Decorative Arts o Costumes o Toys o Fine Arts o Tools o Music o Transportation

It's Child's Play
Playthings ~ Clothing

Boy's Three-piece Suit ca. 1862

Girl's Cotton Dress 1990s

Two-piece Dress, ca. 1884

Boy's Play Suit, ca. 1922

The concept of childhood and the social roles of children have radically changed over the last 200 years. During the 18th century when infant mortality was high, childhood was not a separate phase of life. If a child survived, they were dressed as miniature adults and educated early for their adult roles. Philosophers, such as Rousseau, reversed this thinking, advocating the delay of formal education and a return to nature. Children were considered blank slates and play was recognized to aid the natural development of a child's mind and body. Toys and games became an essential component of a child's learning. These ideas led to clothing specifically for children, suited to activity, and not scaled down versions of adult dress.

Changes in the way both boys and girls dressed signified changes in their social role. As a girl grew older her skirts lengthened and her dress was more in line with the current woman's fashion. With the onset of puberty, she began to wear her hair up and she adopted women's dress conventions. Boys outgrew the dresses of their youth and were breeched, or dressed in pants, at an age the family considered appropriate. The breeching of boys was recounted to have been an emotional moment for the mother who, with this act, was psychologically loosing her "baby."

A 19th century childhood may have been idyllic for the advantaged classes, but for the poor or the working classes this was an era of child labor. Children may have always assisted in the household or on a family farm, but the Industrial Revolution sent children into the mills and the mines where any "carefree" days of childhood were over before they were 6-8 years old.