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]

Meeting the President

A farmer receiving drought assistance from the government speaks with President Roosevelt in North Dakota, 1936. Click image for a larger view.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Milk Train

Be sure to click this image for a larger view. The caption accompanying this shot tells us this milk arrived in Caldwell, Idaho via train. 1941.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Iowa Train

Awaiting a freight train's departure in Iowa, 1940.

Photo by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

on vacation - back soon

All the best

Truck Stop

A gleaming, vital image of a trucker grabbing a meal at a Mississippi truck stop in 1943. (Click photo for a larger view.)

Taken by John Vachon. [American Memory link]

Pepe's Cafe

Taking a break at Pepe's coffee shop in Key West, Florida, 1938. The chairs and tables look European in both design and scale.

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Greek Coffee

A lush, crisp shot of the owner of a coffee shop in 1938 Pennsylvania. (Click image for a larger view.)

Photo by Arthur Rothstein. [American Memory link]

Reading the Mail

This young man, photographed in 1942 Idaho, looks remarkably contemporary.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Making Soap 2

Cutting homemade soap (comprised of grease and lye) into bars. In a rural community with few medical services, ensuring that the knife didn't slip was crucially important. New Mexico, 1939.

Photo by Russell Lee. [American Memory link]

Making Soap

Ah, yes, the good ol' days, when one spooned grease and lye into a tub set over a woodfire. Eventually the whole mess hardened and one cut it out of the tub in chunks.

The thing we forget when we romanticize living 'close to the land' prior to modern manufacturing is that it involved hour upon hour of unpleasant, tedious and frequently dangerous work. There's a reason the people in so many of these photos look older than their years.

Photo taken by Russell Lee in New Mexico, 1939. [American Memory link]