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Crowded Houses: 1935
... of substandard dwellings." Nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. The ... all the time must have been intolerable. Middens by Mydans Seems pertinent. Wow! So much gritty detail. Can I put this ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/07/2021 - 1:30pm -

September 1935. "Slums. Washington, D.C. -- Photographs show poor housing conditions contrasted with well-built homes. Children playing in slum backyards and on street. Unsanitary conditions. Former residences now used as rooming houses. General views over rooftops. Interiors and details of substandard dwellings." Nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
 The Depression?If the Great Depression didn't start here it could have. Pretty sad state of affairs.
An extra added bonusAside from the dirt and general brokenness, having everyone privy to everyone else's business all the time must have been intolerable.
Middens by MydansSeems pertinent.
Wow! So much gritty detail.Can I put this into the backyards of my HO railroad 1930s theme?
Been Awhile1, possibly 2, Turnbuckle Stars on building to far right.  1st and 2nd story.
Clotheslines and rear galleriesI’ve mentioned it before, but people are generally triggered by views like this to assume squalor and lack of hygiene and general all-around nasty housing.  I live in 120-year-old rowhousing with clotheslines in back, as well as wooden galleries, and these houses are going for over a million bucks these days.  Call it revenge of the slum-dwellers.
Being PoorDoesn't mean you have to live like it.
[If only we had been there to guide them! - Dave]
Truck ID1930 Chevrolet "roadster delivery" as advertised.
Back to the future?The LOC notes give the date as 1935, but I’m pretty sure that truck’s license plate says 1939.
[Incorrect. That's a 1935 Virginia plate. This is one of more than 500 photos Carl Mydans took for the Resettlement Administration between September 1935 and January of 1936, the year he quit his government job and started working for Life magazine. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C.)

Over and Under: 1936
... Housing under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. ... by, otherwise the laundry won’t be very clean. Mr. Mydans is being watched ... by the vigilant signalman in the tower, who is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/25/2021 - 6:30pm -

April 1936. "Housing conditions in crowded parts of Milwaukee. Housing under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
InterlockingThe maze of trackwork is controlled as an interlocking from the signal tower. The elevated pipes are the rods controlling the switches that determine the direction of travel and the signals that control train movement through the interlocking. The signalman moves the switches by large levers in the tower. It's called an "armstrong" system because of that. The signals are semaphore signals, probably of the upper quadrant type. There is another of the interlocking system signals behind the man in the image. The vertical signal blade is likely giving a train engineer permission to move through the left hand track of the two curving off to the right. Upper quadrant signals were deemed safer than lower quadrant ones as the blade would drop to the horizontal "stop" position in the event of a signal malfunction. Interlockings like this are now controlled from an operations center miles away from the interlocking. A few interlockings and semaphore signals like these may still exist somewhere in the US.
I spyA guy between the tracks carrying something white.  A signal device which I hope commenters will explain.  A streetcar zipping across a rail bridge.  A crisp array of laundry on the line.  An intriguing series of diagonal shadows falling from that pipe-y business running close to the ground between the houses and the tracks.  And -- up up up – three pigeons, one with its wings caught forever in mid-flap.
"Pipe-y Business"The "pipe-y business" mentioned in jd taylor's comment are push rods that are connected to large levers in the switch tower. The other end of the pipes are mechanically connected to the various switches that control the path that a train takes through the rail yard. 
The only computer in this 1936 image is the brain of the guy in the switch tower to control where the train goes.
The pipe-y business and the signal deviceThose are the connections between the track switches and the "Armstrong" levers in the control tower. To move a train from one line to another the tower man pulls the correct Armstrong levers and the rods connecting the lever to the track cause the switch to move. Later, these movements are accomplished electrically with much less effort, but are still controlled from the tower.
The signal device is called a train order board and tells the oncoming trains to proceed, slow or stop. Simply put, straight up is proceed. Diagonal board is a slow order, and horizontal means STOP! The two order boards control two tracks.
The ValleyI worked on the west side of Milwaukee briefly in the '80s, the area called The Valley.  This Shorp looks reminiscent of my time there (minus the  homes under the bridge).
Drying clothesThe lady of the house would need to get the laundry in before the train comes by, otherwise the laundry won’t be very clean.
Mr. Mydans is being watched... by the vigilant signalman in the tower, who is standing, arms akimbo, trying to decide if he should call the railroad police on the strange dude taking pictures of railroad infrastructure. Amazing how much detail those large format cameras picked up.
[Medium format (Speed Graphic 3¼x4¼). - Dave]
Compared to the typical imager in most consumer-level gear, any format larger than 35 mm is 'large' today, and digital backs for medium format and larger cameras are priced well out of reach for mere mortals...
Lots going on here That guy on the tracks isn't holding any signal device. The guy in the signal tower is about to yell at him through the open window to get off the tracks. At any rate, he's almost to his destination, the F. Knop Tavern, just out of view on the right.
The "pipey-business"controls the switches in the railyard from that  little square 4 window building on the left, all hand powered.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee, Railroads)

Paper Doll: 1936
... for Lake of the Ozarks project. Missouri." Photo by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration. View full size. Firetrap I ... start construction until 1964.) (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids, Kitchens etc.) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/03/2023 - 4:45pm -

May 1936. "Sharecropper shack. Kitchen of Ozarks cabin purchased for Lake of the Ozarks project. Missouri." Photo by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration. View full size.
FiretrapI would be surprised if that shack lasted more than a week or two without burning down. We have dried out single ply newspaper hanging on the walls inches from a wood fired stove and hot pipe, and as if that was not enough there is what appears to be a kerosene can just to the left of the little girl's feet. I just hope nobody was inside when it went up.
Newspaper for wall covering.My mother has told me many stories of her childhood.  
She remembers well her mother using a flour/water mix to paste newsprint on the walls.  It sealed the cracks and was a very good insulator.  But that didn't stop the wind from blowing up through the floor or her seeing critters between the floor board cracks.
She also tells with great detail how their house burned to the ground when she was four. 
One final thought, she told me her mother would set the bed posts in small cans of kerosene to keep the bed bugs from crawling into bed with you at night. 
Life was much different back in the 30's and 40's.
No smoke detectorsI wouldn't want to consider the level of fire hazard in this kitchen. 
The newspaper curtain has a nice touch. Somebody really cares. But God help the occupants of this residence if the stove backfires. 
Mrs. Roosevelt's newspaper columnOn the wall to the left of the stove and just above the washboard, the newspaper/wallpaper has Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's almost-daily column called "My Day". I believe she was much more in front of the American public on a regular basis than our most recent First Ladies - and not just in the papers. Lot of people didn't like that, but many others did.  Mrs. FDR wrote that column from 1935 to 1962 six days a week. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Christmas ClubWhen I saw the ad for "Christmas Club" in the newspaper I immediately tripped down memory lane.  When I was a little girl I remember going to the Bridgeville National Bank to start a new Christmas club.  First you would pick the amount to save and then made payments to this free account so you would have money to buy Christmas gifts for friends and family.  This club was open to adults and minors and many a Christmas was funded by this club.  Hope I made sense - more like a savings account that you could only receive during the month of December.
Amazingly Resilient!Despite the crushing poverty this family had to endure, the little girl's dress may be dirty but her face is clean, and her smile is both endearing and hopeful. I am amazed how someone (probably her mom) cut the newpaper over the window into the shape and resemblance of what I believe is called a "valance" over the window. How brave, resilient, and resourceful these people were. Amazing Americans!
Aviator HelmetThe little girl must have a brother. As poor as they seem to be the little feller managed to snag a new one. I always get a kick seeing kids wear those in the movies and in photos. There's nothing like an ornery looking kid in goggles, I laugh out loud every time.
Bike Helmet?Is that some early motorized bike helmet hanging on the wall?
I have to wonder too if the girl would be reading the newspapers and wonder what a "Christmas Club" was.
AmazingThe valence above the window is amazing!  And think that today someone out in the Hamptons is paying an interior decorator big bucks for a reproduction print wallpaper similar to this for a powder-room!
Fox TroubleIt would appear that Mr. Fox has earned himself the unwelcome attention of the farmer. Looks like a nice, well used fox trap hanging there. 
Worker housing?Bagnell Dam, which created the Lake of the Ozarks, was finished in 1931, and the lake filled up in less than 2 years (per Wikipedia).  So apparently this cabin wasn't bought because it would be in the flooded area - maybe it was housing for one of the construction crew, and he just kept living there later?
(The dam for the big lake to the west, Truman Lake, didn't start construction until 1964.)
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids, Kitchens etc.)

