Dec 31, 2008

Dancing the Night Away

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CHICAGO, DANCING and MUSIC Club DeLisa, Chicago. 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Chicago, dancing, music

Dec 30, 2008

Good Times

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms YOUNGSTERS and DANCE A young couple at a Junior Chamber of Commerce dance in San Angelo, Texas. 1940.

Photo by Russell Lee.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: youngsters, dance

Dec 29, 2008

Swing Your Partner

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms NEW, SQUARE and DANCE Square dancing in New Mexico, 1940. Photo by Russell Lee.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: new, square, dance

Dec 28, 2008

Home Delivery

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms GROCERY and BOYS In 1941 Chicago, these young men waited outside grocery stores - earning money by truddling home shoppers' purchases.

Photo by Russell Lee.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: grocery, boys

Dec 27, 2008

Light on White

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms NEW, SNOW and FENCEShadows and textures.

Photo taken by Arthur Rothstein in New Hampshire, 1936.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: new, snow, fence

Dec 26, 2008

Slipping & Sliding

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms SLEDDING and CHILDRENChildren with a sled. Jewett City, Connecticut. 1940.

Photo by Jack Delano.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: sledding, children

Dec 25, 2008

Christmas Child

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms MARTINETTI and GRANDCHILDThe Bronx, New York. 1942. Photo by Marjory Collins.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Martinetti, grandchild

Dec 24, 2008

Nativity

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms TAOS and CHRISTMASChristmas Eve, in the church. Taos, New Mexico, 1942.

Photo by John Collier.
[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Taos, Christmas

Dec 23, 2008

Home for Christmas

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms GREYHOUD, DEPOT and WASHINGTONThe pre-Christmas rush at the Greyhound bus depot in Washington, D.C. (1941)

Photo by John Collier.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Greyhound, depot, Washington

Dec 22, 2008

Checking It Twice

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms FRUITLAND and CHILDREN
Childen in rural Idaho. October, 1939.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms FRUITLAND and CHILDREN
Photos by Dorothea Lange.

[American Memory link] to locate these images, use search terms: fruitland, children

Dec 21, 2008

Winter In the Country

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms MARYLAND and MAILBOXES Mailboxes on a Maryland highway, 1940.

Photo by Marion Post Wolcott.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Maryland, mailboxes

Dec 20, 2008

Let It Snow

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms SNOW and AUTO
Chillicothe, Ohio in 1940. Photo by Arthur Rothstein.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: snow, auto

Dec 19, 2008

Home Canning

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms HANSEN and PRESERVESMrs. Hansen, a farmer's wife in Utah, is seen with her store of home-grown, home-preserved fruits and vegetables. This photo was taken in 1940 - an era in which housewives would can 500 quarts a year to feed their families during the winter.

[photographer not identified]
[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Hansen, preserves

Dec 18, 2008

Milk & Mail

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms VERMONT CROSSROADS A crossroads near Woodstock, Vermont. Cans of milk left by farmers were collected by truck and brought into the city.

Photo taken by Marion Post Wolcott in March of 1939 or 1940.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Vermont, crossroads

Dec 17, 2008

Roughneck

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms OIL, WORKER and OKLAHOMA An oil-field worker in Oklahoma, 1939. Photo by Russell Lee

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: oil, worker, Oklahoma

Dec 16, 2008

10 People, 3 Small Rooms

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms TWO ADULTS and EIGHT CHILDREN Taken in the "Mexican section" of San Diego in 1941. The father is an agricultural worker.

The family lives in what is described as "three small rooms, with no bath...They use an outside toilet shared with five other families." In addition to the eight children in this photo, another is on the way.

(photographer: Russell Lee)

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: two adults, eight children

Dec 15, 2008

More Laundry

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms ELEVEN, CHILDREN and FACTORY The caption accompanying this photo is worthy of being quoted in full:
"Lititz, Pennsylvania. Mrs. R.W. (Elizabeth) Almoney, forty-seven (center rear), has had eleven children. She works as a gauge inspector at the Animal Trap Company and on Sunday does the washing. Her husband (left) works in the local chocolate factory. Daughter Arline, twenty (right), who also works at the Animal Trap Company, is cooking Sunday dinner. There are three brothers in the service, and one Boy Scout, age thirteen, in the family."

Before birth control was legal, and prior to automatic clothes washers, there was a lot more work - and a lot less play.

Photo taken in 1942 by Marjory Collins.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: eleven, children, factory

Dec 14, 2008

Ford Fighter Planes

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms OUTER WING PANEL Ford's Willow Run, Michigan bomber plant. Outer wing assembly, 1942.

