This is my mother's 4th grade class at Mineral Ridge School in Mineral Ridge, Ohio. You can see her photo -- but not her face. She's the child in the front row, 5th from the left who scraped off the paper where her face had been. She turned 10 in 1925. Enlarge the photo for a better, clearer view by clicking on it.Some of my observations about this photo:
- Most of the girls have their hair bobbed.
- Only two children have glasses: both girls, both with round frames.
- More than half the girls' dresses are sewn from gingham or plaid fabrics.
- Nine of the boys are wearing coats with belts that button around the waist.
- The boys whose legs we can see sport short pants.
- There's no teacher standing with the children.
- I want a sweater like the one the boy in the upper left corner is wearing.
This is a Sepia Saturday post. Click on the link to find others posts with old photographs.
Quite variety in sizes too. The little boy second top left seems to be leaning into his friend for reassurance. I wonder what the long tapes hanging from some children’s necks were.
ReplyDeleteThe wonderful thing about old school photos like this is that you can wander around them, looking at each individual face and trying to read their stories.
ReplyDeleteI'm also fascinated by the hair styles and clothing that was au courant when this was taken. Some of the boys couldn't quite manage their ties. And there appears to be one African American boy in the class, third row, fourth from left. That had to be tough.
ReplyDeleteThere is a mystery in this photo too. Why did the two boys in the second to last row move to the right and leave a hole in the center?
ReplyDelete...and see what hair style seemed to be the most liked and worn in those days! The short cut and bang look seems to a favorite for most girls! great photo, thanks!
ReplyDeletethey all look so serious. :) It's so interesting to see the styles of their clothes.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other photos today had a boy with those big round glasses. I haven't seen glasses like that in my lifetime. Could they be the next "new" style?
ReplyDeleteOh my stars...those little boys with their neckties.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me was that the girls' and the boys'hair was so neat and tidy - a lot different from school kids in the majority of the Uk today.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much detail to admire in this photo, it's amazing.
I just live down the road in Niles, Oh. It was neat to see a school picture from Mineral Ridge in one of the bloggs I follow. Do you know any of the other children in the picture?
ReplyDeleteThat's just like my own old junior school tie, although I suspect the horizontal stripes weren't brown and gold. I even see one lad with a snake-shaped buckle like on my old school belt, albeit from almost half a century later. That's such a wonderfully sharp image, but sad that your mother's face is not visible (therein lies a story, one assumes).
ReplyDeleteI see at least three kids who weren't afraid to smile for the camera, but on the whole they seem a pretty glum lot, even for the mid-1920s. One wonders who they had for a teacher - I suspect he was no Mr Chips.
Great photo - what a variety of expressions the kids have! I wonder what the girls in the front row have hanging round their necks? Jo
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of the girl in white (front row, fifth from the right) it looks like those ribbons/cords around their necks hold whistles; the long ones, not the short cannon-shaped ones with the ball inside them. I wonder if perhaps these seven girls (and it looks like your mother was one) were group leaders for something. Or maybe they signify a special privilege. Or maybe, since it only seems to be girls who are sporting them, it's merely a fashion fad. I tried "googling" it but didn't find anything of value. As for the bobbed hair, that was definitely the style for little girls. I have several pictures of my mother from the 20s and her hair is exactly the same. I imagine it was easy to care for. What a fantastic photo! Thanks for sharing it with us!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun picture, Nancy. I've had few school pictures that I didn't like (never thought of scratching out my face though!). I enjoyed how you really went through and took tally of everybody and their looks.
ReplyDeleteGreat post,
Kathy M.
What a fantastic photo. I love the bobbed hair and the glasses. I could spend hours looking at this photo.
ReplyDeleteWhat a remarkable school photo. I really do love all these group shots. You get a sense of the class dynamics from them! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI see your mom was afflicted with the same condition as my mom, who would entirely cut off her head from photographed when she didn't approve of the results...
ReplyDeleteoh well!!
:D~
HUGZ
Is it possible that the teacher was also the photographer?
ReplyDeleteA few of the children don't seem as "dressed up" as the others (for example, the tall boy in the center of the back row). I wonder if they were from less prosperous families than the others.
ReplyDelete