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We have quite a few 1909 images to provide an excellent idea about popular clothing styles in 1909. Girls mostly wore dresses to school By the end of the decade we see sweaters and hairbows becoming popular. We see varied headwear in the 1900s decade, but by 1909 we increasingly see flat caps being sorn by school age boys. City boys wore suits to school. Neckwear varies, but the tie was becoming increasingly common. By the end of the decade we see sweaters. In rural areas, overalls began to appear in large numbers. Until 1908-09, American boys mostly wore knee pants suits. Amd we still see knee pants in 1909, mostly with younger boys and smaller towns. Knee pants or jnickers were stndard for boys, even yonger teens. By 1909 we begin to see more long pants, especilly in the secondary schools. This all depended on the family. Boys in the South still commomly ent bto school barefoot. Very quickly we see the transition to knickers. We do not know who are what was responsible for this change. We are surprised the transition occurred so rapidly. But by 1910, knickers were becoming standard throughout the country.
This is a facinating school portrait and we are not entirely sure how to interpret here. All we know for sure is that it was located in Souderton, Pennsylvania. We don't know if the school had a proper name, but Souderton was a small town, so it was probably known as the Souderton School. We thought at first it was a rural school, in part because of all the trees in the background and small group of children. Most of the children look very young, perhaps 1st and 2nd graders, but then we notice older children and perhaps the teacher in the background. The distribution of ages is unusual for an American elementary (primary) school. The age groups would have been more evenly distributed. And the building in the background has two stories--unusual for a rural school. Notice the prominent home-made flag pole. It was so high that supports were needed. We don't get to see the flag that was undoubtedly flying. Souderton is located in south eastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. Today it is esentially a Phildelphia suburb. This was not the case in the 1900s decade, but it was close, eventually acquiring a trolly line. We see several African-American children. One is affectionatly embracing two other students, rather rare in school images. At the time, African Americans were primarily a rural southern population, but driven by the brutality of Jim Crow, the Great Migration was beginning. The boys wear suits, although we don't see many ties. One boy wears a sailor suit. The girls wear dresses. All the children we can see wear black long stockings and high-top shoes. The portait is undated, but can be easily dated with a fair degree of accuracy. The portrait is a cabinet card and the color is a greyish green that becamne popular after the turn-of-the 20th century. And we see both knee pants and knickers. This was common for a short period, beginning about 1908. The portrait woukd have been taken then or possibly the early-1910s. Also notice the girls' hair bows. The 1910s were the peak year for hair bows.
This CYKO postcard-back school portrait shows what we think is the graduating 8th grade class at an American elementary (primary) school--Janus Lick. We do not know where it was located. The portrait was taken in 1909. The children would be 13-14 years old. At the time many elementary schools were grades 1-8. Most children at the time did not go on to high school (secondary school). These children all seemed smartly dressed. We suspect that many did continue their education. We are not positive it is a graduation class as their are no graduation scrolls. This is probably the class portrait of a graduating class, not their graduation portrait. The reason we think it is a graduating class is that the boys with headwear all have hats. Caps were more common at the time for school. The boys obviously dressed up and the children look the right age. There are about 50 children, a rather large class unless they were two classes. The girls wear a variety of dresses, a few with pinafores. Most of the girls have hair bows. The boys all wear suits. We note boys wearing knee pants, knickers, and long pants. We see many boys beginning to shift from knee pants to knickers in 1909. And we begin to see boys switching from knee pants/knickers to long pants about 14-15 years of age. All the boys wearing knee pants ahnd knickes wear long stockings. Anoter possibility is that itis a high school freshman class with would men the children are 14-15 years old. (9th grade). The reason we mention this is that we see 8th grade classes at the time where none of the boys are wearing long pants yet.
This cabinet card portrait shows the 6th grade class at the Gilbert Stuart Grammar School in Boston during 1909. The big city schools like Boston would show the most popular syles at the time. The 6th grade maramns children 11-12 years of age. It was a very large class, nearly 50 children. We wonder if it might be two classes. There are two, pperhaps three, adults at the back, although the man may be the principal. One of the children may be African American. The boys all wear suits, except for two boys wearing sweaters. We do not see swaters commomly in the 19th century, but by the late-1900s decade, the sweather appears to be a popular item. The girls seem to be wearing dresses, but we are not sure about the types. We note one sailor dress. Several girls also wear sweaters. Many of the girls wear coats and have hair bows, many positioned at the back of their heads. Several boys are holding their flat caps. We see mostly double-breasted jackets, but there are slso single breasted jackets. We think the boys are all wearing knickers, although this is difficult to tell becuse the way the front row boys are posed kneeling down. The only boy standing is defintely wearing knickers. The timr 1908-09 is when American boys shifted from knee pants to knickers. This occurred very rapidly given how ling tht knee pants were worn by American boys.
