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Egg Rollers: 1911

"Easter egg rolling at White House, 1911." Harris & Ewing. View full size.

"Easter egg rolling at White House, 1911." Harris & Ewing. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Easter finery

When I was a child in the 1950s, we still got new clothes - including a hat - for Easter. We also wore white gloves to church. That was about the end of the era of the Easter bonnet. I still remember the song: "In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it....." No Easter parades anymore either.

On the Bench

Just wondering who made that wonderful bench. I've never seen it in an any other photos of the White house. Someone put a lot of work into that.

Younger youngest lawyer?

Look! In the back row, in the middle! It's Pauline Floyd, already working on that "gaze"!

Just like my grandmother

I have a photo of my grandmother at 3 years old (circa 1914) wearing the same hat as the little girl on the far left. Grandmother has the look which suggests that revenge on the parental units will be forthcoming.

Rolling, rolling rolling...

I had never heard of egg rolling until my English/Scottish friends invited me over one Easter. We decorated eggs for a couple of hours, then rolled them down a grassy incline to see whose went the farthest. Did it again and again until the eggs were pretty well toast (well, not toast exactly). Anyway we ended up seeing who could throw them the farthest -- not sure if that's the traditional method or not.

Blindfold?

Why would the second girl from the right be blindfolded?

Mom

The little girl kneeling on the far right looks almost exactly like my mom.

Easter bonnets!

Those are amazing hats! And the elderly lady's chapeau is no slouch, either!

Ah, sooo...

Chinese eggrolling much better. Taste good, lick fingers, no messy lawn.

Insane hat brigade

The hat on the left is absolutely fabulous. It looks like it was swiped from an eight-foot-tall Strawberry Shortcake doll. Pure awesome. I also love the second-to-last girl kneeling on the ground, whose head is completely engulfed in giant bows. Whatever happened to the days when you could dress your kids up in insane outfits and take them out in public like that? Nowadays, we seem to have slipped back to the "Miniature Adults" mode of the Puritans.

They had to call out the Marines to deal with this crowd? Kids were tougher then.

Now someone tell me what "egg rolling" is. Are they doing it for speed? Distance? Accuracy? Standing start, or do you get a run-up?

Easter Finery

The clothing the children are wearing may be their Easter best but it certainly isn't the bright frilly dresses we see today.

Litterbugs

Apparently children were litterbugs back then too ...


Washington Post, Apr 17, 1911

Kiddies to Roll Eggs Today

President May Speak to Children on
White House Lawn

The White House is prepared for the Easter festivities which will be held today, when the White House lawns will be thrown open to all the children of the city for egg rolling. Baskets have been distributed profusely over the grounds, but today they will probably yearn in vain to be utilized.

There are innumerable signs and other precautions taken to remind the heedless what a wastebasket is intended for and the policeman will plod from group to group to ask the parents, nurses, and children to throw their eggshells and empty bags into the places provided for them. The guardians of the grounds, however, know from experience that the well-groomed lawns after today's siege will be littered ankle deep with the remnants of picnicking, and they have hauled the extra rakes and wheelbarrows down from the loft of the executive stables in anticipation.

The President will come out to spend a few minutes with the children, and probably will make a little speech to them. He expects, however, to be overshadowed as an attraction by the gayly uniformed Marine Band, which he has ordered out for the entertainment of the children, and he will not interrupt very long.

The predictions for local weather conditions today, issued by the weather bureau last night at 11 o'clock are: Fair, slightly warmer Monday.

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