Figure 1.-- This is an interesting photo taken in 1934 of some rural children riding in a horse-drawn rig. The names of the children from left to right are Chad (about 2), Beulah (about 10), Bonnie (about 6), Bud (about 7), and Bob (about 5). The picture was taken in the midst of the American Great Depression, perhaps somewhere in the Middle West (although we don't know the location). We also don't know the name of the family. The two boys at the right, one of whom (Bud) holds the other (Bob) on his lap, seem to be dressed up for church or some other formal occasion because they both wear white long stockings with short trousers. Since the weather is obviously warm, they probably would have been barefoot or maybe wearing just ankle socks if they were in play clothes. White long stockings were often considered dressy for small boys during the 1930s. Bonnie, interestingly, wears ankle socks rather than stockings with her dress. You can almost see the clasp of Bob's elastic supporter at the hem of his dark shorts. Bud seems to have on a suit. Notice his jacket, shirt, and necktie. Perhaps the children are siblings and probably live somehwere on a farm. This is interesting because we mostly see boys wearing white stockings in cities, in part because the Catholic population in Amnerica is promaroily urban.

White stockings declined in popularity, at least for boys during the 1920s. They were nuch less common by the 1930s. Younger boys still wore long stoikings in the 1930s. Some boys wore longvstockings for formality, but this often involved black long sockings. Boys did not commonly wear long white stockings during the 1930s. we do, however, see boys wearing them for formal affairs, mostly during the early part of the decade. This is not a color boys would have worn for everday wear. White was note common for girls to wear. And an unidentified Catholic School in the 1930s had the boys wear shortpants worn with white stockings for their First Communion. We note one boy wearing white long stockings as part of whatlooks like a reciatal outfit (figure 1). The photographic record suggests that white long stockings were not very commom. We have found very few images of American boys wearing white long stockings during the 193os except for formal occassions.

Created: 6:41 AM 2/15/2010
Last updated: 6:41 AM 2/15/2010