Enquiries

The information desk in Chicago's Union (train) Station. 1943.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Steam Engine

A train departs from Chicago's Union Station, January 1943.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Measles Quarantine

A quarantined trailer in North Carolina. 1941.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Mothering 2

The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Sergeant George Camblair and his mother." Taken in Washington, D.C. in 1942.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Warm and Cozy

The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Making a quilt from surplus commodity cotton in Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia."

1941. Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Stripes and Shovels

Convicts and their guard, 1941 Georgia.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Convicts

A peculiar image, documenting an unusual occasion. The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Convicts from the Greene County prison camp at the funeral of their warden who was killed in an automobile accident, Georgia."

Photo by Jack Delano, 1941. [American Memory link]

Smokescreen

One spooky image. "Soldier of a cavalry rifle unit going through a smokescreen during a field problem" - at an army training base in Kansas.

Photo by Jack Delano, 1942. [American Memory link]

Pretty Faces

A moment in a Puerto Rican slum, 1942. One wonders how these children's future unfolded. Did they grow into adulthood - or were their lives cut short by misfortune? Today, they'd be in their 70s.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Pineapple Express

Taken on a pineapple plantation in 1942 Puerto Rico.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Planting Time

Planting corn by hand in 1941 South Carolina.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Grown-Up Eyes

There's something about the older child's eyes in this photo. She looks far too grown-up for her age. South Carolina, 1941.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Retiree

This is a great portrait. I can almost smell the pipe smoke. A retired railroad engineer, this gent's second career involves growning corn and wheat on a 25-acre Virginia farm.

1940. Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Lunch To Go

A boy with an old-fashioned lunch pail. Tobacco tins were commonly used for this purpose.

I've sometimes wondered why we call containers that look more like buckets or boxes "lunch pails". This is a great example of how our use of language often lags behind our changing environment. Similarly, some people still refer to CDs as "records".

Virginia, 1940. Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Charlie Chaplin Chicken

A poster for a sideshow at a county fair. Rutland, Vermont. 1941.

Photo by Jack Delano.
[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: sideshow, poster

Dancing the Night Away

Club DeLisa, Chicago. 1942. Photo by Jack Delano.

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

Slipping & Sliding

Children with a sled. Jewett City, Connecticut. 1940.

Photo by Jack Delano.

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

Thanksgiving Dinner

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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[American Memory link]

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

Anticipation

A 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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[American Memory link]

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

Husband & Wife

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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[American Memory link]

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