Recovering from the Rain (Two)

A day laborer repapers his roof. His house was in such poor condition that such repairs were necessary after every rainfall. Oklahoma, 1939.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Measles Quarantine

A quarantined trailer in North Carolina. 1941.

Photo by Jack Delano. [American Memory link]

Hallway

A hallway in a rooming house/apartment building in the Bronx. 1936.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Homeless

Ben Shahn, who took this shot in 1935 Natchez, Mississippi described these two as "homeless children." Although North America now has a social safety net, in many parts of the world some youngsters still fare for themselves.

[American Memory link]

Refuge

Before there were fallout shelters, there were storm cellars - such as this one on the West Texas Panhandle.

Photo by Dorothea Lange, 1937. [American Memory link]

Wooden Beauties

Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version of these houses in Atlanta, Georgia in 1938.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Abandoned

An abandoned house in 1939 Oklahoma. Photo by Russell Lee.

[American Memory link]

Mortgage Meltdown

News from the financial markets has been grim recently. This photo, taken in Jan. 1939, recalls the Great Depression. The caption supplied by photographer Arthur Rothstein is of particular interest:

"A shanty built of refuse near the Sunnyside slack pile, Herrin, Illinois. Many residences in southern Illinois coal towns were built with money borrowed from building and loan associations. During the depression building and loan associations almost all went into receivership. Their mortgages were sold for whatever they would bring, and the purchasers demolished houses by the hundreds in order to salvage the scrap lumber.

"The result is serious overcrowding and high rents in all the coal towns. A number of people can find no houses to rent, and are living in tents and shanties on the fringes of the town."

That this website is currently auctioning foreclosed American homes with starting bids as low as $1,000 is a chilling echo of those times.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: shanty, mortgage