Alley Up: 1935
... School in background." Medium format negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Come Set a ... (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C.) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/24/2017 - 3:01pm -

November 1935. "View of alley between K and L streets in Northwest Washington behind North Capitol Street. Blake School in background." Medium format negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Come Set a SpellSheds? I recall the eminent broadcast journalist David Brinkley, who worked radio early in his career in D.C., saying that the District in 1941 "boasted" of still having 15,000 outdoor privies. I think the wooden lean-to's seen here may harbor more than a mower and rake.
[We can see some privies over on the right (enlarged below). - Dave]
Laundry ladSomewhat past halfway down the row of attached rear sheds on the left, just where there are two gaps in the row, I spy a young fellow, busy at what looks like hanging up laundry on the short diagonal line.
Saint Phillips ChurchAlmost the entire photo is a parking lot now, though the tall, peaked roof visible behind the former Blake School in the background is the still-standing Saint Phillips Baptist Church (1001 North Capitol NE):  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/highsm.10183/
Purchased by Douglas Development in March 2017 for conversion to a synagogue, now something else:  https://www.popville.com/2022/04/town-2-point-0/  
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C.)

Neighbors: 1935
... Ohio. Cincinnati slum dwellings." 35mm negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Manor on ... comment below gives the clue that solves the mystery. The Mydans photo below is captioned "House at 1400 Block, Eastern Ave., ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/16/2016 - 6:44pm -

December 1935. "Hamilton County, Ohio. Cincinnati slum dwellings." 35mm negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. 
Manor on the hillInteresting comparison between the falling-down, unpainted houses at the bottom of the hill and the castle at the top.  
We were so poorWe couldn't even afford a tire for the spare wheel!
Eastern Avenue, 1400 BlockJeff's comment below gives the clue that solves the mystery. The Mydans photo below is captioned "House at 1400 Block, Eastern Ave., Cincinnati." The next photo down shows the same tenement with a train behind it, plus, in the upper left, the "big house" we saw here at the top of the hill.
Workshop alfrescoThat boxy looking contraption beside the little potbellied stove is a home built table saw, for cutting wood. Most likely it ran via belt power supplies by hooking a belt to a wheel of one of the vehicles. You can see the "belt pulley" coming out the side nearest the camera, but there's no other drive mechanism visible.
Vanhorne AlleyThis was one in a series of pictures that Carl Mydans took along the now-vanished Van Horne Street (previously seen here on Shorpy -- scroll down to the comments), in what's now the Queensgate section of Cincinnati.
[In which case this may have been the area circled in red below, east of the Price Hill Incline. Click the map to enlarge. See the entire map here. - Dave]


Holy CrossThis is a view of Bucktown, a segregated and now demolished African-American neighborhood on the eastern edge of downtown. The hill in the distance is Mount Adams, and the large building is very likely the old Holy Cross Roman Catholic monastery.
[Below, the big house compared to the monastery and Immaculata Holy Cross. Doesn't look like either one. - Dave]
Not Sure Where This IsThis one has me stumped.  The building on the hill looks sort of like some of the incline houses, but it doesn't match up with any of them, or with the Holy Cross monastery or the art museum.  We're already starting to climb up the hill where the photographer is standing, so this isn't Van Horne Street.  Based on the density and type of buildings, I would guess this is somewhere around the base of Mt. Adams or Mt. Auburn, or it could be in Mohawk/Brighton near McMicken Avenue, but I can't find a record of any buildings that look like the one on the hilltop in those areas.  It could also be somewhere in Lower Price Hill or Fairmount too, with some old hospital or hotel/resort type building up top.  Many of Mydans' other photos are of areas along Eastern Avenue, so this could be any one of several streets that parallel it and back up to Columbia Parkway, with a Hyde Park or Mt. Lookout mansion above.
Dave beat me to itThe other photos of the same area gave a good clue with the railroad being in the background.  Interestingly, the little neighborhood off Eastern Avenue that these houses were in was completely wiped out before 1956, and not even the roads remain.  The house on the hill is a mansion that was part of Edgecliff College.  That was absorbed into Xavier University and much of it was demolished in the late 1980s for construction of a new high rise condo building.  Because of the house's setback from the edge of the cliff (har har) we can only see the second story and the roof, but you can definitely see what it is in the aerial shot I attached.
More maps!Thanks to Jeff J. for pinpointing the location. This would be just east of Eden Park. Click below to enlarge.

