Fifteen years earlier it would have been simply shocking for teen girls to be seen in public with so much skin exposed. But on the cusp of the Roaring Twenties, fashion had changed. Compared to the middy dresses of earlier bathers, this was nearly a bikini.

Photograph was taken by Christine Bader some time between 1919 and 1921. I found it in a photo album she made during her high school years. On the back is a purple rubber stamp with a triangular logo featuring the graphic of a native American in feather headdress, and the words Illini Quality Service. This suggests, that though she took the photos, she sent them out for commercial processing.