Photo by Ann Rosener.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: outer, wing, panel

Dec 13, 2008

High Water

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms WINCHESTER FLOOD WATERS The old John Denver song, "Take Me Home, Country Road" makes mention of the Shenandoah River - the floodwaters of which submerged this farm near Winchester, Virginia in March 1936.

This image also brings to mind Johnny Cash's line 'How high's the water, Mama?' in the song "Five Feet High and Rising".

Photo by Arthur Rothstein.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Winchester, flood, waters

Dec 12, 2008

Gonna Soak Up the Sun

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms ARLINGTON and SUNBATHERS Occupants of a wartime women's residence in Arlington, Virginia sunbathe behind their building.

Photo by Esther Bubley, 1943.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Arlington, sunbathers

Dec 11, 2008

Lumberjack

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms INDIAN and WOODSMANThis gent, a First Nations lumberjack from Canada, was photographed in Maine during the 1943 Spring pulpwood drive.

Photo by John Collier.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Indian, woodsman

Dec 10, 2008

MacKenzie King, Prime Minister

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms PRIME MINISTER KING
Love the shades.

Taken in Washington, D.C. during a visit by Canada's Prime Minister, MacKenzie King, in 1943.

Photo by Ann Rosener.

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to locate this image, use search terms: Prime, Minister, King

Dec 9, 2008

Been Fishing

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms SHELLS and CRAWFISH Conch shells and crawfish. Key West, Florida.

Photo taken in 1938 by Arthur Rothstein.
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to locate this image, use search terms: shells, crawfish

Dec 6, 2008

Muscle

locate this image on the American Memory website by using the search terms PLENTY and MUSCLE Members of the Coast Guard at Fort Story, Virginia, cleaning a large gun/cannon after it was fired.

Photo by Alfred T. Palmer, 1942.

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to locate this image, use search term: plenty of muscle

Dec 5, 2008

More Frogs

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms STORE, SIGN and LOUISIANA
Taken in Louisiana, in 1939, by Russell Lee.

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to locate this image, use search terms: store, sign, Louisiana

Dec 4, 2008

Frogs

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms SIGN, BOONSBORO and MARYLAND An unusual distinction.

Photo taken by John Vachon near Boonsboro, Maryland - in 1939.

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to locate this image, use search terms: sign, Boonsboro, Maryland

Dec 3, 2008

Typo

locate this image on the American Memory website by using search terms SAN JUAN and SIGN Oh, dear.

Photo taken by Russell Lee in San Juan, Texas. 1939.

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to locate this image, use search terms: San Juan, sign

Dec 2, 2008

Dreams

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms NEW ENGLAND and BOYS This photo is part of a series about those who made their living fishing New England waters in the early 1940s.

Photographer Howard Liberman's caption observes that "[m]any of the boys will follow their forefathers" and become fishermen themselves.

One wonders how this young's man life actually turned out.

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to locate this image, use search terms: New England, boys

Dec 1, 2008

Laundry

Texas, 1939. A child exits a "privy" while a woman washes clothes the hard way - by hand, in a tub.

The collection contains numerous photos depicting the laborious and time-consuming ways in which this task was accomplished prior to the arrival of running water, electricity, and modern appliances.

Photo by Russell Lee.

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to locate this image, use search terms: clothes, washing, Texas

Nov 30, 2008

Donkey Cart

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms BURRO and CARTNew Mexico, 1940. A time in which homesteaders still used burros/donkeys as a means of transportation.

Photo by Russell Lee.
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to locate this image, use search terms: burro, cart

Nov 29, 2008

Mmm, Cabbage

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CABBAGE and CANThe collection contains a series of 1942 photos documenting the processing of fresh whole cabbage into dehydrated ribbons which were then canned and shipped overseas to feed the armed forces.

In the first photo, a worker hermetically hand-seals a 2.5-gallon can. Gourmet fare it was not. Nor had routine industrial tasks become fully mechanized yet.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CABBAGE and CAN
Photos by Russell Lee.

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to locate these images, use search terms: cabbage, can

Nov 28, 2008

Empties

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms BEER and CELEBRATION The aftermath of a "beer party" in 1941 Oregon.

Photo by Russell Lee.

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to locate this image, use search terms: beer, celebration

Nov 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Dinner

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CROUCH and THANKSGIVING Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Timothy Levy Crouch, whom the photo caption describes as a "Rogerine Quaker."

1940, Connecticut. Photo by Jack Delano.
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to locate this image, use search terms: Crouch, Thanksgiving

Nov 26, 2008

Anticipation

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CROUCH and THANKSGIVINGA younger son of the Timothy Levy Crouch family peeks into a pot pre-Thanksigving dinner in 1940 Ledyard, Connecticut.

