Vintage Surveyor Photo at Hospital in Upland, CA

Looks Like A Mine Railroad

Is this hospital built with granite?

Paul in PA

Interesting, appears they would be on knees to work in the tunnel.

Probably just one surveyor and a helper. Everyone else is a "local expert on surveying because I held a stick once back in '32." Lookie Lou's or whatever you call them.

Nifty. Thanks.

You two have been spending A LOT of time in hospitals lately.

Tell me about it!

I have often wondered if the suits they wore were their everyday clothes or if they got “dressed up” for the photographs.

Just questions that go through my head sometimes.:-S

Suits

> I have often wondered if the suits they wore were their everyday clothes or if they got “dressed up” for the photographs.

I've wondered the same and I'm pretty sure that's how they dressed at work. Probably when they went fishin' and swimmin' too.

In the photo below, circa 1930, are 5 local surveyors and I know that the two on the right, John Runge (the tall guy) and Bill Widdows were pretty much always in the field. They're pretty casually dressed as compared with the guys in Wendell's photo, but bow ties, a fedora and either suit coats or vests under their jackets??? Not something you see nowadays. Of course their britches and boots give them away in this photo. The others are (L to R) Robert Gould, Tony Fossin and a "Mr. Hardesty". I wouldn't have wanted to work for Hardesty.

Haven't a comparison, but I've seen several old photos of early surveyors here in Tasmania and they are all resplendent in their refinery.
Suits and fob watches.
Not convinced they'd tackle our early bush and inclement weather dressed like that.

If dad went into town off the farm he'd always wear a tie, putting one on his farm shirt before leaving home.
Probably 'what you did' back then.

In 1975 I was working on a bridge job in Philadelphia and a PennDOT Surveyor
and crew showed up to do some Right of Way work. I was amazed to see him dressed in a suit coat and tie.

You and Angel have been to hell and back several times over the past couple of years. I, for one, certainly hope the future holds prosperity, peace and harmony for you guy’s. God knows y’all deserve it. Thank you both for all you do! B-)

19th. Century Dress-Code

Around Oklahoma I'm pretty sure folks dressed as best they could, work or play, in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

My Grandfather was born in 1878. He was a farm kid and never had a flush toilet or running water until after WWII. He was also a cabinetmaker. Anytime he was working he had starched and pressed shirt and pants. His hat, tie and jacket came off when he rolled his sleeves up to get to work.

He owned overalls and wore them when he was working in the fields or working the cattle. As soon as he was finished, he cleaned back up. Especially for supper or dinner.

I'm pretty sure our wore-out Levis and t-shirt style was created by a later generation.

Since I got licensed, I have never shown up to work without a collared shirt and a shave. I have a beard now, but I still shave around it and keep it clean looking. I don't wear a bow-tie and vest, but I feel as a professional there should be at least some degree of taking pride in your physical appearance.

I also feel I've earned the right to drink slightly more expensive scotch....

a couple for your scrap book

Wendell, I came across these some time back. I wish I knew the provenance behind these photos, maybe someone here can lend an opinion.

Enjoy!

19th. Century Dress-Code

Wow Paden - do you and John Prine have the same Grandpa?

"Grandpa Was A Carpenter"
-John Prine

Grandpa wore his suit to dinner
Nearly every day
No particular reason
He just dressed that way
Brown necktie and a matching vest
And both his wingtip shoes
He built a closet on our back porch
And put a penny in a burned out fuse.

[Chorus:]
Grandpa was a carpenter
He built houses stores and banks
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes
And hammered nails in planks
He was level on the level
And shaved even every door
And voted for Eisenhower
'Cause Lincoln won the war.

Well, he used to sing me
"Blood on the Saddle"
And rock me on his knee
And let me listen to radio
Before we got TV
Well, he'd drive to church on Sunday
And take me with him too!
Stained glass in every window
Hearing aids in every pew.

[Chorus]

Now my grandma was a teacher
Went to school in Bowling Green
Traded in a milking cow
For a Singer sewing machine
She called her husband "Mister"
And walked real tall and pride
And used to buy me comic books
After grandpa died.

19th. Century Dress-Code

> Well, he used to sing me
> "Blood on the Saddle"
> And rock me on his knee
> And let me listen to radio
> Before we got TV

[flash width=420 height=315]//www.youtube.com/v/FZ7vJMqH04g?hl=en_US&version=3[/flash]

But I always liked Texas Washboard Rag

Dougie

John Prine

Maybe somewhere down the line. We at least share a similar view of our worlds.

From his songs he's probably from Kentucky. My granddad was from the Ten Mile area of Meigs Co., Tennessee, north of Athens.

Prine has written some of the most poignant words of the late 20th. Century:

"Paradise" by John Prine

a couple for your scrap book

What we think of as business suits today were considered as leisure time wear in the past. Look at everyone in a crowd shot from Yankee Stadium 70 to 90 years ago. Those same people wore overalls and such while working in the nitty gritty field they had chosen, but dressed casually to go to the sporting event. Wearing such attire suggested that you were not at work, or at least not going to be doing anything strenuous.

However, based on the apparent time frame in the photo of the surveyors, that was a time when people didn't maintain large wardrobes. You wore what you had available, which wasn't a whole lot. That suggests that rugged suit-like outfits were the normal attire for both work and play. I'm sure they had significantly more roominess built in to the design than most of the business suits I've ever worn.

RE: slightly more expensive scotch

> I also feel I've earned the right to drink slightly more expensive scotch....

Always was a single malt man, but for some reason I've recently been drawn to Dewar's 😉

[flash width=560 height=315]//www.youtube.com/v/9JWrnFRk0WY?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

Having looked at all these pics, I also wonder about head-cover styles. Wendell's pic has mostly fedora type.

Mike's pic shows fedoras and a couple of tams. The dude on the right looks like he's ready to ride the "Derby". Where is his riding crop?

Some posts further down is Kevin's first pic shows mostly fellers with English bowlers. I have always liked the bowler hat. I don't know why. I don't have one. I do have a tam mixed in with a ton a baseball hats and a couple of military style camo/jungle/rain hats.

Also interesting to note is the neck tie styles. Some with bow-ties and some with today's regular neck-tie - Windsor and double-Windsor knot. It's hard to tell but I think there may be one ascot style in there. I don't even know how to tie one anymore. Another interesting thing I noted is most all have vests all buttoned up.

My semi-educated guess is that these crews were mostly of Irish or English backgrounds. Notice how the two are not shown together. The tams would be the Irish and the bowlers would be the English, and mutts with the fedoras would be plain old Americans.

My Grandpa White gave me a fobbed pocket watch (solid gold) before he died. I still it and it still works but I don't have a watch chain for it. He said it was his Grandpa's. On occasion at my first job (circa 1983 and suit and tie all the time) I would often sport a 3-piece vested suit and would carry that watch instead of wearing a wrist watch. I always got compliments and a few years later grew a handle-bar mustache. Put me in some sepia film and I'd probably looked like I was 200 years out of my time.

I'd still like to have a bowler one day. I remember a movie (Thomas Crown - Pierce Brosnan??) about some thief swapping brief cases amongst a bunch of guys all wearing the same suits and all sporting bowlers. It reminded me of an MC Escher print.

E