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November 1940. Aberdeen, South Dakota. "L.M. Schulstad, traveling salesman for hardware company, at home with his family." Acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.
I can remember when a basic family ALL eagerly, happily read the newspaper after discovering each's favorite section. Imagine Dad still wearing his work clothes as a salesman. No TV, no radio; and as noted by someone else, no smartphones. Even with WWII looming, no one seemed to having a raging "hair on fire" anger about something that counts for naught.
But a relatively prosperous end-of-Depression-era household, despite Junior's sole-hole. Such a contrast in epoch and spirit to the other photo today (Sanatorium Kitchen), only two months apart in time but so different in type (institutional / residential) and style (modernist / old-timey) and location (NYC / South Dakota) and lighting (Gottscho massive daylight / Vachon creepy). A great Boxing Day pair!
... and the scene is the same, only everyone's face is buried in a smartphone.
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