ExactlyWhy I find SHORPY so interesting: the research and analysis that sorted out the location of the subjects and the mystery mansion on the hill!  Well done all!  Proof that coming back later is always of value with Shorpy.  A great educational tool.
Source for maps?I was wondering where the Cincy map was found in hopes I could find others for my area.
[There's a link to the Rumsey Map Collection in the Vanhorne Alley comment below. - Dave]
Our Lady of CincinnatiThe big house on the hill belonged to Our Lady of Cincinnati College (later Edgecliff College). It looks  a little like Emery Hall.
Edgecliff College (Our Lady of Cincinnati College)To the two folks who attached the pictures of Edgecliff (overview of the campus from Jeff and the postcard from Anonymous), can you let me know where I could obtain copies of these?  I'm trying to assemble an archive of the old school.  Thanks. LemminPie@aol.com
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cincinnati Photos)

Rural Mother: 1936
... near the Tennessee River." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Sons ... on a scale unimaginable today. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Rural America) ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 07/05/2009 - 2:29am -

March 1936. "Mother and baby of family of nine living in field on U.S. Route 70 near the Tennessee River." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
SonsRose,
And notice that the boy you mention (the one on our right) is the only one wearing shoes.  It looks like he's standing on maybe his father's feet--there's somebody else standing off the camera edge.
But imagine:  The clothes that they're wearing might've been their only clothes!  Just to reiterate: there was no choice of what they could wear from day to day.  What they have on now was all they (might've) had for possibly months at a time.
"How do I get to the Susquehanna Hat Company?"
What happened to them?While it's certainly disheartening to see that kind of abject poverty, the family probably fared better over the next decade. The TVA started bringing electricity to that area around the time of this photo and Tennessee had a pretty robust wartime economy. The draft board generally didn't take men with nine children so the father would have been around to find steady work. So however bad it may have been you can at least be confident it got better. 
And yet the boy is smilingAnd yet the boy is smiling :)
Mother of povertyThis photo made cry. What more clear image of poverty in America could there be?  A flour sack for a skirt and a safety pin holding a tattered sweater. I ache for her children and wonder what happened to this family. One bright spot is the boy smiling to his sister while holding her toe.
Tatters...They may be poor material wise with their tatters and rags on their back, but they are rich in their love for each other.   
Mother of povertyThis is the worst case of poverty I have ever seen that wasn't from the third world, but look at them they are together, even able to smile, by far this picture is the best example of "the great depression".
fakeThe picture is of  far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake.
["That era," the mid-1930s, when photography was 100 years old, saw some of the best photographs ever made - the work of Ansel Adams, for example. And of course a few minutes of Googling will show this to be a well-known Depression-era image in the Library of Congress archives. Comments like these are a good opportunity to point out that the farther back you go, the better and sharper the pictures get, because the recording media were bigger. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. - Dave]
Re: No exaggeration"And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing. But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch."
 YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT !
No exaggerationIn addition to reading "Let us Now Praise Famous Men,"  check out the photos of Jacob Riis and read "How the Other Half Lives."  Yes, muckrakers, but they were not making up the poverty they found and photographed.
When people who were doing *well* had only 2 or 3 sets of clothing, there just wasn't as much "extra" around to give to the poor.  Using flour sacks and sugar sacks was incredibly common - so common that it is a trope in literature of the time.  Even solidly middle-class families "turned" collars and facings on their clothing when it wore to holes, to use the other side, and every family had a rag bag in which they saved *every* scrap of old clothing for other purposes.
I guess in this day of cheap clothes made by slave laborers in poison-filled factories in China, its hard to believe anyone treated clothes as so precious that they were saved and worn until they were in this state, huh?
And yeah, glass plate negatives are amazing.  But even 35mm film actually carries more information than most digitals: ISO 100 35mm has an effective resolution of 10 megapixels, and when you up the negative size to that of a view camera or the 8x10 glass plates, you're talking resolutions and image quality that today's cameras can't touch.
Rural mother 1936Oh how I wish I could take the doubting thomases back with me to the North East of Scotland  during the time that this stunning photograph was taken.  I am glad that it has been brought up to watchable standard by digital magic or whatever.  I can still remember my grandfather filling his boots with straw to keep the cold/wet out before going out to the field to plough or cut corn with a scythe. He also used the very same material to wipe his bottom. Granny had a grain sack for a skirt and wore clogs.  My favourite time of day was when she put the 'hen's pot' out to cool.  I invariably ate the potatoes and haven't tasted better since. Money-wise it was a very poor time but life had a richness difficult to achieve these days.
Re: Fake>> The picture is of far higher quality than existed in that era. It's obviously a fake.
We get a lot of comments like this, I guess from younger people, or people who have never been to a museum. They don't realize that the farther back you go, the better and sharper professionally taken photographs get, because the recording media were much, much larger. An 8-by-10 glass plate negative is 80 times as large as a 35mm film frame, or the image sensor in a digital camera. Two examples are here (1865) and here (1913). As well as here and here and here. Also a lot of comments from people who seem to think color photography started around 1960.
Poverty exaggerationOk, this photo is an example of early photo-journalism. The family could very well have been homeless and living in a lean-to or a wooden box on top of a truck chassis- during the summer, anyway. But the depiction of poverty is exaggerated- think about it- if someone steered the photographer toward the family, then others in the community knew they were there. There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes. These rags were put on to evoke sympathy for the plights of many during the depression. Don't get me wrong - shock value was probably needed to raise support for many valuable social programs that came about because of the depression. But how long could a family dress like that and not receive donations from others, no matter how bad off the community was.
[Most of these migrants, refugees from the Dust Bowl farms of the Great Plains, were not especially welcome in the communities where they dropped anchor, and people often did whatever they could to get them to leave. You might want to read up a little more on the Great Depression. A good start would be "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee with photos by Walker Evans. Or "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. - Dave]

