Infant’s sunsuit or daysuit. This is a one piece garment with short sleeves, mother of pearl buttons and a scalloped collar. The outfit was worn by the donor on his first birthday, July 20th,1940. A sunsuit is an old-fashioned term for a child’s one-or-two piece suit of clothes usually consisting of shorts and sleeveless top that was worn in sunny weather but could also be used as a swimsuit. Sunsuits were usually clothing worn by toddler boys, as is the case with this outfit. NMHM/DCA 2010.13.1
Since everybody is spending so much time at home for this Christmas holiday – and we could not gather for Christmas at the Palace, we hope you and your children will enjoy spending time adding color to your own New Mexico Christmas.
You can download the coloring book to print out and color….or even color on your computer. Enjoy!
Rollerskates owned by Josefita Manderfield, NMHM/DCA 01549.45ab
Do you skate?
In 1907, children roller skating on sidewalks became a huge issue for the people of Las Vegas, NM. It even sparked debate in the city council.
One letter writer to the Las Vegas Daily Optic asked, “If the children roller skate, why do they do any more harm than the baby buggies and go-carts? Why not make the women go out in the street and wheel their babies there? And I wonder if the mayor and the city council were ever children. And why don’t New York, Chicago and St. Louis, Kansas City and even Albuquerque make them stop skating? Because they like to see the children have fun, and why don’t Las Vegas?”
Another citizen wrote that “It must be a pretty, crusty old curmudgeon who would seek to prevent the harmless amusement the children have been extracting from roller skating.”
Surely, these late 19th century Smith & Griggs Manufacturing Co. roller skates, made of metal, wood, and cast iron, saw many good times on the feet of Josefita “Pepe” Manderfield when she was a child in Santa Fe.
