Figure 1.--This CDV potrtait shows an unidentified boy with ringlet curls and a top curl. He wears a knee pants lapel suit with a substabtial wgite collar, small no, white long stockings, and high-top button shoes. The boy looks to be about 3 years old. The portrait is undated, but we would guss was taken in the early-1870s. The white stockings are more associated with the 1869s, but the large collar and pose is more associated with the 1870s. The studio was A.T. Urie in St. Louis. Missouri. Interestinglythey advertized, "The only Gallery having an Elevator in the City."

The examples of boys wearing ringlet curls that we have found from the 1870s are younger boys. All look to be pre-school boys, about 2-5 years old. All of the images we have found so far seem to fall in that age range. Most of the available images do not indicate the children's ages, so we have to estimate the ages. We believe, however, have that we are generally accuate to within a year. We have fairly large archive so that is is probably aeasonavly accurate age assessment. That is not to say that no school-age boys had ringlets. It does suggest that it was not very common. Of course it was mostly pre-school boys with ringlets in the late-19th century as well. But in the late-19th century we see some younger school-age boys with ringlets as well. We are still worrking on girl trends. We are not yet csure about the age trends for girls. Or how it affected the age trends for noys when girls were in the family.

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Created: 10:28 PM 8/22/2017
Last edited: 10:28 PM 8/22/2017