I didn’t have any arts and crafts photos in the family archives, but I do have TONS of classroom photos. Here’s a slightly newer photo, but it’s from my husband’s side of the family from Holland, dated on the back as 11 September 1946. As far as location, I found a very similary photo here, including what look to be the same teachers. My husband’s uncle is in the photo, 2nd row from the back, 2nd child from the right. It’s interesting to note that there seem to be three teachers or at the very least one teacher and two aides. The kids are wearing a mix of regular shoes and wooden clogs, and there are a few toys in the front to set the stage. The kids also seem to be wearing some beautiful handknit sweaters and vests! Family stories tell us that my husband’s grandmother made a lot of their clothes as kids (knit and crochet), and being this was just after the end of World War II, it makes sense that certain necessities were a little harder to find. David (Douwe) Jaarsma would’ve been a month shy of 5 when this was taken, so I have to imagine it was a kindergarten class. Sadly, David passed away two years ago this month, and he’s greatly missed by the family.
I suddenly have the urge to pull out my own grade school class pictures! I haven’t looked at them in ages & your photograph reminded me so much of them as I would have been in 1st grade in September of ’46. The clothes might be a bit different, but children, themselves, look amazingly alike from generation to generation. A neat post!
The girl in the middle of the back row is the only child that looks happy!
Wonderful photograph. All old school photos have the same faces – irrespective of place, race or class. Such potential for life.
The detail in old school photos are fantastic – clothes, hair styles, class sizes, expressions, the setting. Some have names, some not. It’s great to share them instead of leaving them filed away in a cupboard.
Such serious faces, but as you say, a nice collection of hand knits, very typical of the era. Nice to see the clogs too.