Train in the Mist

A West Virginia trainyard, September 1942.

Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

Candy Stand

A candy stand at a farm auction frequented by Amish, Mennonite and Pennsylvania Dutch families. Pennsylvania, 1942.

Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

On the Move

A fine shot of a father and his son. The image caption says they're boarding a train in West Virginia, bound for New York state where they'll work as agricultural laborers.

Photo by John Collier. Sept. 1942. [American Memory link]

Spring Flowers

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

Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

Wool Into Blankets

I love the light and the shadows in this photo. Maclovia Lopez, the wife of the mayor of a New Mexico town, spins wool sheered from her ten sheep so that it may later be woven into blankets.

Photo by John Collier, 1943. [American Memory link]

Cat Cuddle

The son of a rancher in New Mexico's Rocky Mountains has a feline moment.

Photo by John Collier, 1943. [American Memory link]

On the Lookout

Identified as Barbara Mortensen, this woman was a fire and aircraft lookout on Pine Mountain in New Hampshire during World War II. Her job involved carrying firewood up 56 steps. Notes elsewhere explain that her husband, a ski champion, was away serving as a machinist's mate in the U.S. Navy.

Photo by John Collier, 1943. [American Memory link]

Milk Man

There are at least five photos in this charming series. A woman pours milk and a man drinks it.

1942, New Jersey. Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

Field of Beans

This series of photographs depicts migrant workers - some of whom are children - bringing in the bean crop. Workers headed for the fields at 5:30 am.

New Jersey, 1942. Photo by John Collier. [American Memory link]

Starshine

This adorable child was photographed in Alabama in 1943. If she were 12 at the time, she'd be 78 years old today.

photographer: John Collier [American Memory link]

Nativity

Christmas Eve, in the church. Taos, New Mexico, 1942.

Photo by John Collier.

[American Memory link] to locate this image, use search terms: Taos, Christmas

Home for Christmas

The 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

Lumberjack

This 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

Haircut

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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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: camp, barber

Bloom of Youth

Sometimes it's necessary to go to war.

But armed conflict should never be undertaken lightly. As this photo makes clear, it is a country's young men - barely out of boyhood - who are sacrificed.

Photo taken by John Collier at a San Francisco marines recruiting office, 1941.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: recruiting, marines