2. Rickets is unlikely for someone from a well-off background, but he could have contracted polio or had a physical injury to legs or back and was put in a body cast, possibly for years, to prevent his limbs contracting. While he might suffer some residual weakness, he could also be completely fine (though post-polio syndrome in later life may still occur).
5. At that stage, a well-off family would certainly have had servants, and a bright boy confined to bed would absolutely have had a tutor. The tutor may or may not have been live-in, and the other servants were probably a mix of live-in and locals who lived elsewhere but came in daily (in the UK they probably would all have been live-in, in the US not necessarily).
Re: the rickets thing, he was the sort of child where if you sneezed near him he'd probably get sick (though not whatever the sneezer had; just a coincidental thing). Still, like you said, it's unlikely for someone to get it and not be seen to quickly through the power of money. Possibly a short series of bad colds? Mild epilepsy, though that might be reaching?
I'm thinking the tutor lived nearby, though not necessarily in the house with them. As hibiscusrose mentioned other possible servants, a chauffeur and cook are looking most necessary in a home with four boys and a sick mother.
Rickets is due to Vitamin D deficiency, so it's generally a disease of poverty or extreme environments (children above the Arctic Circle, for example). A wealthy family who can afford dairy food and can go outside are not likely to develop it. Epilepsy is probably not a good choice as there's really no treatment and, while it's possible he grows out of it and is fine as a teen and adult, he may be considered feeble-minded and not tutored. It's also possible that he's just generally sickly or has allergies and it's never actually diagnosed.
I agree with hibiscusrose that a cook and chauffeur are the most likely servants, plus a maid or two for cleaning.
Fair enough, so. Undetermined general illness(es) has been put down on the character sheet and I'll run it by the GM either tomorrow or Tuesday. Epilepsy also wouldn't be the best affliction to be suffering from while being put through the Lovecraftian wringer.
Cook, chauffeur, maids, aforementioned tutor if he stays on to teach the youngest son (and if they have room for the live-in servants) sounds like a decent complement to me.
Off the top of my head, I don't know restaurants in the Kenwood/Hyde Park area (but University of Chicago is in Hyde Park, and there was a club there for students and I believe faculty). Going into the Loop, Berghoff's, for sure. Henrici's, the Blackhawk--also in or near the Loop
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Those sites are incredibly helpful; thank you! Transport is no issue for him as he has a shiny (new!) motorcar courtesy of his father, though he often has to play chauffeur for his younger brother. Still, the Loop likely isn't out of reach as he often drives up to Michigan to go birding
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As for photography I heartily recommend the YouTube channel The Art of Photography. Ted is an absolute photography buff (and former curator from Texas), and he often talks in depth about the history of photography or photographers from different eras, often remarking on cameras used and the process involved.
I am not sure exactly when medium format cameras were invented (I do own one from 1931, so it might be plausible), but it's not going to be a 35mm camera. Those came way later.
Leica also has a website where they sell antique cameras occasionally reaching back into the 19th century, so you might find a fitting model there.
Can't believe I didn't think of that channel...I'm subscribed and a regular watcher, but for some reason never thought Youtube could be a source. I blame 5 am brain for that one. I'll poke through the Leica site and see what I can dig up. Thanks for both recommendations! Might also have to dig through good ol' Google and see what it gives me on medium format cameras.
Actually the first production Leica was 1925, but they didn't have interchangeable lenses or anything else that would be useful for bird photography until the 1930s. Lots of other cameras around of course - but expensive and a long lens would be rare. The most likely film formats for an amateur with up-to-date equipment would be roll film (often 12 6x6 cm or 8 6x9 cm negatives, but there were larger and smaller sizes) in a folding camera, with something like a 6" lens as the telephoto, and quarter plate and smaller cut film or glass plate cameras - a single sheet of film or glass plate in a light-tight holder - in a bellows camera or a big reflex camera (the ancestor of the modern single lens reflex camera but huge and probably made of wood), but that would be VERY big and awkward to carry and use
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It's a bit of an odd suggestion, but if you have a chance, you might want to take a look at Emily Post's original Etiquette. It's based on New York society rather than Chicago, and it's possibly a bit higher class than you're aiming for, but it's around the right era (1922) and there's lots of info on the clothing and food and servants and pastimes and so on of the upper classes. Plus it's public domain and thus free online.
My mom has an edition hailing from I-don't-know-when-but-probably-the-wrong-era, so this is a windfall for me. :) I can't imagine the upper classes in both places being too terribly different, though; I'm giving the clothing section a runthrough right now and it's really interesting. Thanks!
She notes in a few places where the customs described apply strictly to New York, so I suspect a lot of the rest is more generally applicable, or at least pretty similar. I hope it proves helpful, or at least enjoyable!
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5. At that stage, a well-off family would certainly have had servants, and a bright boy confined to bed would absolutely have had a tutor. The tutor may or may not have been live-in, and the other servants were probably a mix of live-in and locals who lived elsewhere but came in daily (in the UK they probably would all have been live-in, in the US not necessarily).
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I'm thinking the tutor lived nearby, though not necessarily in the house with them. As hibiscusrose mentioned other possible servants, a chauffeur and cook are looking most necessary in a home with four boys and a sick mother.
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I agree with hibiscusrose that a cook and chauffeur are the most likely servants, plus a maid or two for cleaning.
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Cook, chauffeur, maids, aforementioned tutor if he stays on to teach the youngest son (and if they have room for the live-in servants) sounds like a decent complement to me.
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I am not sure exactly when medium format cameras were invented (I do own one from 1931, so it might be plausible), but it's not going to be a 35mm camera. Those came way later.
Leica also has a website where they sell antique cameras occasionally reaching back into the 19th century, so you might find a fitting model there.
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