Donkey Cart

New Mexico, 1940. A time in which homesteaders still used burros/donkeys as a means of transportation.

Photo by Russell Lee.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: burro, cart

Mmm, Cabbage

The 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.


Photos by Russell Lee.

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[American Memory link]

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

Empties

The aftermath of a "beer party" in 1941 Oregon.

Photo by Russell Lee.

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[American Memory link]

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

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

Christmas Dinner

As 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.

(Photos by Russell Lee)
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[American Memory link]

to locate these images, use search terms: Earl, Pauley

Lobster Fest

Extreme lobster claw. Taken at the Fulton Fish Market in New York city, 1943.

Photo by Gordon Parks.

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[American Memory link]

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

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

Scantily Clad

Wrestlers at the 1941 Tunbridge, Vermont "World Fair."

Photo by Jack Delano.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: Tunbridge, wrestlers

Snowy 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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[American Memory link]

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

Long Life Butter

Land O'Lakes butter in 1941. Sixty-seven years later, this product's packaging has changed little.

Photo by John Vachon at a butter packing plant in Chicago.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: butter, land, lakes

Neighbors

Chatting over the back fence in Laurium, Michigan.

Photo taken by John Vachon in 1941.

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[American Memory link]

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