Oil Painting of Abraham & Mary and Their 3 Boys

[Linda Anderson]

Linda, how old was FDR at the time the photo was taken? Do you know if this was all his own hair and haircut, or was it a whig?

Eva, he was 2 1/2 when the photo was taken. When I saw the photo at Hyde Park, no one mentioned a wig so I assume it is FDR's own hair. Here is an article titled "When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?"

"Little Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits primly on a stool, his white skirt spread smoothly over his lap, his hands clasping a hat trimmed with a marabou feather. Shoulder-length hair and patent leather party shoes complete the ensemble.

"We find the look unsettling today, yet social convention of 1884, when FDR was photographed at age 2 1/2, dictated that boys wore dresses until age 6 or 7, also the time of their first haircut. Franklin’s outfit was considered gender-neutral."

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cultu...z2mW9O5O6c
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

The photo even made Life Magazine!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http...CDsQ9QEwBQ

Here are more photos of FDR taken in 1885 from the FDR Library at Hyde Park.

http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu:8000/p...589&y=-247

By the way, today the FDR Library launched FRANKLIN, "Access to the Library's Digital Collections."

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/

[Gene C]

Great links Linda.

I was going to post a funny youtube video about this , but they were to creepy.

So you'll have to settle for this by Johnny Cash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1BJfDvSITY

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Linda!