Not an exaggeration"There's no way a family can dress like that and not receive donations of used clothes."
My mother was a teenager during those years and remembered how so many people were driven to desperation.  Her comment was "there was always someone trying to cheat you."
Two or three years into the Depression the do-gooders began to run out of sympathy and "used clothes." And after five more years of no improvement they began to fear things would never turn around and that they would end up in the same circumstances.
There were just too many newly poor people and not enough people with excess resources to balance things out.
BenIf anyone was ever interested in trying to achieve that kind of detail today, I'd highly suggest buying an old used medium format camera and using some 120 roll film. I have a couple of Yashica TLR's which were considered substandard in the 50's and 60's, but their quality still makes a 35 SLR look like a cheap point and shoot. It's not the camera that makes the pictures better, but the larger negative available in 120 film. Not only do you get more detail, but the color depth is far more realistic. 
ClothesMy Gramma has saved some clothes that her mother made from flour sacks. She also has some made from linen and wool they spun and wove themselves, when they were more prosperous.
She lived in a house with a dirt floor and didn't wear shoes in the summer.
The Face of the Great DepressionThank you Mr. Caruso. 
I echo the response from Dave....We read in history books about the Great Depression and over the years, in our mind it is simply a swirl of facts and figures, of almost dispassionate removal that was the reality. While it has been said that hindsight is 20/20, I think it can also be argued that hindsight, especially from such a distance can be sterile becoming almost become an illusion, an event without a substance.
Hopefully this will once again place it into a reality ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y
Dale
Oh My GoshI'm 15 years of age and I had no idea that the Great Depression was that bad.  This picture really oppened my eyes to the extreme conditions at that time.  Thank you for this reality.
Reality CheckI have a picture on my desk showing my mother during the depression.  You can see her bones because at 5'7" she weighed 85 pounds...just from the simple lack of food.  Each girl in the family had two dresses and each boy had two pairs of overalls - one to wear and one to wash.  By "wash", I mean using a metal tub over an open fire. Mostly they went barefoot (in the Arizona desert) because if they had shoes, they were too valuable to wear everyday.  In the picture my mother is looking directly at the camera and her expression is almost exactly the same as the look on the face of a shell shocked combat veteran.
As I said, I keep this small black and white photo on my desk so that if I ever, ever have even a moment of thinking that I'm having a hard day I can look at my mother's face and get a reality check.
Barefoot KidsMy parents grew up in the depression.  When I was a kid (in the 60s) going outside barefoot was STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, reason being that in their minds if you weren't wearing shoes it was because you didn't have any, and therefore were poor, which they viewed as something to be ashamed of.
Making doThe habits of the depression generation persisted into the better days of the '40s.  I remember my mother repairing worn sheets by splitting them down the middle and sewing the good edges together to prolong their life.  My dad brought home flour sacks from the restaurant where he worked.  My mother made dish cloths and pillow cases from them. Some of the sacks were made from patterned material for dresses.  The branding on the others washed out easily.  To this day I an reluctant to discard clothing.
ClothesMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either.
Mother of NineThank you so much for sharing this. I was born in 1977, but just hearing these stories helps me to realize that we are so spoiled and really puts things into perspective.
Amen! Thanks, dalecaruso!I'm going to show this to my 7th grade students who LOVED the Newbery Medal-winning book "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse! 
Amazing...moving...thank you.
The habits remained - for good or badMy parents grew up in the Depression. Members of their generation, roughly those born 1920-1935, often find it difficult to throw out anything "good". In my parents' case, I was left with stacks of thousands upon thousands of moldering magazines and newspapers, piles of old shingles, 2x4s, chunks of vinyl siding, and old cardboard; hundreds upon hundreds of doilies, knick-knacks, and figurines; and tons of worthless, useless plywood and cheap wood furniture. The cry was, "I might need it someday!" and "It'll be worth GOOD MONEY one day!" and "You're so wicked and wasteful and lazy to want to throw it out!". 
They were wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions. The figurines now go for five to ten cents each on eBay (and don't sell at that price); the shingles melted together into a big unusable pile; the 2x4s and cardboard rotted to dust; the doilies were attacked with mold; the magazines were destroyed by water and age; the furniture was rickety and undesirable in its shoddy construction and unattractive, unmarketable poor style. It all went away to the dump as useless, worthless, unrecyclable (because of the mold) garbage - and it cost over a thousand dollars to have it hauled away.
And I'm not the only one. There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on.
But we, the children, are not the ones hurt the most by this sickness. The older generation itself is harmed most of all. The mold and dust gathered by the things they've hoarded endangers their health. The sheer bulk of the hoard can endanger them in case of fire. And since they can't find what they've hoarded, they end up buying the same things over and over again, which reduces their ability to provide for themselves.
No North American generation before this one has suffered from this level of hoarding, and I doubt any one after it will. Earlier generations didn't overbuy but also weren't afraid to discard; later generations might overbuy but likewise aren't afraid to recycle or discard.
Re: Hoarders  I would have to seriously question the sweeping and wide swath of the brush you painted this generation with. My parents lived through the depression and the dust bowl, as did my dads' 12 brothers and sisters. and the 5 siblings of my mothers' family.
And not a hoarder among them.
  I am sure they used things longer and valued what they had more than we do, but I hardly consider this a "disorder".
  Now I am sure some did, but your statement to me really portrays this generation as unhealthy mentally, and I am just a little offended by it. Oh that we today were as mentally stable as they.
  And if "There are internet groups made up of people in their 40s and 50s who are, like me, dealing with the unhealthy hoarding habits of their Depression-era parents who have passed on", well then I would say, perhaps it is this weak-kneed generation, who need support groups because, "Oh No, Mamma kept things a Long Long time", are the ones who are unhealthy.
You do this unbelievable generation a great disservice.
Future Hoarders of America Unite!You know, I don't look at the faces of these little ones and concern myself with the idea that their biggest issue in their senior years is going to be that they held on to too much stuff instead of throwing it out. When your clothes are being held together with twine and your mother is wearing a cotton feed bag as a skirt, it's kind of easy to see how, in the future, when you're an old woman, you're probably going to hang on to every scrap and see its potential usefulness someday. 
It's amazing how differently our consumerist culture sees items today. How often I've longed to be able to hold onto a toaster that could work just fine if I had someone who could fix it for me. But instead, appliances today aren't meant to last for more than a few years and then off to dump with them. Our landfills are overcrowded with plasticized items that will never, ever decompose - plastic bags, water bottles, take out containers...the list is endless. I hate to politicize a picture but I can honestly see how having nothing more than the holey shirt on your back would make you take stock when one day you had tremendous bounty. We could learn a lot from these people and their troubles and how to see potential treasure in trash. 
Alive and wellPoverty can be because of chance or personal choices.   Back in the times of the Depression it was heaped on people by powers out of their control.  I see it today right here in Arkansas where I live and in my own neighborhood.  I live in a small town of about 5600 and even in what is supposedly the world's most rich and powerful country people are lining up at the free food banks and food giveaways, receving government commodities and waiting in ine at the free medical clinic that is run by area churches and staffed with Doctors and Nurses who volunteer their time for free.  Just walk into Walmart on the 1st of the month, they way some families are dressed would break your heart.  
But then you have the victims of bad personal choices.  There is a single other in my neighborhood that recently lost her job because she failed a drug test. She has 3 children.  Everyone in the neighborhood knows she sells her food stamps for alcohol. She would buy just enough (barely) food for them to get by and sell the rest  If it were not for the kindness of neighbors her children would not have any decent clothes.  She was just kicked out of what is very decent public housing where she was paying $16.00 a month rent because she had her alcoholic boyfriend living there with her.  Her poor choices affected not only her children but many people in the neighborhood (who at their own expense would buy extra food so they could feed her children or spend money to buy clothes for them) who have tried to help her for years.  
In her children I see the NEXT generation of American poverty waiting to happen and it is so sad.  
HoardersMy parents are children of the Depression, too.  And my father most definitely instilled in me the sense that one doesn't waste or discard anything useful.  He has 2 barns and a shed filled with stuff, much of which I'll have to deal with after he's gone.
But you know what?  Virtually everything he has is valuable!  His shed is filled with dishes and small appliances and the like, which has supplied many of his grandchildren when they went away to college or got their first apartment.  He has one of nearly every tool known to man, and freely loans or gives them away.  He paid cash for a brand new truck recently, using the proceeds from sale of scrap copper and iron he's been saving in the plum thicket. (He's never owed money on a car in my lifetime).
He loves to give to others (it's nearly impossible to leave a visit empty-handed), and a lifetime of saving and storing means he has no shortage of things to give away.
Because of my upbringing, it's very hard for me to discard anything that still has value, just because I don't need it any more.  But I've learned from my dad - somebody needs that, so give it away!
I understand that some hoarders are truly mentally ill.  But to say that all Depression children who refuse to discard things that might be useful are "wrong in every single solitary instance, no exceptions" is absolute hogwash.
The DepressionAnyone who says these photos are exaggerated or fake has never talked to someone who lived during that time.  My mother lived on a farm during that period, and though she didn't have much that came from a store, they were able to eat and eat well.  My father's family were poor tennant farmers on unproductive land and frequently had meals like "grease smeared on bread"....try to imagine that one.  With several children, all but one had to quit school at 13 to earn a living.  My husband's family has pictures of the children looking just like these - torn overalls and bare feet.  Do some real research in your own family's past.
Family HistoryMy father's family had a farm in southwest Nebraska during the Depression, so they were able to grow their own food and eat fairly well. My mother's paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister there, which was very rough since he was dependent on what the local community could pay, which wasn't much and people had an odd idea about what made a suitable gift. So instead of eggs and chickens, which Great-Grandpa would have taken in a heartbeat (he had 5 teenage sons!), people gave him things like fancy hankies, which he had no use for, and I found 50 years later still in the gift boxes. I know the Depression had a profound impact on my grandfather; he hated to throw anything away. When my mother cleaned out Grandpa's house in the late 80's she had to throw out dumpsters of metal pie plates, shopping bags, twine, bottles, newspapers, magazines and God knows what else.
AgreedMy parents did not allow us to wear jeans (which we didn't own) or sneakers because they weren't real clothing, but only worn if you owned nothing else. Believe me we weren't rich either.
I would have said this if you didn't. We had sneakers for gym class and gym class only.
The picture, the video, the hoarding.Two things struck me about that picture: the caked on dirt on the mother's feet and the smile on the boy's face.  Sure, I had heard the phrase "dressed in flour sacks."  But, there's something about an image - seeing it.  It hits home.
The video, The Face of the Great Depression, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSShPnOS15Y from a previous comment.  At first, honestly, I thought, "Can't the pictures move faster?" Then I looked, and listened, and let time stand still for a brief moment.  By the end, I was crying.  The license plate in the last photo was 1939.  My mother would have been 13.  
NOW IT GET IT.  Well, I'm beginning to.  A second generation child on the South Side of Chicago, she always told stories of a her gang of kids distracting the cart owner so other kids could run by  - stealing whatever vegetables they could grab.  They would start little fires at the curb and roast them on a stick or boil them in a pot of water.  She said that's why, as an adult, she hated boiled onions or potatoes.  But, the stories she told, of washing out her underclothes each night, sleeping 4 to a bed, lard and bread sandwiches...I somehow cleaned up the images and made them all pretty. I left out what it smells like if you haven't had a bath.  Or, what it must have felt like to really, really be hungry.
Mom hoarded.  Born in 1926 she left me the legacy of wall to wall, floor to ceiling piles of National Geographic magazines and "collectors" tins."  "These will be worth something someday," she chided...and promised.  They weren't.  Well, some of it was valuable - more from memories of her than replacement cost.  More than anything, I wish she could have culled her stuff so she had more room to live.  Sure, it was a burden to empty.  But it was easier for me to let go of her junk than it was for her to unload the fear of being "without."  I can live with that.  Everyday I understand and accept her more.
One little photo...
Can teach so much.
The Great DepressionI've read the comments about this picture and echo the feelings of distress that people have had to exist under these conditions.  We only have to look at some of the present day third world countries to see the same thing.  Thank God that that level of poverty has never touched me.  I was born in 1927 and raised, with my sister, in a single parent home.  My Mother took in washing and ironing to make a living for us, and though we didn't have an abundance, we never went to bed hungry.  She bought used adult clothes and cut them down to fit us (our sunday school and church clothes).  No one told me that times were hard so I didn't know it until I was grown.  The hobos (Hoover Tourists) used to get off the trains near our house and come to the door begging food.  My Mother always made them a peanut butter sandwich.  I spent my days in school or outside playing with my friends, I had a glorious childhood.  It pains me to see today's children confined to the house, afraid to go outside alone, with only a TV or computer for a companion.  So many children and young adults are overweight and under exercised.  The Depression was hard on a lot of people but, as a child, I skated through it and wouldn't trade my childhood memories for being a child today.
Where in SW Nebraska?Hello-
A friend of mine introduced me to this website.  I, too, am from southwest Nebraska. Where in SW Nebraska was your family originally from?
MJ
The DepressionI really liked reading all the comments. I intend to get the book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by Agee. I was born in 1921, the seventh child in a family of 10. My father died of TB in October 1929.
Our church had a dinner after the service yesterday. I noticed some people not eating all the food they had put on their plates. I told them my clean plate was a reflection of living through the Depression, when at mealtime I would hand my plate to my mother with the words "All I can have. please."
Every child in the family, when they were old enough, gave most of the money they earned to our mother. In the early 1930s our school clothes and shoes would be ordered by mail from Sears and sometime they would arrive days after school started. We lived in northwest Detroit and most of the kids had fathers with good jobs. 
In 1936 my oldest brother started to build a home near Mount Clemens, Michigan. A family pitched a tent in a field across the street from him and lived much like the family in this picture. My brother did not want me to visit them.
I served in WW2, which I enjoyed because I had been working since I was 14 and it was nice to be free of responsibility. And seeing Europe was wonderful. I am a tourist at heart. Yes! Not getting killed and living into the Internet age is wonderful.
Nebraska! With family now on the West Coast in Oregon and Washington we have been driving across this country about once a year. We like Nebraska and have been driving across that state on old U.S. 30, and find it much more enjoyable than I-80. Please try this some time.
For those who don't believeRead "The Worst Hard Time" by Tim Egan. Never had heard of "dust pneumonia" until reading this. Also, a section of diary entries is just heartbreaking. Poverty and desolation on a scale unimaginable today.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Rural America)