Note the wood-fired stove. Other shots show the boy's father fetching firewood for the event.

Photo by Jack Delano

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to locate this image, use search terms: Crouch, Thanksgiving

Nov 25, 2008

Christmas Dinner

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms EARL PAULEYAs American Thanksgiving approaches, our thoughts turn toward the many reasons we have to feel grateful.

Taken in 1936, the caption accompanying these photos reads: "Christmas dinner in the home of Earl Pauley. Near Smithfield, Iowa. Dinner consisted of potatoes, cabbage and pie." Note the lunch bucket near the top of the images.

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms EARL PAULEY
(Photos by Russell Lee)
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to locate these images, use search terms: Earl, Pauley

Nov 24, 2008

Lobster Fest

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms GIANT LOBSTERExtreme lobster claw. Taken at the Fulton Fish Market in New York city, 1943.

Photo by Gordon Parks.

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to locate this image, use search terms: giant, lobster

Nov 23, 2008

Husband & Wife

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms WILLIAM GAYNOR This lovely portrait, of Mr. & Mrs. William Gaynor, was taken in 1941. The couple are dairy farmers. Other photos in the series show them milking cows and canning vegetables while their children collect potatoes from the fields.

Photo by Jack Delano.

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to locate this image, use search terms: William, Gaynor

Nov 22, 2008

Scantily Clad

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms TUNBRIDGE WRESTLERS Wrestlers at the 1941 Tunbridge, Vermont "World Fair."

Photo by Jack Delano.
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to locate this image, use search terms: Tunbridge, wrestlers

Nov 21, 2008

Snowy Mountains

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms ALASKA MOUNTAINS The collection contains a dozen stunning shots of US aircraft flying over Alaskan mountains during World War II. These are A-29s near Mount McKinley.

(In 1942, Japanese forces landed on the Alaskan Aleutian island of Attu - the site of the only World War II land battle on US soil.)

Photo attributed to the U.S. Army Signal Corps., 1942.

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to locate this image, use search terms: Alaska, mountains

Nov 20, 2008

Long Life Butter

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms BUTTER LAND LAKES Land O'Lakes butter in 1941. Sixty-seven years later, this product's packaging has changed little.

www.landolakes.com Photo by John Vachon at a butter packing plant in Chicago.
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to locate this image, use search terms: butter, land, lakes

Nov 19, 2008

Neighbors

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms BACK FENCE COPPER Chatting over the back fence in Laurium, Michigan.

Photo taken by John Vachon in 1941.

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to locate this image, use search terms: back, fence, copper

Nov 18, 2008

Army Supply

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms DODGE ARMY TRUCKSWhether American automobile manufacturers will survive the current economic crisis remains uncertain. Meanwhile it's interesting to recall that, back in the forties, these companies were central to the war effort.

The above photo was taken in 1942 by Arthur S. Siegel. The caption reads: "Chrysler Corporation. Dodge truck plant. Detroit, Michigan (vicinity). These long rows of Dodge Army trucks await shipment to various branches of the armed forces. Hundreds of army vehicles come off the Chrysler Corporation production lines daily."

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: Dodge, army, trucks

Nov 17, 2008

Feast

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms LOAVES BREAD The young man in this photo is carrying "loaves of bread made from Red Cross flour at an evacuation camp." He and others at this camp in Tehran, Iran are Polish.

Photo taken in 1943 by Nick Parrino.
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to locate this image, use search terms: loaves, bread

Nov 16, 2008

Haircut

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms CAMP BARBER Pulp and paper workers in Maine, 1943. The camp handyman is giving this haircut since the nearest professional barber is 35 miles away.

Photo by John Collier.
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to locate this image, use search terms: camp, barber

Nov 15, 2008

Hands

to locate this image on the American Memory website use search terms ANDREW OSTERMEYER The caption associated with this photo reads: "The hands of Mrs. Andrew Ostermeyer, wife of a homesteader, Woodbury County, Iowa."

Other photos explain that this 76-year-old and her 81-year-old husband had their farm re-possessed by the loan company and now live with their son.

Photo by Russell Lee, 1936.

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to locate this image, use search terms: Andrew, Ostermeyer

Nov 14, 2008

Fabulous Face

to locate this image on the American Memory website, use search terms MANUEL ZORRAThis striking gent, Manuel Zorra, was photographed in 1940. A fisherman of Portuguese descent, he made his home in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

According to Edwin Rosskam, the photographer, Mr. Zorra was "one of the best storytellers on the cape."
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to locate this image, use search terms: Manuel, Zorra