Alta Dillon slumber party 1898
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Alta Dillon slumber party 1898
Updated Mar 10, 2025
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Sue Allen
2 followers 916 favorites
04/14/2016
Comments
AncientFaces
380k+ followers 411 favorites
04/19/2016
Ever wonder what a slumber party looked like in the 1800s? Every child at Alta Dillion’s slumber party in 1898 Oregon wore nearly identical nightgowns and had their favorite doll.
Judy Mitchell 
Nina Morway
via Facebook
I guess it's because back in those days it took quite long to take a picture and you had to sit really still and where not allowed to move. Therefore people did hardly ever smile in very old fotographs. It was too uncomfortable to keep that smile the whole time. It would have looked like a frown.
via Facebook
...and by "slumber party", do you mean "cult"? They don't look very happy.
via Facebook
back then it took a very long time to take a photograph, so it was easier for people not to smile
via Facebook
Sherylee Golds ... Ya they were probably pretty fed up with sitting there waiting to have the picture taken... hence the cranky looks on their faces 😊
via Facebook
People had to hold a pose for two to three minutes for a photograph to be taken.
via Facebook
Maybe this is at an orphans home,they don't look to happy.
Susan Schloss
1 follower 496 favorites
04/20/2016
Don't think so. Orphans would not have been so well dressed, and would not have expensive dolls.
via Facebook
Slumber party = Giggley girls being silly... right?
What's wrong with this picture? :/
What's wrong with this picture? :/
via Facebook
I explained it somewhere else here - back then being photographed took quite some time. Too long to keep smiling. So people in old pictures always look serious.
via Facebook
Oh yes... I realize that. But just imagine the effort to keep them all quiet and straight faced for all that time! ;)
Caitlin Cooper
via Facebook
Now just stop and consider the fact that rather than taking a candid snapshot, each of these kids had to tramp on down to the local photography studio, get dolled up in their night clothes and sit for a formal studio portrait to document this sleepover.
Unless, of course, the sleepover was taking place at the photography studio to begin with.
Unless, of course, the sleepover was taking place at the photography studio to begin with.
Susan Schloss
1 follower 496 favorites
04/20/2016
Jim-I get your point. However, you must remember that no one had cameras at home or anywhere else at that time. So in order to have a memory, you had to go to the photography studio! Hense the reason for photos of the dead--usually, the people had no record of their families, so when people died (especially children), the parents wanted to have a keepsake!
via Facebook
Yes, I got that; which was the point I was making; that far from being a spontaneous snapshot such as we would have today, all these kids had to buggy-ride across town to the photographers and sit for a studio portrait. About as artificial and non-spontaneous as you can get with a troup of children.
via Facebook
There's always gotta be at least one kid starting some s*** at a slumber party, and that kid second row, second in from the right had to be it. She doesn't just have her somber photo face in, that is full on glare lol.
via Facebook
Gotta love it. Bless her I hope she did raise hell.
Heather Edseth
via Facebook
She was getting ready to snatch the doll away from the little girl next to her.
Joanne Jacobellis
151 favorites
04/19/2016
I zoomed in, and you're right! What a scowl! I hope they were just annoyed with the photo and went on to have fun!
Gloria Lange
16 favorites
04/19/2016
It was rare to find smiling faces. Photography was a serious business to record a memory retakes were expensive so posed," stiff" photos were the fashion. The little girl who was the hostess must have been from a wealthy family ... Nice photo!
Jean White
168 favorites
04/19/2016
Wealthy families had camers at that time check history even some had non talking b/w film
via Facebook
Fascinating. Creepy bc not one child snuck in a smile. I know it was not the fashion - and it took a long time to take the shot - but still...unnatural.
via Facebook
They raised untold hell right after that. My Nonna (grandma, born in 1887) explained to me in the 1960s that no she is not going to smile in the picture because picture is serious. Sigh. She did forget herself a few times though hehehe. Priceless.
via Facebook
Actually for people like myself with resting b**** face this is very natural
via Facebook
Well, I'm sure they were a bit embarassed to be in their nightclothes with a male photog!
via Facebook
matching nightgowns but they are all hearing hats to bed??
via Facebook
Central heating wasn't invented yet it got pretty cold the bonnets keep your ears warm. I wear a beanie to bed sometimes for that reason.
Gloria Lange
16 favorites
04/20/2016
Heat escapes through the head! With a cap on you can even sleep with icicles dripping inside an attic from a roof leak and stay relatively warm...with a partner similarly clad of course...
via Facebook
For each girl to possess dolls such as these suggests these were children of wealth. Would love to know the history behind this photo.
via Facebook
The fact that they lived in a house to accommodate a huge sleepover also says that. Title should read "Ever wonder what an 1800's slumber party looked like for rich kids?"
via Facebook
Exactly. Just the size of the party suggests great wealth as do the nightgowns and nightcaps and of course the fact of the photo itself as the photographer came to the house.
via Facebook
I was wondering who dressed them, got their hair unbraided and brushed. I thought might be a boarding school photo.
via Facebook
Very sweet photo! thanks for sharing this. :D So I found online about Alta's dad : ... and about Alta :
via Facebook
I followed your link on FamilySearch re Alta's father - quite a story behind the scenes - but because your link to Alta Dillon was thru Ancestry.com.ca I couldn't see it [I'm in Australia and am not prepared to "free trial" any new subs with Ancestry - it always ends up costing far too much!
via Facebook
I spose back in those days it would have been rare to get your photo taken unless you could afford it? Besides the fact it took a long time to take a photo your probably weren't told to smile. I've also heard people's teeth weren't very good so they didn't even know how to smile? Regardless of the why, what or maybe's, this is a beautiful photo of the girls and their beloved dollies 😃
via Facebook
It looks like a picture for a girls orphanage. I find it hard to believe there was time for slumber parties in the 1880s.
Gloria Lange
16 favorites
04/20/2016
Orphanages didnt have that nice clothing or dolls like that. Not even sponsors would have paid for that or a photo. Look for pictures of old orphanages so you can see... My first thought was a girls school... But i have no real reason to doubt the submitters word since i dont know the familys financial situation.
Gloria Lange
16 favorites
04/20/2016
Btw my ancestry is oregon... My ggrandfather had 10 girls and two boys... Two families or three could have made up that photo easily and yes they had sleepovers usually when babies were being born or after harvest and holidays.
Elena Murray
1 follower 28 favorites
04/20/2016
Wonderful photo! Actually I recently read that in the 1800's people were considered to be insane or look insane if they smiled in photos. Hence serious photos. It also had to be the length of time to pose and it would be hard to smile that long.
Daniel Pinna
204 followers 10.4k+ favorites
04/21/2016
Wow I never heard that - good to know Elena!
Cindy Bunnell
5 favorites
04/21/2016
Doesn't look fun because they weren't actually at a party. Look at the background - it's a painted set and not an actual home. This was set up at a photographer's studio - most likely to commemorate the event....
Vivian Mirabal
5 favorites
04/24/2016
Do you ever notice that children in that era all don't seem very happy. Life then must have been hard and strict.. Just doesn't seem happy childhood, none smile or have that certain light in there eyes.. So sad and creepy
Lori Russell
120 followers 11.9k+ favorites
03/17/2024
Is that a orphanage? That's a big sleep over. Cute pic
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