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| Bib overalls in 1940, Children and Sugar Beets, L.C. Harmon (PD) |
I'm also interested in historic bib images. And I wonder, in what year boys (and young men) first wearing overalls and if the Western films and series like LHOTP are correct.
I think that overalls are mainly used by working men and I learned that the first jeans pants were overalls.
It's not easy to research, as this is not only a part of the history of clothes, but history of child labour, farming and photography.
According to Wikipedia the first one-piece overalls were in 1891.
There is a good history at the Historical Boys' Clothing website at
http://histclo.com/style/casual/jeanbib.html
but the oldest image there is from 1902 (Hiwassee School).
I found 2 images dated 1882 at Denver Library from the Denver Orphans' Home. Although the age, the images seem to be copyrighted, so here the links (pics can be zoomed). There are also other, later pics.
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p15330coll22&CISOPTR=64712&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p15330coll22&CISOPTR=64162&CISOBOX=1&REC=2
Sometimes, dates of old images are not known correctly, but here the exact date seems to be correct. And this bibs don't look like, as they were the first or first handmade bibs.
Perhaps first work for using bibs was in mines and cotton mills and this is a sad story.
Good sources are school images and genealogy websites.
The problem is that they possibly didn't made much photos in the rural 1800s, so research in books or drawings/paintings will be better. If someone has more details or older images, please comment.
Here is the link of the 1902 pic which I can't see at histclo.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnsmith/schoolpics/hiwasseesch.htm
Image: Top Children and Sugar beets Nebraska 1940, L. C. Harmon, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture/US National Archives (PD), FSA.
bottom: Jaggers Cop tubing 1892, Textile Mercury newspaper 1892 (PD). Both taken from Wikimedia commons.
Edit 2011 May 22. See also following entry and other posts tagged info.
/2011/05/info-32-historic-farm-bib-overalls.html
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| Jaggers Cop tubing 1892 (PD) |
2 comments:
I don't have any references for you, but here's what I learned a while ago:
Overalls came about in the 1880s or so and were worn to protect your clothes from dirt or wear. They became popular as comfortable children's clothes in the 1920s, but rather went out of style in the 1950s.
When I was in school in the 1960s, they were stylish only for small children and I was pretty much the only kid in bibs, but that was partly because I was very small. I liked bibs 'cause I didn't have to hike them up all the time and kids couldn't snap them like suspenders (braces).
When I was 12, there was another boy in school in overalls. He had used crutches for years, and liked them for the same reason: "When your body stretches out on your crutches, your pants go straight to your knees."
Blue jeans were originally "waist overalls," that is, overalls without straps or bib.
Thanks for your story!
Probably depends if you live rural or not.
Stylish they were later in the 80s and 90s. (but mainly for girls).
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