Actually, what's interesting here is that Dad looks to be quite well groomed and in good clothing contrasted with everyone else around him. I wonder if he came from work or church?
They all look about par for being well groomed. No less tidy than the father. The mom's got a nice dress with patterns and multiple fabrics, and has her hair done. Eldest son has a button down shirt and pants just like his dad. The two young ones have simpler clothes, but that just makes sense for their age.
Church is an option, but photography was probably a big deal for their class, so maybe just dressed up literally for the camera.
The two young ones have simpler clothes, but that just makes sense for their age.
I have old family picture from rural farming times and the young kids clothes were much more rough than in the picture above. Near potato bag with holes.
That picture's clothes looks good enough for nice occasions like church.
This is the late 30's not that late 1880's. A camera photo was a novelty, but not a rarity. They are groomed enough, but the children are clearly dirty and lower class. I assume they were probably playing outside before the picture was taken. They are effectively well kempt for their condition.
Almost no shot anyone that poor had a camera and very rarely would even any of their friends have a camera even in the 1930s. That's why I specified "in their class", this might be one of only 2-3 photos of them in their entire lives.
While more people would have had access to photography, this mas was a West Virginia coal miner, just outside of Morgantown, WV, near the PA border. Which means yeah, this was probably one of the only photographs of him that exist. They are extremely poor by comparison.
Likely work. Men had to look nice for work or be expected to only be at the worst jobs. It's one of the reasons why women got obsessed with having nice clothes when going out.
The thing is, if he was doing a white collar job he'd probably have a higher income and wouldn't have to live in such a dilapidated house. If he were blue collar, he'd be a hell of a lot dirtier coming off of work. Just a curiosity. Wish we had more info on the photo. Maybe we should do a reverse image search.
Hard to tell from a black and white picture but I would guess the jeans are dirty as heck. Clothes dont mean much to an appalachian, so wearing the same few clothes over and over was a normal thing. As long as they were clean really was the only thing that mattered. Most familys did have one good outfit for church and special occasions.
As someone mentioned, this feller had the unfortunate luck of being a coal miner. So you can only imagine how filthy his clothes were, even if all he did was sit outside and bust up rocks all day versus being inside the mine. Could also be this picture was taken before he left for work that morning.
He could have also been doing office work. I'd think he'd be wearing overalls if he were actually doing the mining. He'd still get dirty from the dust, but he wouldn't look covered head to toe.
Actually, what's interesting here is that Dad looks to be quite well groomed and in good clothing contrasted with everyone else around him. I wonder if he came from work or church?
They all look about par for being well groomed. No less tidy than the father. The mom's got a nice dress with patterns and multiple fabrics, and has her hair done. Eldest son has a button down shirt and pants just like his dad. The two young ones have simpler clothes, but that just makes sense for their age.
Church is an option, but photography was probably a big deal for their class, so maybe just dressed up literally for the camera.
I have old family picture from rural farming times and the young kids clothes were much more rough than in the picture above. Near potato bag with holes.
That picture's clothes looks good enough for nice occasions like church.
The little fella even has his best pipe out.
This is the late 30's not that late 1880's. A camera photo was a novelty, but not a rarity. They are groomed enough, but the children are clearly dirty and lower class. I assume they were probably playing outside before the picture was taken. They are effectively well kempt for their condition.
Almost no shot anyone that poor had a camera and very rarely would even any of their friends have a camera even in the 1930s. That's why I specified "in their class", this might be one of only 2-3 photos of them in their entire lives.
I found a source
While more people would have had access to photography, this mas was a West Virginia coal miner, just outside of Morgantown, WV, near the PA border. Which means yeah, this was probably one of the only photographs of him that exist. They are extremely poor by comparison.
Likely work. Men had to look nice for work or be expected to only be at the worst jobs. It's one of the reasons why women got obsessed with having nice clothes when going out.
The thing is, if he was doing a white collar job he'd probably have a higher income and wouldn't have to live in such a dilapidated house. If he were blue collar, he'd be a hell of a lot dirtier coming off of work. Just a curiosity. Wish we had more info on the photo. Maybe we should do a reverse image search.
I found him!
https://kotakuinaction2.win/p/19BGAp2aU5/x/c/4eSkwXiS27z
Hard to tell from a black and white picture but I would guess the jeans are dirty as heck. Clothes dont mean much to an appalachian, so wearing the same few clothes over and over was a normal thing. As long as they were clean really was the only thing that mattered. Most familys did have one good outfit for church and special occasions.
As someone mentioned, this feller had the unfortunate luck of being a coal miner. So you can only imagine how filthy his clothes were, even if all he did was sit outside and bust up rocks all day versus being inside the mine. Could also be this picture was taken before he left for work that morning.
He could have also been doing office work. I'd think he'd be wearing overalls if he were actually doing the mining. He'd still get dirty from the dust, but he wouldn't look covered head to toe.