730 West Winnebago: 1936
... Milwaukee, Wisconsin. View full size. Photo by Carl Mydans. Is that a ghost..... coming down the outside stairs? 730 ... roof. 1651 S 1st Street Nobody is perfect and Carl Mydans must have mixed up the address in his notes. Most of these apartments ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:42pm -

April 1936. View from living quarters at 730 West Winnebago Street, looking back down the alley. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. View full size. Photo by Carl Mydans.
Is that a ghost.....coming down the outside stairs? 
730 West WinnebagoHere is that same address today.
No It Isn'tThis is exactly the sort of thing that people who frequent websites about the paranormal love. When you blow the picture up to its full size, you can see that it's clearly just a dirty blotch on the wall.
[I don't think that's quite what they meant. See above. - Dave]
Re: Is that a ghostWhat they meant was ghostly-looking blur that's a person moving through a time exposure. Like these ghostly guys.

In this case though I think it's just a stain on the wall.

CoalThese homes were probably heated with coal, if you look at the basement window on the side of the street where the car is you can see what the coal dust does where the coal chute goes in. I think the "ghost" on the other side of the street is coal also, but how it got like that is anyone's guess.
GuttersNotice how they put the gutters on the roof instead of under the roof edge. I am surprised that it withstood the weight of ice/snow coming down the roof.
1651 S 1st StreetNobody is perfect and Carl Mydans must have mixed up the address in his notes. Most of these apartments are still there, on South 1st street, that is.