Most American towns of any size had high (secondary) schools by the early-20th century. Many were very small like this high school in Renfrew, Pennsylvania, we think about 1909, but the early-1910s is possible. The junior class, or 11th grade, had 11 members. They would be mostly 16 year olds. In the 1910s we see fewer boys this age wearung knee pants/knickers. Some of the boys look a little older. Renfrew was a town in westrn Pennsylvania, but has declined since World War II.
This cabinet card school portrait shows younger children at the Hamburg, Iowa elementary school. The studio was No photographer identification. Corners rounded and some tears. 9 x 7" with image at 5 1/2 x 4." Written on the back is "2nd Grade, Hamburg, Iowa. Mrs. Crowder--teacher. 8 years old. Doris Hurst Wattenbarger." On the image is an arrow drawn to a girl in the second to back row and marked Me. According to census records Doris Hurst was born in 1901 so this would probably be 1909 when the photo was taken. The boys wear knickers rathr thn knee pants showing how quickly knickers replace knee pants.It gets cold in Iowa as you can see. The children had their portrait taken outside because of the lighting. As a result the portrait gives us a good idea about winter clothing the children wore at the time. The boys wore caps with ear flaos. The girls wore all kinds of interesting winter hats. Three girls had muffs. The teacher holds a sign, 'King's Jewels'. We are not sure what that meant. Could it be a school play?
This school photo was taken somewhere in Mississippi during 1909, but we don't know exactly where in the state. All we have is the date and state. At the time, Mississippi did not have a compulsory school attendance law. This was the case in other Southern states. The South generally lagged behind the rest of the country in both compulsory attendance abd child labor laws. We see the children with their teacher in front of what would seem a small brick school. We only see white children because the schools were strictly segregated. The children look to be about 6-11 years old. Thus it is clearly not a single class. It is notable that most of the children are in the younger cohart. This suggests that only a few of the children are finishing even 6 years of schooling, let alone 8 years often offered in rural primaries. There of the boys wear overalls. This is the time that we first see boys wearing overalls to school. We are not sure when rural boys begn wearing overlls, but for some reason we don't see many at school auntil 1908. This is also the time we begin to see knickers, but all of thes boys are still wearing knee pants. Several boys wear shirts/blouses, all buttoned at the collar. One boy wears a large collar Fauntleroy blouse. Another wears a shirt waist. Two boys wear Russian blouses. Almost all the pupils are barefoot. although their clothing show different family income conditions.
Here we have a postcard-back portrait of a group at the Reeves School on May 19, 1909. We do not know where the school was locatred, but Louisiana is one possibility. The group dies not seem to be a class, there seems to be too wide an age range of the children for it to be a single grade class. Then again in rural and small tiwbn schools, some farm boys who did not attend as regularly as city boys (because they were needed on the farm) took longer to compete their primary years. The brick building in the backgriound does not look like a small one or two room school. Then again the presence of one teacher in the center does suggest that we are looking at a single class. Perhaps some readers may have thoughts on this. There is certainly a great interest in baseball here, but no baseball caps yet. And we see a great school pooch, something not all that common in these school portraits. We see a variety of caps, including sailor caps. The flat cap is not yet dominant. Many of the boys are wearing blouses. We also see jackets and sweaters. Two of the boys, probably more, were barefoot. This further suggests a southern school. The girls wear a variety of dresses. We only see two pinafore. We also do not see many hair bows, a fashion that was becoming very popular.
We do not know the name of this primary school, but we know that it was located in St. Joseph, Missouri. St. Joseph is set on the Missour River and played and imprtant role in the settlement of the West. The city know as St. Joe was the jumping off point for the famed Pony Express and an important staging area for the Oregon Trail. Over time the city was largely eclipsed by much larger neraby Kananas City. Their school can be see in the background. It is a a substantial red brick building. We can not make out the slate board that one boy is holding, but the portrait is dated on the back is dated June 1909, meaning the 1908-09 school year. Some 40 children, more girls than boys are lined up in front. This appears to be one very large class because only one teacher is wih them. The children look to be about 10-11 years old, meaning 5th grade. The boys are all wearing suits, both with and without neckwear. The huge floppyboes worn a decasde eraslier were going out of style. Notice that the suits are mostly knee pants suits. This had been the case for several decades. At the time knickers were replacing knee pants as standard wear for American boys. We think a few boys are wearing knickers--but this is a little difficult to make out. One boy sports a long pants suit. The girls mostly wera dresses, but we see blouses and skirts as well. Notice how long stockings, especially black long stockings, were virtually universal for both boys and girls. .
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