Children of the Gold Rush series :: 1850's photos

Click on the images if want a more detailed look-see.
For a few weeks I have been compiling pictures of real California children from the 1850's. Most of the pictures here are from Old Sacramento's archives. These pictures can give is insight to what was popular and common place back then.


1. We know that this child is a boy because he parts his hair on the side rather than down the center. He is also wearing a dress which means that he must not be "breeched", or toilet trained, yet. Love the ringlets kid! I wish I could do that with my hair..
2. From what I understand, this boy is wearing a Russian style shirt. He is also holding onto a poodle dog pull-toy.
3. This child is also wearing a dress like picture 1 and also must be a boy considering how the hair is parted on the side. If you look close, you can see the petticoat peeking out from beneath the toddler dress. The mid-calf length of his dress may indicate that he is now walking.
4. I love the sibling pictures best... You really get a feel for the family. The boy is wearing a French style shirt with his trousers buttoned to them. In the 1850's people used suspenders or buttons to keep their pants up, not belts. The girl is wearing a popular boat-neck style dress with pearls. If you look closely you can see her pantalettes peeking out from under her dress. This photo is also slightly tinted.


5. Cheer up kid! This girl is also wearing a boat-neck dress that was popular in the 1850's. Her dress has some sort of neat embellishment on the sleeves and bottom hem.
6. It's unclear whether this child is a boy or girl, but it is rare to see a baby's photo that isn't postmortem. Creepy.. I know. But this baby does have it's eyes open.
7. This girl is wearing a matching coat and dress. You can barely see her long sleeves peeking out from under her coat sleeves, but not enough to distinguish any real pattern.
8. I love how this girl brought her dolly. Her and her doll are both wearing fan front dresses with a boat-neck. Her dress is mid-calf with her petticoat? peeking out. She is also wearing shoes with ankle straps. Dolly is wearing an adult length dress complete with a handkerchief and straw sunhat. In this photo the girl's dress is tinted purple and Dolly's dress is tinted pink.



- Sarah