Ancestral Swimwear and a Passion for Pictures

All this hot humid weather has me thinking about how our ancestors coped in the heat. Long dresses and undergarments in light weight cotton seemed like a sweltering combination. One of my podcast guests loves dressing in period attire. She claims that the outfit is cool, but I’m not convinced.  Hot summer weather makes me think about swimming.  But what did our ancestors wear and when. Of course it varied by generation with each successive generation of the twentieth century wearing less fabric than their mothers.  It’s a generation gap of sorts. Those itsy, bitsy, tweeny weenie bikini’s in the song would have shocked our ancestors.  In Sanditon, Jane Austen’s unfinished novel now featured in a mini-series on PBS, the female characters don full swimming costumes and enter the sea via a horse drawn changing pavilion.  This made me think about swimsuits in general including one given to me by a friend. It was  a khaki colored jersey maillot from the 1920s.  An outrageous outfit too but It was a long way from the head to toe coverage of the 1817 era.  For generations women’s bathing costumes had caps, bloomer type coverings and stockings. There were lace up beach shoes as well.  In the early twentieth century those bloomer costumes covered women to the knee and multiple layers of stockings took over from there. They were so heavy when wet that some women drowned. Ropes from shore to a pole in the water encouraged women to wade while holding on.  Of course, their menfolk folicked in the water.  While most women didn’t go swimming there were a few daring women who did.  Eliza Bennet  and Agnes Beckwith wore outfits inspired by dress reformer Amelia Bloomer  Bennet swam the Hudson River in 1877 and Beckwith swam from London Bridge to Greenwich in 1875.  It wasn’t until the 1890s that their “Princess” suits became more popular. They were scandalous resembling form-fitting lingerie. By the early twentieth century, a female swimmer  Annette Kellerman of Australia, appeared in silent films in 1910 and 1911. It isn’t common to see pictures of nineteenth century women in bathing costumes.  I haven’t actually seen an photograph of a woman dressed for the water before 1900 but I haven’t spent a lot of time looking either.  Do you have images of your female ancestors in bathing outfits?  I’d love to see them.  You can share them on my Photo Detective Facebook Page. How I Became the Photo DetectiveI’ve always loved history. When I was a kid, one of our neighbors took me to a library and showed me the reference department. He explained how to find information. Can you say hooked! From that moment on, I’ve loved the smell of books and the fun in hunting new information.  Today we have libraries at our fingertips. Think of a question and Google probably has an answer. But not everything is online and published.  There is a lot of photo history that’s been lost. From photographer archives to details about backdrops, there are clues in pictures that might not be readily available. Way back when my first professional job was split in two. I spent half the day assisting patrons with historical/family research and the other half of the day working with family photos. The two never merged until I decided that could be combined.  So I began to experiment with the ways that a photograph could lead to — or confirm — a family’s history. For instance, a wedding photo can tell I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations. Support the show