Childhood Lost

This photo's caption reads, in part: "Gladys Smith, thirteen year old girl, who cooks and cares for a family of six." Alabama, 1939.

Whenever people talk about the good old days, when life was simpler and more rural, I think of scenes such as this one. Heating one's home via a fireplace and cooking one's food on a wood stove may well be a fun and interesting experience for one week a year. But people who lived back then had much of their lives consumed by long hours of drudgery.

Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. [American Memory link]

First Grade

Grade one students with their teacher. Alabama, 1939. (click photo for a larger version)

Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. [American Memory link]

Generations

For me, this shot captures the cycle of life beautifully. The child holding her doll (suggesting the children she, herself, will have some day), her mother in the doorway, and her grandmother behind her.

Full disclosure: It's actually uncertain who the others in the photo are. The caption accompanying this image says the girl is the daughter of a struggling Ohio farmer.

Photo by Ben Shahn, 1938. [American Memory link]

Have Your Head Read

A stall at a carnival in Ohio, 1938. "Come in and have your head read. She will tell you what you want to know about love" and marriage.

Originally developed by a physician in the late 1700s, phrenology was taken seriously by medical personnel in the 1800s. It was believed that an individual's personality could be understood by examining the exterior of his or her skull.

Photo by Ben Shahn. [American Memory link]

Leaving Church

In 1938 Ohio, going to church and dressing up went hand-in-hand.

Photo by Ben Shahn. [American Memory link]

Rubber Reclamation

This is a cool shot. During World War II, rubber was in short supply and recycling was essential. At the Midwest plant where this photo was taken, discarded tires covered more than 100 acres. (click photo for a larger view)

Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. [American Memory link]

Giant Tires

This device is called a vulcanizing unit. It cures rubber, the sort that gets made into tires. When this photo was taken in 1942, it was the world's largest such unit. The gent standing inside is 6-foot-4.

Photo by Alfred T. Palmer, location uncertain. [American Memory link]

Pride of Wisconsin

Cheese in a small factory in Wisconsin, 1941.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Rugged and Beautiful

A rock formation in Nevada's Valley of Fire. 1940. (click image for a larger view)

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Oregon Bounty

Logs in a mill yard in Oregon, 1939.

Photo by Dorothea Lange. [American Memory link]

Peek-A-Boo

A mother looks off into the distance as her son flirts with the photographer. Texas, 1939.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Old & New

Wagon wheels and an early automobile muffler outside a blacksmith's shop. Texas, 1939.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Demon

A fanciful radiator cap. Photo taken in Mississippi in 1938. (Click image for a larger view.)

Discussion here notes that the figure's little finger has broken off - and that radiator caps may well be the origin of the automobile hood ornaments that followed.

Image by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Lumber

Cut lumber in Maryland, 1935.

Photo by Theodor Jung. [American Memory link]

Shining Light

Taken in a Washington, D.C. warehouse in 1942. These items were apparently collected during a wartime salvage drive.

Photo by Marjory Collins. [American Memory link]

Eternity

A cheery little sign to have encountered at the side of the road, near the beginning of the Second World War. Apparently coloured red, white and blue. Georgia, 1940.

Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. [American Memory link]

Nothing Lasts Forever

A worker washes an army vehicle prior to its final coat of paint. Taken at White Motor Company, in Cleveland, Ohio in 1941. The company lasted an additional forty years, but shut down down in 1981. (See a larger version of this wonderful shot by clicking the image.)

Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. [American Memory link]

Easter Table

The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Easter table prepared for blessing by the priest at a home in the Polish community on the day before Easter. For Poles, Easter is a day for church going, feasting and visiting." Although it's difficult to see, the centerpiece is apparently a lamb sculpted from butter. (click photo for a larger view)

Photo taken by Marjory Collins in Buffalo, New York. 1940. [American Memory link]

Spring Flowers

A 1943 Easter flower stand in Washington, D.C.

Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

Shelter 2

Another shot of a baby goat with its own personal shelter. Texas, 1940.

Photo by Lee Russell. [American Memory link]

Shelter from the Storm

A young goat kid is protected from cold winds and blazing sun on a Texas ranch in 1940.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Weather Balloon

Releasing a balloon at the airport in Washington, D.C. in order to determine wind direction and velocity. 1943.

Photo by Fred Driscoll. [American Memory link]

Blowing in the Wind

Paper blown against a fence by the West Texas wind. 1940.

Photo by Lee Russell. [American Memory link]

Circus

I love this shot, of youngsters sneaking under a circus tent in 1936 New Mexico. (click image for a larger version)

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Mechanization Meets the Farm

A hay-loading machine helps get the hay onto the wagon - but the wagon is still drawn by mules. 1938, Arkansas.

Photo by Lee Russell. [American Memory link]

Three Children and A Babe in Arms

The family of a field worker at a Louisiana sugarcane farm. 1938. Their fine, softly-lit features seem at odds with their surroundings. (click photo for a larger version)

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Farm Girl

A fabulous shot of the young person who was in yesterday's photo. Louisiana, 1938.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Barefoot

This barefoot girl makes a charming and nostalgic picture leaning against the wagon, but her daily life would have been anything but easy. Louisiana, 1938.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]