Figure 1.--This 1914 snapshot shows four children enjoing Atlantic City. All we know about them is the children on the right are Harvey and Thelma. We think their last name is Rosenblum. They seem to be tourists from Ohio on their summer vcation. The post card was mailed August 2. Notice the girl's voluminous bathing caps. We begin to see latex bathing caps affter Wirld war I in the 1920s.

The trunks after the turn of the century began to be cut shorter. And after World War I, suit trunks became quite brief short pants and the shirt part gradually shrunk. Girls wore voluminous bstching caps. The shirts or tops were still prevalent in the 1920s and even the 30s, altough by the end of the decade we see some bpys swiming without the tops. This was especially the case at summer camps. Bathing caps changed in the 1920s with the appearabce of latex. We are not sure why latex bthing caps appeared in the 1920s, but it may be realted to Woirld War II. Going topless for the men and boys was not not always a personal option. Many communities had municipal reguklations requiring the tops. Some conservative communities still required them in the early 1940s. A British World War II evacuee boy tells us, "When I was evacuated in 1940, I stayed with a family in Lynn, Massachusetts--close to the beach. I remember being quite shocked that we HAD to wear tops when on the beach and in swimming. It was a municipal ordinance! I had been swimming in the UK topless (not the girls) since earliset recollection (say 1934). On the beach at Lynn we used to wear trunks and tee shirts, not swimming suits. The beach at the next town, Swamscott, had no such regulation so we used to cycle there (2.miles). I don't recall when the ban was lifted. I suspect it was ignored after a while. We moved to Swampscott in 1942 so the restriction didn't bother us any more." The tops for men and boys were no longer seen after World War II (1939-45). Boys mostly wore two types of swimsuits in the post-War era, either trunks or boxers, both briefly cut. American boys did not wear the ultra brief Speedo trunks we see French and other European boys wearing. We begin to see very long baggy swimsuits in the 1990s.

Created: 10:04 AM 6/9/2018
Last updated: 10:05 AM 6/9/2018