspect that many are wearing knerepants or knicker suits, but some of the boys may be wearing long pants as well. We think that relatively few of the boys have long pants suits, but it is not possible to tell for sure. The older boys have buttonaires instead of flower bouquets like the younger boys. One boy definitely looks to be wearing kneepants and black long stockings. The photograph is a good example of American dress boys wear in 1917. Also notice the hair styles. Some of these boys would go on to junior high school, but in 1917 many boys ended their formal educatioin at the end of primary school. A French Canadian reader writes, "Because there was great similarities between Irish Catholics (the boys here look like Irish Catholics) and French Canadians Catholics, I believe bigger kids are doing their Solemn Communion. Confirmation was done in the first grade, a month after the first communion."







HBC





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Created: January 25, 2004
Last updated: January 27, 2004