(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee)

Poor White Hallway: 1935
... seems to be out of place." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size. You should see the rest! This one of around 600 pictures that Carl Mydans took in the slums around Capitol Hill and Georgetown. Some of these ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 10:52pm -

September 1935. Washington, D.C. "Poor white hallway, Georgetown. Seldom do these people have even the desire to clear up rubbish, and the broom shown here seems to be out of place." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size.
You should see the rest!This one of around 600 pictures that Carl Mydans took in the slums around Capitol Hill and Georgetown. Some of these places were really squalid. Backed up sewers, decrepit privies, rats.
The more things changeIt's difficult to imagine why people choose to live this way. Either of the children in that picture could easily have used the broom to clean up the mess. My children had cleaning responsibilities from the age of five. The difference today is that those living in conditions such as the ones pictured here have cell phones, laptops, and big-screen plasma TVs with dish or cable.
Rental propertyI used to manage rental property. They don't have to be poor for a hall to look like that.
A little harsh there, CarlI don't know the exact circumstances of the residents, but I think Mydans may have been too judgmental.  If this was an apartment building, and the hallway a common area, then the residents might have considered cleaning it to be the building superintendent's responsibility.  Just my $.02.
Clean sweepI see the door is propped open and my bet is that Ma or Pa or big sister was in the middle of sweeping up when ol' Carl came by to create some propaganda. Don't miss that Puffed Wheat box. On the other hand, maybe they're slobs.
IronyI don't think poor people are allowed in portions of Georgetown anymore.
Poor white doorwayHere's the next frame on the roll.
PrioritiesBoth of the "poor white" girls in the photo seem to be dressed with more care than many children today, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
O myThat doorway's still there - 3607 O Street, in the penumbra of Georgetown University. It houses the special programs of the university's Center for Language Education and Development. According to Boyd's Directories, it was the home address of laborer Nicholas Crowley in 1887 and molder James H. Reed in 1908.
View Larger Map
$1,500,000Zillow estimates 3607 O Street NW as being worth a million five.
No Prospects of a bright futureYou put people in a situation where there is no hope and most will not care. People take a lot for granted today. That broom was used to sweep the steps outside probably.
Isn't it strangeThese once-dilapidated dwellings now "zillowed" as being worth a million and a half after refurbishing and spiffing up are duplicated in most cities across the country, while the once well-kept, safe, tree-lined neighborhoods in which many of us grew up in the 1940's and 50's have become blighted, crime-infested, run-down slums today.  Seems as though they have to hit bottom before they can rise to the top.  The girls in this photo obviously realize the place needs cleaning up but seem mystified as to what to do about it.  Human behavior can be puzzling.
Both sides of squalorSpin google street view around and you can see that the ramshackle fence behind the girls is now a fine brick-and-wrought-iron gate.  
Another lookMaybe that Georgetown housewife was nearly finished sweeping out the front hall when the *#%!!*# photographer barged in!
Across the streetBehind the girls there is a gap in the buildings (service alley? yard?)  If you move 180 degrees from the current Google street image you will see the "gap" is still there.  To me, seeing some of the same buildings still there is neat, but for an open area to survive unbuilt!  There is even a gate (metal now) where there used to be a wooden gate.  An open space preserved!
Alumni HouseThe gate and open space leads to a courtyard behind the Alumni House of Georgetown University, which is paved by bricks inscribed with alumni names. My great-grandparents lived a few doors down from that gate, along with their 10 children including my grandmother, from around 1910 to around 1915 when they moved to another Georgetown house near the corner of 34th and O Streets. My great-grandmother's brother, a fireman, lived across the street from her with his 8 children from around 1908 to around 1915, just a few doors down from the house in this photo. During the time my ancestors lived in this neighborhood around Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the residents were hardworking firemen, shop clerks, policemen, woodworkers (like my great-grandfather) and other tradesmen. It was in the 1930s that Georgetown fell into hard times and began to look "slum-like" (except the large estates that have been there since colonial days), and my great-grandparents moved to a large house on Conduit Road (now MacArthur Boulevard) in the Palisades neighborhood. Georgetown came back into favor in the 1950s, and has remained so since then. It is now some of the priciest residential real estate in D.C. (too bad my ancestors didn't keep one or two of their homes for their descendants!).
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C., Kids)

Our House: 1935
... on Massachusetts Avenue near Union Station." Photo by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration. View full size. Nasty puddle! ... South side of Massachusetts Another photo by Mydans shows more of the block: LC-USF33-T01-000147-M1. Childs restaurant at 2 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/18/2012 - 7:27pm -

Sept. 1935. Washington, D.C. "Houses on Massachusetts Avenue near Union Station." Photo by Carl Mydans,  Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Nasty puddle!I love the four little ones seated in front of their home, and the obvious care of that one unit. I'll bet that mud drove Mom crazy, though!
Poor but proudThis house is adjoined to a deserted dump, yet someone has tried to make it homey with a couple of benches and some plants.  The kids look happy and well-dressed.  1935 was a tough year.
The One Next Door on the LeftWell, the listing did say it was breezy.  
South side of MassachusettsAnother photo by Mydans shows more of the block: LC-USF33-T01-000147-M1. Childs restaurant at 2 Massachusetts Avenue is visible in the distance; so these houses are directly across from the still-standing Gales School.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C., Kids)

Step 1: 1935
... (And, smoking permitted!) 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. They look ... would be my first guess. (The Gallery, Animals, Carl Mydans) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/18/2011 - 1:42am -

