Selma's Bathing Suit

I was looking through Selma's diary and found that she purchased her bathing suit for $4.98 on August 15, 1918 from Akron Dry Goods.  I just discovered an interesting resource on Ancestry.com.  They have scanned in what looks like every Sears Catalog from 1896 through 1993.  In the picture I posted of Selma swimming earlier in the week, you couldn't really see what her bathing suit looked like.  Here is the only page of bathing suits from the Spring 1918 catalog.  I imagine that Selma's suit would have looked very much like these:

Here are pictures of more fashion-forward suits from 1918, not likely that the conservative Brueggeman's would have allowed (or could have afforded) these suits.

Selma in the Summer

Here are three of the Brueggeman girls, Linda, Lydia and Selma, at a lake or swimming hole in their bathing costumes.  I am sure they were fashionable at the time, but can you imagine swimming in outfits like these?  My guess this is 1918 or 1919.

Linda and Selma

Lydia and Selma

Sid in the Summer

While most of the country has been hot lately, I thought this picture of Sid Riley and his good friend Bill Cartright in their bathing costumes might help you think of cooling off in some inviting water somewhere!  Ray just told me a story that Sid was once kicked out of Euclid Beach because his bathing costume didn't go below his elbows or below his knees. 

Original.  Sid looks so young

Photo adjusted to see a little better