Friday, September 4, 2009








  1. Raquelle,
    I'm on it! I have sent out a research team!

  2. They were just plain sweatshirts that the students themselves autographed or wrote "witty" sayings, the same as they wrote on rain slickers or on their cars. Any school related item, like a cap or a pennant, or an armband was likewise a place to write on. Just graffiti, before it moved to spray paint and public buildings.

  3. I pretty much know only as much as Jaqueline said. It was a bit of a fad in the Twenties to write their names, different sayings, the name of their university, what have you, on everything from sweaters to coats. I am sure there was a term for it.

  4. Haha that is just wonderful, really.

  5. I really do think this has a name. It's very rare that a popular fad goes nameless... I also would like to learn more about the origins fo it.

    Maybe it was an act of rebellion? Like Jacqueline says... it's graffiti that moved on to other things later.

  6. Love your blog!

    I linked to your blog on my classic film blog!

    Thanks for the great blog!

  7. My belief is that it was nameless, so to speak. There was a "teen fad" similar to this in the 50s where teens used marker to "personalize" belts etc. I posted about it at one of my blogs from a magazine write-up I found, but I don't have time to get the link now...

    I think it went rather nameless because it was a cycling trend based on youth and personalization, so rather difficult to name -- at least not in a way that is meaningful to search engines & databases ;)

  8. I can't help, but you might be interested to know that this fad is still around in some places. At my high school, it was a tradition to have everyone sign your shirt on the last day of senior year (we wore uniforms, so it looked somewhat like your pictures).

    Good luck with your research! Now you've got me curious about it, too. ;)




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