Tag: Graduation

Graduation Time!

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

It’s that time of year, when students “commence” higher studies or the business of life. It’s the season for graduation ceremonies, when young men and women—as well as their parents—attend closing exercises of the school year, exchange cards of congratulations and bestow graduation gifts.

Illustration of a young woman wearing a dress from about 1910. It has a high embroidered collar that covers her neck. The sleeves are long and embroidered, as is the bodice. A ribbon circles her waist. The skirt is floor-length and lightly pleated. It is adorned with rosettes and ribbons at the hips. Two rows of ribbon embroidery circle the skirt near the hem. In one hand she holds a rolled-up diploma tied with a ribbon. In her other hand she holds a bouquet of roses tied with wide ribbons.

It was the same way in Isabella’s day. Being an educated woman, and having been a teacher herself, Isabella knew that graduation was a significant milestone in a young life. The characters she wrote about in her novels worked hard for their education, and they had good reason to celebrate their achievements.

Black and white illustration of a young woman in dress from 1912 seated in a chair. In her lap she holds a rolled diploma tied with a ribbon. Beside her is a large vase filled with roses. SILBERBERG. TEXAS & MESA. "The mere thought of buying a diamond should suggest Silberberg's." GIFTS FOR THE GIRL GRADUATES. The early approach of Commencement, not only in El Paso but adjacent towns, causes us to direct special attention to suitable gifts for the girl graduates. We have the largest collection of jewelry and other items suitable for gifts ever assembled in the Southwest.
From The El Paso Herald, April 27, 1912.

Just as we do today, it was the fashion in the late 1800s and early 1900s to give graduates a gift of some kind to mark the occasion.

Black and white illustration of three young women. All are dressed in clothing from 1904, with high necklines, long, full sleeves, and floor-length skirts. One stands in the foreground, holding a piece of paper. Behind her is a waist-high trellis of roses. Behind the trellis stand the other two girls, one of whom is holding a piece of paper. In front of them on the floor is a large vase filled with roses.
Girl graduations, from The Kansas City Star, May 8, 1904.

Acceptable gifts came in many forms. Boys and young men received neckties, gloves, fountain pens, and pocket watches.

Illustration of a pocket watch case. Above the winding stem is "14K." AS GRADUATION TIME APPROACHES - very naturally you will begin to look around for the BEST gift store. Now, the selling of Graduation Gifts is, and has long been made a specialty of by this Pfeifer Store. We have endeavored to find out what will most please a graduate, and from our personal observations we believe that many have a preferance [sic] for Watches. The following special values, therefore, will certainly be of interest at this time. FOR THE GIRL. Bracelet Watch, 7-jewel nickel movement; guaranteed. 14K solid gold, richly hand-engraved watch, Elgin movement. 14K solid gold, plain case watch, set with sparkling diamond; Elgin movement. FOR THE BOY. Elgin Watch, 15-jewel, 20-year guaranteed gold filled case. 14K solid gold watch, fitted with 15-jewel nick Elgin movement. Howard Watch, 17-jewel movement in 25-year guaranteed Elgin Howard case. ALBERT PFEIFER & BRO JEWELERS
From the Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 16, 1914

Young women received watches, too; but instead of pocket watches, bracelet watches were in style, like the ones mentioned in this 1914 ad:

Drawing of head and shoulders of four young women. WATCHES FOR THE GRADUATES. The very popular watch gift is here in a great variety of models, and at a big prince [sic] range. The gift of a "Stifft" Watch insures years of continued, satisfactory use by the recipient, and is a lasting remembrance of the all-important event - graduation. [List:] Pretty Sterling Silver Bracelet Watches; good timekeepers. Sterling Silver Braclet Watches; blue enamel inlaid. Gold Filled Bracelet Watches; guaranteed movement. Solid Gold Bracelet Watches; fine guaranteed movement. WATCHES FOR BOYS. Elgin 7-Jewel Thing Model, 20-year gold filled case. Elgin 15-Jewel Thin Model, 20-year gold filled case. "Gruen Verithin" Watches, 25-year gold filled case.
From the Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 16, 1914

Stores carried a variety of gifts for the graduate, from handkerchiefs and gloves, to hosiery and stationery.

