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The CDV format was introduced to American in the early 1860s. The lower cost and ease of making duplicated quickly made it enormously popular. We thus have many more photographic images from the 1860s than the 50s. This leaves with a massive photographic record of both hair styles and clothing. We note, however, relatively few images of boys wearing ringlet curls. The general trend was for shorter hair styles than the 1850s. We note some boys wearing ringlet curls, but a very small proprtion of the portraits of boys we have found. Most tend to be primarily very young boys. A good example is Albert Dubois, we think in the 1860s. Ringlets were much more popular for girls than for boys throught the 60s. We see boys with ringlets, but we see many girls with their hair done in ringlets. The photographic record represents a way of assessing this, perhaps an imperfect one, but still a very helpul indicator. While we can't quantify it with any precession, we can say that ringlets were not common for boys. We believe that the photographic record represents a fairly accurate indication that ringlets were not very commo for boys. The portion of the population not well covered by the photographic record were the very poor. The falling prices for portraits in the 60s meant that the coberage was wider during the 50s. And the fact that the poor were not likely to do their children's hair in ringlets means that the photographic record covers most of the boys that would have been likely to wear ringlets. We are not saying that no boys wore ringlets. We have noted portraits of boys wearing ringlets, but except for the very young, it was a very rare hair style for boys. And because we have only a few images of boys with ringlet curls during the 1860s, we can not yet say much about the various styles of ringlet curls. It is also difficult to assess age trends. Another important factor is affluence. Ringlet curls for boys or girls required some effort and more affluent families had a greater capacity for devoting the time or hiring domestic sevants to help with such matters than the working class. And by the 1860s we are beginning to see many Americans from very humble rural backgrounds improving their circumstance.
The CDV format was introduced to American in the early 1860s. The lower cost and ease of making duplicated quickly made it enormously popular. We thus have many more photographic images from the 1860s than the 50s. This leaves with a massive photographic record of both hair styles and clothing. And it is not just the numbers of images. The new CDVs were much les expensive than the Dags and Ambros in the 1850s. This meant tht individuals of increasinglyb modest means could afford photographic portraits. As a result, assessments of the photographic record has increasing validity in assessing popular trends.
We note, however, relatively few images of boys wearing ringlet curls. The general trend was for shorter hair styles than the 1850s. We note some boys wearing ringlet curls, but a very small proprtion of the portraits of boys we have found, including younger boys.
The photographic record represents a way of assessing this, perhaps an imperfect one, but still a very helpul indicator. While we can't quantify it with any precession, we can say that ringlets were not common for boys. We believe that the photographic record represents a fairly accurate indication that ringlets were not very commo for boys. The portion of the population not well covered by the photographic record were the very poor. The falling prices for portraits in the 60s meant that the coberage was wider during the 50s. And the fact that the poor were not likely to do their children's hair in ringlets means that the photographic record covers most of the boys that would have been likely to wear ringlets. We are not saying that no boys wore ringlets. We have noted portraits of boys wearing ringlets, but except for the very young, it seems a relatively rare hair style for boys.
Most of the boys we have found wearing ringlet curls in the 1860s tend to be primarily young boys boys. Not all the boys but certainly most. It is difficult to assess age trends in the 1860s because we have so few images. Most of the boys we have found so far are pre-school boys. We note quite a number of images, but because the CDV apeared about 1860s, there werefar more images than ever before. A good example is
an unidentified Philadelphia boy who looks to be aout 5 years in the mid 1860s. Anoyher example is Herbert Lockwood who was 4-5 years about 1867. We see a few older boys to about age 8 years with ringlets, but we do not see them at school with ringlets. Another example is an unidentified Illinois boy. who looks to be about 5 years old. Unlike quite a number if the boys wuith ringlets, he wears a long oants suit. Some boys had longish hair, butnot ringlets at school in the 1860s. Short hair was clearly becoming standard, but the longer styles of the 1850s had not yet disappeared. This is a little difficult to assess because school portraits were only beginning to appear in numbers.
Another important factor is affluence. Ringlet curls for boys or girls required some effort and more affluent families had a greater capacity for devoting the time or hiring domestic servants to help with such matters than the working class. And by the 1860s we are beginning to see many Americans from very humble rural backgrounds improving their circumstance. And many wre very anxious to display heir new-found affluence. Most of the images of boys with ringlets apperi be well dressed. Of course this was the impression for most portraits we have seen during the 60s.
We see boys with ringlets curls before and after breeching. Thus we see boys weating dresses and other skirted garments with curls, but also boys wearing suits and other outfits wuth pants. A good example
is Albert Dubois, we think in the 1860s. He seems to be wearing some kind of plaid tunic outfit.
We note both boys and girls with ringlet curls in the 1860s. Boys hair kenngth was tending gto becone shiorter. Many boys at mid-century had hair done to or over their ears, but fewer than in the 1850s. As far as we can tell, ringlet curls were not yet very common for boys. We have found more portraits of girls with ringlets than boys. We do not yet have any written assessments. We make this assessment based on the photograohic record. Photigraphy at mid century provides for the first time really large numbers of images to assess fashion trends, both clothing and hair styles. The photographic types (Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes) were at first expensive (1840s-50s). While the number of images were klarger than in the early-19th century, they were still limited and heavily weighted as to the more affluent. This changed
with the appearance of the Carte de Visite (CDV) (1860s). The CDV was only a fraction of the cost of a Dag or Ambro abnd with the negative could be reproduced in quantity. Thus CDVs are much more reliable in assessing trends. And we have found both more girls with ringlets as well as older girls wearing ringlets. The younger the child the more similar gender prevalence was. A problem here is that many if the children are unidentified and it is difficult to identify the gender if the younger children because many were not yet breeched. This 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 girls with their hair done in ringlets. Just using prevalence in the photographic record can not be used as absolute oproof, but we believe it to be the best single measure of prevalence at the time. Here we would welcome reader insights.
We have only a few images of boys with ringlet curls during the 1860s. Given the large numbers of available images from the 60s, this suggests that ringlets were as common as later in the century. Thus we can not yet say much about the various styles of ringlet curls popular in the 1860s. We have just begun to assess available portraits of ringlet styling during the decade. We do know some ringlet styles were done with top rolls, such as the boy here, probably during the late-1860s (figure 1). Herbert Lockwood about 1867 is another good example.. Herbert has a very large top roll and the curls seem somewhat set back. Hee the boundary point was the ear. Many of the boys have their ringlets set behind the ears or at least not covering the ears. The ringlets worn by giels usually covered the ears. This was a convention that does not seem to have changed over time. The set back curls seem to be a popular style in the 1860s. This was not a popular style later in the century. As we add more images here we will hopefully be able to discuss styling during the decade in more detail.
There was no commercial color photography in the 19th century. Studios did offer colorized images. This ws done through tinting or even pinting over the prints. The colorized imges we have found generally show blond or light-colored hair. A hood example is an unidentified New York boy. We were a little surprised by this and are not entirely sure how to explain it. The American population until the late-19th century came mostly from Protestant northern Europe which tended to have populations with fair-complexioned and light-colored hair. And even after dark complexioned people from southern Europe begn arriving in numbrs (late-19th century), light-complexioned people tended to play dominant roles in American society. This meant that they were over represented in the photographic record, especially tinted images which were more epenove than a regular portrait. In addition, mothers thant did their children hair in ringlets, specially boys, tended to be in the upper income strata that could afford donestic help or at least had time on theur hnds and did not have to work.
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