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]

Old & New

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

Photo by Russell Lee. [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]

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]

Making Butter

A ceramic butter churn on a family's front porch. The cloth cover kept out the flies. North Carolina, 1939.

Photo by Dorothea Lange. [American Memory link]

Sweeping Up

Tidying up around the woodstove in Utah, 1940. This is a great shot of a stove from that era. It's no doubt much fancier than the ones used by many of this family's neighbours. (Click image for a larger view.)

Note also the sink with the water tap behind the girl. Indoor plumbing was far from universal at the time, which also suggests this family was relatively prosperous.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Sewing Machine

Seen here threading her machine, home sewing wasn't something this woman did as a hobby. Rather, the photo caption explains that a substantial part of her family's wardrobe was acquired this way.

1940, Oklahoma. Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Blacksmith

A blacksmith with the hub of a wagon wheel in 1940 Oklahoma. As one technology replaces another there, are always periods of transition in which both co-exist in the same communities at the same time.

Workers into today's auto industry surely share some this blacksmith's concerns as he watched horseless carriages destroy his livelihood.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Spinning Wheel

A spinning wheel in 1935 Arkansas. A new coat or blanket was no small thing when every part of the process needed to be undertaken by hand.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Washing Dishes

Mrs. M. LaBlanc washing dishes in her Louisiana home, 1938.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Blacksmith Digs

The building in this lovely, moody shot belongs to the blacksmith (and was otherwise known as "the forge"). Reedsville, West Virginia, 1936.

Photo by Edwin Locke. [American Memory link]

Old Technology

A hand-powered corn grinder in 1939 Oklahoma. Photo by Russell Lee.

[American Memory link]

Horses Are Smelly, Too

In 1940 Iowa, corn got planted with the aid of farm animals - which required constant feeding and care. If your horses fell ill, your family's food supply might be threatened. Dire consequences lurked around every corner - which is why farm folk tend to be cautious and conservative.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Telecommunication

A telephone, with a telephone book. Iowa, 1940.

Oh, for the good old days - in which one bent over, speaking into the microphone as best one could, while holding the other part to one's ear.

Awesome how much things have changed during the past 69 years.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Come and Gone

A telephone operator in 1941 Maryland. Yes, Virginia, a live human needed to physically connect your call, moving those cables from one place to another.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Two Horses and an Automobile

A farmer, a hired hand, two horses and an automobile. Old technology intersecting with new.

This is such a great shot. A perfect creative-writing jumping off point.

Photo taken in 1940 Arizona by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]