August 1935. Prince George's County, Maryland. "One step in artificial insemination." If you like animals, and working with your hands, we have the perfect opening -- apply within. (And, smoking permitted!) 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
They look boredThis is just another job.
Ready, set ...Let the wristwatch jokes begin!
I need this pic to remind mejust how bad my job COULD be.
Caption Contest"Too much information"
"Put that in your pipe and smoke it"
Always something interesting!I about fell out of my chair on this one.
Can't wait to read the comments that will be flooding in.
Sense of taste?I've done it and got to say that putting anything in my mouth at the time would have been the last thing on my mind. That ol' boy must be a hardcore piper.
Lovely!Just what I needed to see before breakfast!
Whoa!And I thought the Kubrick photo would be a record setter for comments!
I think this one will go where no man has gone before on the comments.
You're gonna be elbow deep in commentsSorry, I just had to!
Step 2:Put on a Barry White record.
Mooon RiverThat, and other one-liners from "Fletch" come to mind.
Was it CarnationThat advertised milk from "contented cows"? Doubtful that Bossy is one of them, despite the stab at suavity with the pipe.
[This bull is no Bossy. - Dave]
Why I am not a farmerBesides the amount of actual work one has to do as a farmer which would probably kill me, I don't understand much of what they do.  Take this picture for example.  It's a bull.  Perhaps I've blocked it, but I don't remember anything remotely like this in the process that resulted in my two kids.  Granted, the act photographed is part of an artificial process (although I'm sure the bull would argue that point), but still.  Perhaps I could ask my wife.  Then again, maybe not.
Moving on ...Just this once, I think I'll pass on the big, high-res photo.
Is this what they mean by"animal husbandry"?
I'll stick to humans, thank you.Is this what they mean by "animal husbandry"?
Like leaving his socks on.Smoking a pipe while up to his elbows in bull is just plain rude.
El Toro's thoughts"Can you believe the NERVE of some people."
"Are these guys looking for romance?"
"I'll give 'em aromatherapy they won't forget."
"They didn't even take me to dinner first."
"Shouldn't this be consensual?"
"Yes officer, I was just standing here minding my own beeswax and contemplating the stock market when these two jokers walked in and -- "
Bachelor of Sciencefollowed by More of the Same, and Piled Higher and Deeper.
NO BULLI don't think old Bessie would appreciate being called a bull by timeandagainphoto. All the bulls I ever saw did the inseminating instead of receiving it. 
For Dave's eyes onlyPerhaps I should have looked at the picture more closely. I guess old Studley is getting his timely prostate exam.
[The objects of our pipe-smoker's exertions are the bull's seminal vesicles; the technique is called "manual massage." - Dave]
This reminds meI need to schedule my annual physical.
And little did we knowthat dairy farming would be so difficult.
All in a day's workMy niece graduated from vet school last year.  I asked her about this, and she said you can learn a lot sticking your arm up a horse's or cow's butt.  Colic, which is a leading cause of death among horses, is diagnosed and treated this way.
It always reminds me of the many, many scenes in the great British series "All Creatures Great and Small," where Mr. Heriot is rolling up his sleeve, or washing his hands.  Vets nowadays have nice little pink shoulder length rubber gloves for the purpose.
Did they offer the bull a cigarette afterward?Just wondering.
Hope that pipe wasn't litReminds me of the story in the "Book of Heroic Failures" about the vet who was treating a cow for gastric distress and lit a match in the vicinity of, as the book put it, "the end of the cow not capable of facial expression." The resultant explosion killed the cow and burned down the barn. The police searched for some charge to bring against the vet and finally settled on "setting a fire in a manner surprising to the magistrates."  All this in England, as you probably gathered from the quotes.
Oh My!Fisk-husking!
And you think your job is badI wonder why they don't show the bull's face?  I can picture a big smile and crossed eyes and a cigarette. Farmer in back of us says they stick some kind of an electrode up there now and shock him.  Kinky!
Bob Eubanks asks"Where's the strangest place you've ever made whoopee?"
My KudosDave, you never cease to amaze me with your knowledge of varyious endeavors. Who else would know what was happening in this picture? I salute you.
[Run a website long enough, and you learn a little about everything. - Dave]
 Specially Trained Men


Farmers' Bulletin No. 1412, USDA, 1938. 


Care and Management of Dairy Bulls.
Artificial Insemination.

In recent years much interest has developed in the use of artificial insemination for breeding dairy stock. If the proper care and technique are exercised, semen can be collected, kept for several days, and successfully used on cows in the herd or in nearby herds. This should extend the use of a valuable sire to a much greater extent than if natural matings are used. Then, too. many valuable sires, because of age or because they are crippled, are unable to perform natural service, in which event artificial insemination can be practiced.
It has also been demonstrated that semen can be transported by airplane to distant points for artificial insemination. In the laboratory of the Bureau at Beltsville, sperm cells have been kept active from 6 to 11 days in numerous instances and for as long as 21 days in some instances.
Only veterinarians or specially trained men should attempt the collection and preparation of the semen for holding or shipment, and artificial insemination of the cow on receipt of the package. Further information on methods of collecting, storing, and transporting semen from bulls, together with suggestions for impregnating cows, will be sent if a request is addressed to the Bureau of Dairy Industry, Washington, D.C.

"Found three watches""And not one of 'em mine"
Hokey PokeyRemember the lyrics of that 1940s favorite -- and that's what it's all about, as we suspected.
Road TripOoh (or maybe eww). This reminds me of a scene in a really stupid movie I watched with my kids!
Hey, Dave!I also knew what was going on here!
34 and countingComments I mean. Andy, did you wear the extra, extra long glove at work today?
Properly Equipped I note a shovel to handle all the BS that goes with the job. We should all be so lucky.
At least they aren't tipping him over'Cause that would be undignified.
The back-end man does appear to be wearing a just-barely-long-enough glove.
I also just noticed the conveniently placed, non-empty shovel.  So not only is the guy a massage therapist, he's also a concierge pooper-scooper.
Why would anyone be required to wear a WHITE uniform for a job like that?
Are those Keds high-tops the older man is wearing?
How did all those dark splatters get on the wall?
Caption Contest 2 Hold my beer and watch this.
So many comments --I just can't get a grip on them all.
It could be after-the-factMy dad was a veterinarian and we raised apporximately 100 beef cattle, mostly herefords and angus, along with the new calves that made their appearances each spring. Once a year, we'd get the cattle rounded up and my dad would do this to the heifers. But he was not performing artificial insemination, he was preg-testing them to see which ones were with-calf, and at the same time getting an idea of the size of the fetus, so he could tell how far along they were. Perhaps that's what's going on here? Since I see no equipment related to the insemination process that would be my first guess.
(The Gallery, Animals, Carl Mydans)

Immobile Home: 1936
... Tennessee, near the river." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size. I live near this area. I am from this area ... Farkmobile! Farked again. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Farked, Great Depression) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2009 - 12:57pm -

March 1936. "One-room hut housing a family of nine built on the chassis of an abandoned Ford in a field between Camden and Bruceton, Tennessee, near the river." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size.
I live near this area.I am from this area and I can not think of any river around the Camden/Bruceton area. If you are referring to the Tennessee river, that is about 8-12 mile, depending upon what shortcuts you know. 
This was an interesting thing to have stumbled upon. Thank you for the picture. 
A River before the TVA?Sara,
Could there have been a river between the towns before the TVA?
What is this dark line running north-south?  Is it a waterway?  Link to Google Map
Tennessee RiverCaption card says "on U.S. Route 70 between Camden and Bruceton, Tennessee, near Tennessee River. Their water supply was an open creek running near state highway."
Big SandyThe Big Sandy River flows just east of Bruceton City Limits and runs under Route 70.
To the Farkmobile!Farked again.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Farked, Great Depression)

Milwaukee Boneyard: 1936
... Wisconsin. 3¼ x 4¼ nitrate negative photographed by Carl Mydans. View full size. Goldmine You got any idea what those dented ... - 1936 with final sales in 1937. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Milwaukee) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 5:05pm -

