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This looks to be a 1st grade class. The photograph was taken in March, 1948. We know it was taken in Minnesota--probably in St. Paul. It is easter time. The kids are getting ready for a visit of the Easter Bunny, and have written him a nice letter and posted it up on the wall of their classroom. The message reads: "Dear Easter Bunny: We are very good boys and girls. We have a good place for you to come to. Hop up on the window sill. There you will
see us. We will leave the window open. Be very careful not to tear your coat. Our best love. The boys and girls." These children seem to be about 6 years old--first graders. The two
girls wear suspender skirts with white blouses and knee socks. The boys have button-on clothes and suspenders. One of the boys, helping to hold up the message on the window, wears striped
button-on short trousers buttoned to a white blouse with striped trim
around the edges of his short sleeves and collar. He wears tan cotton
long stockings with supporters and hightop leather shoes. Most boys in
the United States had given up long stockings by about 1946, but this
boy's mother was perhaps more conservative than most. (The prominence
of ads for garter waists and long stockings in the Sears and Wards
catalogs fell off about 1946, though they could still be purchased into
the 1950s.) Of course, in Minnesota, the weather in March is still
quite cold, and Mother probably wanted her son's knees protected. The
other boy wears corduroy trousers (probably knickers) with both a belt
and clip-on suspenders. He wears a white shirt and tie. The children
seem to be making Easter decorations. Note the white cutout of the
Easter Bunny on the shelf in back of the steam radiator. The boy with
the corduroy trousers is holding an Easter basket. The photo was
published in one of the St. Paul newspapers, the St. Paul Dispatch and
Pioneer Press (1948). Scenes like this are no longer common in American schools. As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, public schools are mocing away from celebrating reigious holidays.
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