Vanessa Wood
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! This photograph is of a dress up day at a New Canaan, Connecticut school. (CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER)1 It was likely taken more than a hundred years ago because it is from Clara Simon, born 1909 and a lifelong resident of New Canaan. We’ve had fun among our family trying to identify each Mother Goose rhyme character. There’s a Miss Muffet, Mary and her little lamb, and Jack with his pail of water. Can you spot additional characters?
It’s hard to date the photograph because of the costumes. Unfortunately hairstyles are hidden under hats and the one adult in the photo is hidden behind a cupboard door or room divider so her skirt length can’t be seen. But there are a couple of things that show it was made after 1900
- The light figure in the center of the class room appears to be electric lighting. Electricty arrived in New Canaan in 1897.2
- The girls are wearing Mary Jane style shoes that were popular at the beginning of the 20th Century.3
The lower right corner is embossed “Weed, New Canaan.”4
Featured Image: Map, “Town of New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut,” 1867, Beers, Ellis, & Soule; digital images, David Rumsey Map Collection (https://www.davidrumsey.com/).
- “New Canaan School Dress Up Day,” in collection of Vanessa Wood, from Clara Simon estate, received 2009.
- “Summer Crowds Flocked to New Canaan and Stayed,” 16 June 2021, Connecticut Humanities (https://connecticuthistory.org/), para. 5.
- <em>Wikipedia</em>(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_(shoe)), “Mary Jane (shoe),” rev. 09:39, 14 May 2023.
- Negative search results, surname “Weed,” born 1850 to 1890, Ancestry.com, 1920 U.S. census, Fairfield County, Conn.
