Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows an unidentified child who looks to be about 5 years old. The dress has a low neckline and pantlettes. Boys this age might still be dressed like this, but the dress and center part do suggest a girl, although we are not positive. The CDV and U.S. Revenue Stamp date the image to about 1864-66. The studio was J. Morganin Cincord, New Hampshire.

A problem here is that many of the children are unidentified and it is difficult to identify the gender if the younger children because many boys were not yet breeched. The best indicator is a center hair part. This was a girls' style. We do not know for a fact that younger boys did not have center parts, but we have found very few examples. The centerpart is the best gender indicator we know of, except for the relatively short period around the turn-of-the 20th century when center parts were popular for boys. And we see bery few breeched boys with ringlets in the 60s. The relative rarity of breeched boys with ringlets leads us to believe ringlets were much more popular for girls than for boys throughout the 60s. We do see boys with ringlets, but we see many more children we believe are girls with their hair done in ringlets. Just using prevalence in the photographic record can not be used as absolute proof, but we believe it to be the best single measure of prevalence at the time. Here we would welcome reader insights.

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Created: 5:14 AM 1/25/2015
Last edited: 5:14 AM 1/25/2015