Gold Standard Class Photo

The general quality of this photo is not above average, but it is worth its weight in gold for fashion alone. I find class photos interesting in themselves, but to have one that is reliably dated as this one is on the slate (1891), and to have the sheer variety of clothing styles represented, fills in gaps in accurate dating for children's photos (published examples on children are virtually nonexistent). 

I have found at least three communities historically noted as Grunville – KY, DE, ME – but just try to find even one on a current map or discover any relevant information about those places; either they no longer exist, have been renamed or are now too small for note. I think it might be Kentucky since there was once a Grunville and a Grunville Female College there in the 19th century; the place name may have been changed to Granville at some point in time.

The other remarkable thing here is the quality of clothing exhibited, perhaps indicating that it is a private institution, or if it is a public school it is an unusually wealthy community (no other photo of the kind in my collection even comes close in that regard). Everyone wears a hat and there are hardly any alike (caps with bills are popular with girls, a revelation to me for the period); capes or coats with capes are also popular; most of the boys wear short pants with stockings. Some of the clothes are exceptional examples of fashion, perhaps not what they would wear to school every day (the girl farthest left, first row seated, is one standout – and her expression may show she is very aware of that). I see several girls who have such similar features that I imagine they are close relations. The third from the right in the row of seated girls has a benevolent little face that I think could indicate a merry and likable personality, she may have been a bit of a tomboy.

The students appear to be within a year or two of the same age, but as is almost always the case the girls look more mature than the boys (and certainly there were greater cultural expectations of behavior for even young females at the time, especially in well-to-do families).

Making The Best Of The Opportunities

For a fair-sized cabinet print, the low quality of the lens used resulted in a poor print in spite of the adequate light available, yet it is still a worthwhile photograph for any collection.

There is one teacher and forty-eight pupils! For that to work she would have to be a teacher of considerable talent, persuasion, dedication and disciplinary capacity, not to mention stamina. One room schools had community support regarding the behavior of children and the better older students were expected to help the younger ones with their lessons and their personal needs. Most pupils managed to learn enough to get by in life, were glad for it, and may have gone on to expect better for their own children. These children are adequately if not fashionably dressed for the 1880s timeframe; there were no trips to the store to buy back-to-school outfits for the term – if you had new clothes they were more likely just new to you!

The part of the building they chose for the backdrop has no windows or doors, the brickwork would win no prize in a masonry competition, but I expect the community was proud of what they could accomplish. The teacher has both arms around the young boy to help him support the book; the two youngest girls in the front are fast friends. I have given you a close up but the image is so poor no amount of editing will make much of it.

In A (School) Class By Itself

This large cabinet print was in as poor condition as any I have ever had, not exposed properly to begin with, extremely brittle, faded, dirty, torn, altogether badly treated by time. I was the only one intrigued enough, or fool enough, to take it on it seems.

Without evidence to persuade me to the contrary, I am inclined to believe this may be Irish (or English) rather than American for several reasons. The group of older girls to the right are all dressed identically, wearing aprons and caps, holding brooms with bows on them; they hold the broom in the right hand with the left crossed onto the right shoulder – it is as if they have completed training intended for employment as household servants. The boys on the far left are outfitted in an odd assortment of martial costumes with tall pointed hats decorated in different manners, some have drums and others hold mock muskets or other objects I do not recognize. All of the children are dressed simply but without any being either better dressed or more poorly dressed than others, something I have not seen in photos of American school groups from the period.

I am inclined to date this to the mid-1880s because of the men's bowlers and homburgs with curled brims and cut-away jackets with abbreviated lapels; the women's short jackets and narrow sleeves (the single feature I find puzzling is the shallow lampshade hats worn by some of the women – usually associated only with the first five years of the 20th century, but much simpler, lacking the mounds of flowers and feathers of that period – yet nothing reliably places this later than 1890). 

The man in the center with the cane may be the headmaster; the woman in the right foreground may be the head teacher; there are five other women who also do not wear hats and may also be teachers. There are no flags or other obvious cultural markers.

If this is an American image, it breaks the mold completely and I would like to know what sort of school it could be.

Sister Regina's Class

A large group of children, like any gathering of people anywhere, reveals a gallery of personalities – but perhaps with a certain lack of subterfuge common in the young. Sister Regina’s class at the turn of the last century exhibits what suggests, to our mind’s eye, some of the sweetest little girls imaginable – and some we might choose not to know if we could avoid them! Perhaps a few got up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak, so we can give them the benefit of the doubt; but I’ll put my money on there being at least a few that could try the patience of the saints the Sister teaches her girls about.

Were they told to cross their arms or was it a habitual pose they struck? There is little joy in this event, but one little soul on the back row finds something to smile about. At least two girls wear earrings; another has a ring on each hand. This class is racially integrated.

Imagine setting up a picture today where it would be permissible, from a safety perspective, to stack benches in this manner and stand nearly a dozen little girls on each of them! Horrors! Oh, the lawsuits!

On a technical note: class pictures were likely done by local photographers whose view camera’s lenses were less than stellar in their critical focus across the film plane, resulting in dramatic loss of sharpness on the left and right, as this photo is a prime example, and particularly if light was low and the optimum f-stop was not possible. Adequate light is the main reason that most class pictures were done outside in this period. Most of the girls are wearing colored dresses, but two are wearing dazzling white which plays havoc with capturing detail there (all photographers at all times deal with these issues and make choices).