March 1943. "Transport refueling at Hecht Co. warehouse on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C." As opposed to Washington Street in New York, the venue of the previous post, also shot by John Vachon for the OWI. View full size.

March 1943. New York. "A street cleaner on Washington Street." Medium format negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.

March 1943. Argentine, Kansas. "Freight train about to leave the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad yard for the West Coast." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.

Jan. 17, 1953. New York. "Schrafft's, New Chrysler Building. Interior IV." Highly developed example of a genre of eatery once known as "quick service lunch," now more generally called "fast food." Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho. View full size.

"Linda - Nov 1951." Last seen here, Linda is now a young lady of 4, old enough to drive. From a batch of 200 Kodachrome slides I got on eBay. View full size.

On the left: Father's chair; on the right: Mother's chair; not shown: Father and Mother. Why they're not there is unknown; possibly I chased them out to take this panorama, which film grain fans may detect consists of two 35mm Tri-X negatives. Otherwise, Father would be reading the papers, Mother doing a crossword and both, perhaps, watching the TV, which was all the way across the room behind me. Up the stairs to the left is my room, and I'm otherwise evidence in a younger version in the photo on the desk. Elsewhere are displayed other family members, including my brother, sister, maternal grandmother, youngest nephew and aunt-by-marriage. Notable book collections: Heritage Press editions of Dickens, Twain and Carroll on the left, a c.1915 set of the Books of Knowledge on the right. Also, various beloved gimcracks and tchotchkes. Items on the erroneously-dubbed (by Mother) "tilt-top table" at the left indicate it's around Christmas. Finally, in the rack at right, a Sunset, "The Magazine of Western Living," which, of course, is the kind we were doing at the time. View full size.

March 1943. Rochester, New York. "The Babcocks, a typical American war worker's family." About whom we will learn so much in the coming days. Large format negative by Ralph Amdursky, Office of War Information. View full size.