Sometimes there may be subtle clues in dating a photo

Here's a family photo with a subtle clue as to its date. Clothing and accessories and hairstyles always come into play, but in a land as vast as the USA some areas were not immediately up-to-date in embracing news styles.

See if you can guess what event may have prompted the photo being taken.

 

Please ignore until I can get the photograph uploaded.

 

No problem, we can wait.

 

Figtree, not what this thread was started for, but the youngest boy (front left) is the one wearing the big, pink bow which I/we discussed earlier as being a "boy" color in days gone by, and he is wearing white "slipper" shoes with ankle straps and small white bows at the toes of the shoes.

The children are 12 years old, 10 years old, 8 years old, and almost 3 years old.

 

Not sure that I can guess the event...

How do you know that his bow is pink? I can't see any coloration in the photo. But he does look like a boy.

 

In a dress?

 

Figtree, at "the other place" I had posted about my grandmother, after I made a comment to her that it was a "big blue bow," correcting me and saying it was a "pink bow." I did research and found that, about the time this photo was taken boys did wear "pink" because it was considered a shade of red which is a "martial" (think the red planet "Mars") war-like color. I had cites to two written articles: one about the time of this photo and one later showing telling people that girls "could wear" red/shades of red including pink.

Terry, yes, it is a dress.

 

I'm going to guess. that the subtle clue is the fact that the older boy is dressed in all dark - including his shirt - while the toddler and the young girls are in white, that there has been a death in the family.

(And yes, Terry, young children were all dressed in dresses.)

 

Figtree, if you want to know now, respond and I'll share the subtle (very subtle) clue as to the year the photo was taken.

 

Sure, that would be great... I like Bakersgma's guess, too.

 

And I do remember what you posted about your grandmother, now that you mention it.

 

Well, "the year" sounds like something bigger than just a family loss.

 

Bakersgma, you are very close to figuring out the general date of the photo.

 

Oh boy. Too late for Lincoln, too early for FDR. You said US, so it's not Queen Victoria.

 

How about 1901 for McKinley's assassination?

I guess beyond the fact that they are in mourning dress for something, I can't see any other "clue."

 

Did they lose someone on the Titanic (1912)? or mourning McKinley - assassination 1901?

 

Did you notice how gaunt and wan my uncle looks in comparison to his healthy siblings?

Paul Harvey "the rest of the story" time -- the photo was taken late in the year of 1918 -- the same year the "Spanish influenza" epidemic began in the United States. My uncle, the boy in the suit, contracted the "flu" and (literally) almost died. He had a lengthy recuperation. My grandmother told me that as soon as she could she took all four of her children to the photographer to record her four children and my uncle's recovery.

Bakersgma, your noting of his being all in black gave me pause. My grandmother made all of the clothes for her children. She never said so, but you have made me wonder if perhaps early on in the critical stages of the flu she had sewn the clothes my uncle has on as his "burial clothing."

 

Thanks, yourturn! Was about to sign off for the evening and now can rest easy and not be in suspense.

 

Oh my.

I thought his thin face was just a family trait because the sister off his left shoulder also has that thin look.