HER MOTHER IS PROUD OF HER. HER FATHER IS PROUD OF HER. THE CITY IS PROUD OF HER. THE WHOLE WORLD IS PROUD OF THE SWEET GIRL GRADUATE. Graduate Gift Suggestions. Kayser French Kids, Kayser Silk Gloves, Kayser Silk Hose, Handkerchiefs, Fancy Parasols
From The Independent Record, May 24, 1914.

Stores also offered plenty of gift ideas that featured the latest in 1912 technology. The ad below mentions Kodak cameras and field glasses (binoculars) as desirable gifts for men and boys.

GRADUATION GIFTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. One of the events of a life-time comes with the ending of the school or college term. Its importance is being generally recognized int he giving of gifts--tokens of regard that are as treasured as the gifts that commemorate any other events of a life-time. Our displays on the First Floor of the Wabash Avenue Building will offer a fund of suggestions at any intended expenditure. GRADUATION GIFTS FOR BOYS. Kodaks, field glasses, watches, coat chains, watch fobs, watch chains, scarf pins, cuff buttons, rings, key rings, military brushes. GRADUATION GIFTS FOR GIRLS. Kodaks, opera glasses, watches, fans, vanity cases, brooches, neck chains, necklaces, mesh bags, silver coin purses, bar pins, lockets, rings, bracelets, sterling silver comb, brush and mirror sets. MARSHALL FIELD & CO.
From the Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, June 5, 1912.

An ad in a 1916 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine suggested the gift of a table lamp, with a floral painted glass shade:

Drawing of a table lamp with bowl-shaded shade. Behind it is a drawing of a sitting room in style of the period. A print-fabric chair with cushions and an ruffled ottoman. On one side of the chair is a table with a similar table lamp and a framed portrait. On the other side is a smaller table with a second framed portrait. A sconce with four candles hangs over the fireplace. On the mantle is a goblet and urn. Behind the chair are more portraits handing on the wall and a sconce with two bulbs. The ad text reads: Handel Lamps. The spirit of the summer boudoir with its light, delicate draperies is reflected in this Handel Lamp. The charming floral design makes is an attractive gift for the June bride or the girl graduate. Handel Lamps, created by expert craftsmen from exclusive designs, are noted for their individuality.
Advertisement in Good Housekeeping magazine, 1916.

Lamps like that could be expenses; they cost anywhere from $15 to $50 each. For more budget-conscious gift-giving, books were always an appropriate option.

Newspaper ad. Header: Gift Books for Graduates. Books always make suitable gifts for graduates. our Book Department has hundreds of desirable volumes ready to be tied in the proper class colors. We mention a few below: Books of Travel at $3.50 Late Fiction by Well-Known Authors; Titles Suitable for Graduates. Friendship Books from 89c to $1.50 The South's highest-class department store. Kaufman-Straus Co.
From The Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), June 21, 1911.

And if your taste didn’t run toward novels, Bibles and prayer books were an excellent choice, especially if the gift giver added a loving, hand-written message of congratulations on the fly leaf or title page.

Drawing of neck and head of a young woman wearing a graduation mortar-board. SEE OUR LINE OF COMMENCEMENT GIFTS. Beautiful, Serviceable, Acceptable. BOOKS. The most complete line of Bibles, Testaments, Prayer Books in the City.
From The Lexington Leader, May 24, 19906

What is the best graduation gift you ever received or gave?

Back to School with Doris Farrand

Published on by Isabella Alden3 Comments

August is back-to-school month for students across America, much as it was in Isabella’s lifetime. As teenagers prepared to fill their days with classes and studies, they also prepared their wardrobes.

Young woman reads a thick book open on top of two other thick books. In her hand is a pencil.

