The Taft School: Annuals 1907, 1926

[GateXC]

My family has a collection of yearbooks from the prep school that I went to dating back to about 1897 through 1938. While most of these are at my parents house I have a small assortment of them at my apt and they are amazing to flip through to see the clothing, the ads, and simply the general way that these kids from 13 to 19 or so were dressed back 80 odd years ago.

One of the more interesting trends that I've noticed is the buttoning of only the last button on the suit jacket and leaving the top 1 or 2 open. You can see that in a couple of the shots. It seems to have started around 1900 and continues up through the late '20s - though predominately in the 1910s.

I decided to take some pictures of some of the more interesting things in them (that would show up - as a lot of it is pretty small and I don't have a scanner) and share them. There's a collection of some sports uniforms, regular suits, and advertisements. Enjoy!

Oh and the colored drawing of the girl is from 1926. Hand colored and the page that follows it is blank except for this line. "- I only know she came and went." It's one of my favorite images in all of the yearbooks.

 

[GateXC]

And more....

 

[GateXC]

Last ones....

 

[Vanessa]

Blast. Another one of those moments when I wish I could order from old catalogues.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

My brother has a pair exactly like that. He picked them up at a yard sale, new in the box, in his size (7 AAA).

 

[Etienne]

Those are FANTASTIC photos!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Lauren]

The girl with the gun? Yeah, I need to take a picture like that. It's amazing.

 

[herringbonekid]

first thing i noticed is how much older than 19 they look in those suits.
and there a couple of very ill-fitting jackets in the photo with the tennis rackets.

thanks !

 

[Matt Deckard]

Very good photos. I have many as well showing only the bottom button fastened. To each his own. My father is known to only button the top button on three button suits (That I cannot stand)... it's also a style seen in the 20's and 30's. It's only recently that I see rules and regulations being placed on people. You don't have to break that which does not actually exist.

I have some shoes just like those, speed laces and all... they cost me much much more than they do in the ad.

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