Thursday, January 9, 2020

Beginning my posts about the 1920s with some photos of real 20s people

These were in my mother's photo album. Happily she dated them, so I know they are from the 1920s. She grew up on a farm, and went to school in the next town. This was a small place in northern New Hampshire, far away from the cities, but these girls look quite as fashionable as others I've seen in pictures from those years.

Marcel. Is that what it was called when their hair had those folds in it? Yes, I just looked it up!


This is the only one from the 20s that had my mother in it - a brother beside her.


And another brother (there were ten kids)


One of her sisters


 Girl friends







And the teachers! They don't look much older than teenagers themselves.


And life on the farm (my mother boarded with someone in town during her high school years)

Her father


29 comments:

  1. Remarkable collection. How did they make those waves in their hair? Hot curling iron or overnight curlers?

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  2. Those are fascinating photos. I especially love the basketball photos. We recently watched a part of an old movie where one of the women had marcelled hair.

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    1. I love them, too. My mother's older sister played basketball. I sure wish I had a picture of her doing it.

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  3. These are so wonderful - such great smiles. :) How can it be so long ago? Really love seeing them.

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  4. Wonderful photos! I love the basketball uniform! :) My 2020 project is to scan a huge box of old photos. I'm having fun seeing some that I haven't looked at in years.

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  5. What a great start for your 20's posts, Nan! My favourite of this collection is the girl smiling in the camera and wearing the checked coat (4th from top). Her smile is infectious, and I hope the friendship with your mother lasted for a long time.
    The contrast between life in a town or city and on a farm must have been much greater back then than now.

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    1. She really does look like someone I'd love to be friends with!
      You know, I don't know if she was still friends with them or not. I have no memory of her talking about them. Sad.
      I'm sure it was. Now, even on a farm you've got internet, etc.

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    1. I wish I had more, and I cherish the ones I have.

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  7. Wonderful! The basketball pic stood out to me, as well!

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  8. Those photos are priceless, Nan! I also love the basketball pictures. Women did indeed play basketball in the past. These remind me of some that my grandmother had of her family. She was born in 1902 and was in her 20's during that decade, but had several younger sisters. The hair, the clothes, etc. Sadly, I gave a whole box of those photos to my sister to sort many years ago when she was sick and looking for things to do. She never gave them back and after she passed away I have no idea what her husband or daughters did with them. Threw them away probably. Sad to lose them and I'm not in contact with any of them these days. Sigh.

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    1. My aunt who was born in 1910 played in high school and traveled all around the north country towns playing. I so wish I had a photo of her doing that.
      Your story break my heart. Might you contact the family just to ask about the photos? Makes me so sad.

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  9. These are fascinating! I love seeing the fashions and jewelry and hair styles. And to think that skirts in the 1920s had not been nearly that short less than what, 10 years? And I wonder if the women teachers were so young because once you married you could no longer teach?

    Ten children in your mother's family! Do you have lots of cousins still? Do you remember your mother's parents? Just wondering if they survived long enough for you to have grown up with them. I have quite a lot of old family photos but they are small and not nearly as good quality as yours.

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    1. I wonder if that was the rule then. So many things I wonder about. I suppose I could find out somewhere on the internet.
      Ten in my mother's and eight in my father's. Interestingly, most of the kids had few children. Only two had six kids. Several had one child. Two of my aunts never married.
      The grandfather in the picture died when I was four months old. The other grandparents all died in the 1960s so I did know them, and saw them but they didn't live in the same town.

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  10. The Song "Keep Young and Beautiful" just popped into my head Nan, with the line "....and a Marcel wave in your hair". My Grandmother still had the tool that did the wave in her belongings when she died, and I wish I'd kept it!! It was similar to those plastic do-hickies with long teeth that you put you hair up or out of the way with, except no teeth - like a long, slightly curved bulldog clip. It gripped the hair into the wave - I guess you could have your hair permed into the waves, but setting lotion on wet hair would have the same results. Thanks for the pics!

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    1. I bet you do wish you'd kept it!! Thanks for the description.

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  11. What wonderful photos! I particularly like the girl with the lace collar and the wry expression, but they are all lovely.

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    1. It is a wry expression, isn't it! What was she thinking about??

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  12. I am very late commenting on these wonderful photos! Your mother was so beautiful and full of life. I have lots of pictures of my birth grandmother and her twin sisters who were born in 1904 and graduated from high school in 1922. These are treasures for your family! My grandmother and her sister were also on their basketball team and I have photos of that.

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    1. Not a bit late. Lucky you to have the basketball photos!

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  13. These are charming and fascinating and I love the athletic photos, too! Thank you for sharing these with us.

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  14. Nan, I am a sucker for old family albums, memory lanes, and all things sentimental. Thanks for sharing these lovely photographs. I liked the group picture in front of the public library.

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  15. what a great collection. I have some favorites of my mom and her family . i came here from Dewena's window to see your 20's collection.

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