Isabella knew what it was like for girls and their parents to shop for new wardrobes and school supplies. In the late 1800s/early 1900s, the right hat and a pair of new gloves were essential for a high school or college student. Luckily there were plenty of articles in newspapers and magazines to help students and their parents solve their back-to-school fashion dilemmas.

Article headline from a 1907 fashion magazine: The Department of Clothes. Beneath it is a subheading: Mr. Ralston's Chat about School Clothes. Beneath it are 3 illustrations; 2 featuring young girls wearing school clothes; 1 features drawings of teenage girls wearing different styles of school clothes.
From the Ladies Home Journal, August 1907.

Isabella began her novel Doris Farrand’s Vocation with one of those fashion dilemmas:

What should college student Doris Farrand wear to a school reception where she and her classmates were being honored?

Doris was indifferent to the problem, but her sister Athalie took on the task of updating her wardrobe, because …

“unless somebody else planned her clothes for her, [Doris] would go in rags.”

Thanks to Athalie’s efforts, Doris had a new hat to wear to the ceremony.

Drawings of "The Girl's Every-Day Hat from about 1908, featuring illustrations of eight different hat styles.

Like Doris, Miss Esther Randall (in Ester Ried’s Namesake) also struggled to stretch her college wardrobe, sometimes beyond its limits. She had a picnic to attend, and, perhaps, an evening at the theater, and she hadn’t a thing to wear. Isabella summed up Esther’s lament:

“Wherewithal shall she be clothed?”

Poor Esther’s wardrobe was so limited, she once wrote home to her parents:

I don’t think I shall accept any more social invitations. I haven’t time for them—nor gowns, for that matter. Sometimes I feel like a queer little nun in my one good dress that has to do duty on all occasions.

A teenager’s school dress, illustrated in The Ladies Home Journal, August 1907.

Unfortunately for Esther, it was the fashion for young women to wear white to their college graduation. As much as Esther dreamed of having a white dress like the ones her wealthy college friends would wear, she knew such a gown was out of reach; her missionary parents could never afford to buy her one.

Illustration of two young women wearing white gowns. The caption reads, "Pretty graduation gowns for school or college girls "to be made of sheer swiss or mull, trimmed with lace."

Like many of Isabella’s characters, Doris and Esther wore “made over” wardrobes. Doris’ sister Athalie could take an old shirtwaist, for example, and updated it with a new collar and cuffs she made herself.

Magazine illustrations of two young women; one wears a white shirtwaist; the other wears red. Displayed between them are different styles of collars and cuffs to go with either shirtwaist.

Women’s magazines of the time often gave instructions on how to accomplish it. Here’s one such article from a 1907 issue of The Ladies Home Journal:

Headline of a 1907 article in The Ladies Home Journal titled "Last Year's Clothes in This Year's Styles."

And Esther’s mother—being a skilled needlewoman—could refresh an old skirt by adding a new band of fabric to the hem, in much the same way as The Ladies Home Journal recommended in a 1908 issue:

"A Fisherwoman's Hem." How can I lengthen a seven-gored dark blue serge skirt? Are hip yokes fashionable? [signed] Amateur. It is not practicable to lengthen a skirt by adding a yoke. I should suggest that you add a "fisherwoman's hem" of dark blue chiffon broadcloth, if you cannot match your serge. The advice is accompanied by an illustration of a young woman dressed in shirtwaist and floor-length skirt standing before a full-length mirror.

But no amount of sewing or alterations could help Esther as graduation day neared. As much as she dreamed of graduating in a beautiful white gown, she knew she had only that one “good” dress to wear, which had already done faithful duty during two seasons.

Illustration of girl wearing graduation cap and gown over a long dress that reaches the floor. Her hair is styled about 1910. She holds an open book.

She knew how utterly impossible it would be to buy a new white dress—so impossible she never even considered praying about the matter. But someone else prayed on her behalf!

If you’ve read Esther Randall’s story, then you already know whether or not she ever received her heart’s desire and got to wear that coveted white dress. If you have not yet read Ester Ried’s Namesake or Doris Farrand’s Vocation, you can click on the book covers below to learn more: