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Mrs. Ostermeyer: 1936
Submitted by Dave on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 4:20pm.
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December 1936. "Hands of Mrs. Andrew Ostermeyer, wife of a homesteader, Woodbury County, Iowa." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee.
Also a descendant
Submitted by Rebekah Orem on Sat, 08/21/2010 - 3:40am.
My great-grandmother is Margaret Hiller--her daughter. I had seen this picture before even knowing I was related to her. Amazing.
I am a decendent of this woman
Submitted by Jonas K. Hilton on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 10:42am.
Her name is Theresia Ostermeyer born 3/21/1863 in Woidhofen, Germany. She is my mother's great great grandmother therefore she is my 3x great grandmother. She died 10/28/1948 never knowing the picture of her hands destin to fame. The photo was taken after they had just lost their second farm due to the great dust bowl.
Steichen liked this one too, I guess
Submitted by Jonathan LeBreton on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 8:43pm.
This photo was in the famous "Family of Man" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. In the catalogue, it's on p. 79,
I miss my grandmother's hands.
Submitted by mad4books on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 9:48pm.
Mrs. Ostermeyer's hands remind me of another woman's...my grandmother's! "Nanny" also lived through the Depression--the twisted, gnarled hands that had picked & chopped cotton, wrung chicken necks, and sewn her family's clothes were the very best back-scratching hands God ever put on this earth! When Nanny would flip up the back of your shirt (usually Johnny Carson's Tonight Show) and scratch your back, you were guaranteed to MELT!
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Today's Top 5