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VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Pails in Comparison: 1939

September 1939. Children's lunch pails wait for their owners in a rural Wisconsin schoolhouse. View full size. Photograph by John Vachon.

September 1939. Children's lunch pails wait for their owners in a rural Wisconsin schoolhouse. View full size. Photograph by John Vachon.

 

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re:I *DO* love the lone paper bag

Wouldn't that be the richest kid in the class ... they could afford to use disposable items or went to the store often.

Re: Vachon Schoolhouse

The caption cards for these school photos don't record a location, but it's between pictures taken in Fennimore and Boscobel.

Location of Schoolhouse

I've seen other photos of this rural Wisconsin schoolhouse taken by Vachon and one of these days I plan to track down its exact location . . . was somewhere in southwest Wisconsin based on Vachon's travels through the area in 1939. I'm sure the schoolhouse is long gone but I think it would be fun to locate its site and see what is there today.

I *DO* love the lone paper bag...

...and my first thought was that it either belonged to the poorest kid in the class or the teacher, neither of whom could afford a pail!

Paper bag

All those lunch boxes and pails, you got to love the lone paper bag.

Advertising Opportunity Lost

No cartoon characters on those lunch pails? How did those kids live?

Funny.

Part of my Shorpy joy comes from the captions...and another part from the comments. And to think I first started coming here for the photos alone!

;-)

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