April 1936. "Junk, with living quarters close by." Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 3¼ x 4¼ nitrate negative photographed by Carl Mydans. View full size.
GoldmineYou got any idea what those dented fenders would be worth today? Let alone the more-or-less intact automotive "classics"...
Milwaukee Boneyard: 1936Considering the year it won't be long before the scrap metal drives of WW II.
AuburnThe car with the four diagonal sets of hood louvers is a 1928 - 1930 Auburn.  This would be quite the find today.  The windshield is a very interesting design.
The two pictures below show what two of the models that were available would have looked like.  Auburns were made from 1900 - 1936 with final sales in 1937.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Milwaukee)

Mystery Meat: 1935
... George's County, Maryland." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Food ... if you close your eyes? (The Gallery, Bizarre, Carl Mydans, Kitchens etc.) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/27/2022 - 12:58pm -

August 1935. "Meat testing. Prince George's County, Maryland." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Food ScienceThey're testing soyburgers 40 years before they were perfected.
Please, sir, I want some more.The person upper left is either doing an Oliver Twist impression or might be getting ready to lick the plate clean, I'm not sure which. 
Palate cleansersI assume that’s what the apples are for.
[I always knew JennyPennifer and I were on the same page.]
In a world where presentation does not matterI don't know that I could be persuaded to eat something if I had to be blindfolded first. 
Any way you slice itI'm guessing the apples are for palate cleansing?
Supper time with the MagrittesThe French they are a funny race (or so saith Preston Sturges).
AddendumBut, of course, Magritte was Belgian.
Ben's will win"Thanks to you all for assisting today. We'll be sampling and judging five chilis from local restaurants. The blindfolds will ensure a fair result.
Now, the five chilis will be from:
  Nasty Ed's Chili House in Lanham,
  Tommy's Tasty Tureen in Mount Pleasant,
  Ben's Chili Bowl from U Street in DC,
  Saucy Suzie's Saucy Soupies in Beltsville, and
  Maurice's Sedate but Great Chili-Rama in Foggy Bottom.
Once you've cleaned your palates with the apple slices, we'll begin today's taste test!!!"
No wonder they're blindfoldedHere's what they're eating:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/15605
Still not goodThese people were testing vegetarian beef. Predecessor to Beyond Meat, called Not Quite Meat. 
Survey saysTastes like chicken
Aren't you offered a cigarettewith your blindfold?
Blindfolded note-makingI wonder if the test was on the participants rather than the stuff on the plate.  
How well do these folks find the note paper after ingestion?  Do they overwrite their previous notes?  How well can they tick the little boxes?
Does Spam taste better if you close your eyes?
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Carl Mydans, Kitchens etc.)

Lean-to Kitchen: 1936
... an open field near the Tennessee River. Photograph by Carl Mydans, 1936. View full size. Re: Rude The first definition of ... water...'lectricty etc. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Kids, Rural America) ... 
 
Posted by Ken - 09/08/2011 - 1:28pm -

A 12-year-old girl in a family of nine cooks a meal in a rude, open lean-to hut in Tennessee. The family lives in an open field near the Tennessee River. Photograph by Carl Mydans, 1936. View full size.
Re: RudeThe first definition of "rude" in the dictionary actually uses the word hut: "Rude (adj) 1. crude or rough in form or workmanship [a rude hut]." The first definition of "crude" is "in a raw or natural condition." In any case that's the original caption as written by the photographer.
How rude!I think your caption should read "cooks a meal in a crude open lean-to hut," not a rude one.
DishesAre you sure she's not washing dishes? That's what it looks like to me.
You can see the same girl……in this photo, at the left edge.
Kids today...don't know how good they got it, shoes...running water...'lectricty etc.  
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Great Depression, Kids, Rural America)

The Privy Chamber: 1935
... Hamilton County, Ohio." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size. Cincinnati I know you won't publish this but ... a whole lot to do there. - Dave] (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/25/2018 - 1:34pm -

December 1935. "Tenement backyard and privy, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size.
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone disparage this great city.
[All in all, I'd rather be in Cleveland. - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone to disparage this great city.
[But I digress. You were saying? - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone disparage this great city.
[Happy Groundhog Day! - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone to disparage our great city.
[Haven't we met before? - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone disparage this great city.
[It was pretty easy, actually. - Dave]
CincinnatiHow dare you allow someone to disparage our great city.
[Food for thought. - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you to allow someone to disparage our great city.
[I've been to Cincinnati! - Dave]
Ode to an Outhouse (author unknown)I cannot boast of my aroma
Nor do I issue a diploma.
But it's a lot of fuddy-duddy
That there's a better place to study.
FittingThat about sums up Cincinnati. 
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone to disparage our great city.
[We have extremely low standards! - Dave]
CincinnatiI know you won't publish this but how dare you allow someone to disparage our great city.
[For one thing, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to do there. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos)

The Cat in the Kitchen: 1935
... in Negro home near Union Station." 35mm negative by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration. View full size. Purr At our ... with all the irons on the stove? (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cats, D.C., Kitchens etc.) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/17/2014 - 10:22pm -

November 1935. Washington, D.C. "Kitchen in Negro home near Union Station." 35mm negative by Carl Mydans, Resettlement Administration. View full size.
PurrAt our house, we call the act of felines parking near a heat source like that "making Baked Cat."
Happy CatLooks very comfy.
Several IronsNowadays, we have electric irons that stay hot throughout the job. I'm guessing that in this house, they didn't have electricity, or at least not at electric iron. So they put all the the irons on the stove and, when one started to get cold, they grabbed another one. That's why there are several irons here.
Quite a collection  Looks like the lady of the house does some ironing in her spare time.
Pinch me'Cause I think that chair just moved by itself!
Hot StuffWith that many irons on the stove, I daresay that the lady of the house does laundry for hire. Notice there is also hot water piped to the sink. The stove likely held a fire year round while she did other folks' hard work.
[Or she had a big family. - tterrace]
The word that comes to my mind is "sparse".
Home BusinessA domestic fixture for a lot of white families, back when laundry was a labor-intensive and messy job, was the "colored woman who takes in washing." This looks to be her part of her workspace, and the towel over the table her ironing board.
Side-arm water heaterA coil inside the stove heated the water, which rose up through the diagonal pipe to the top of the tank, displacing the cooler water at the bottom, which recirculated into the stove coil. There was no thermostat, and severe burns were not uncommon. But you had hot water, at least until an hour or so after the fire in the stove went out.
Contemporary sources tell us that an iron was invariably the first appliance purchased by newly-electrified households, so I'd say this house had no wiring.
Big family???So big she likely didn't have time to hang those lovely lace curtains she just ironed!!
QuestionWhat's with all the irons on the stove?
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cats, D.C., Kitchens etc.)

Low-Rent: 1935
... Hamilton County, Ohio." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Cheap Ham ... Flagpole? Lightning conductor? (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2014 - 6:21pm -

December 1935. "Typical squalid homes, Hamilton County, Ohio." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Cheap HamThis is Ham Alley at Broad Street.  It's the same tiny two-block neighborhood featured here.
Box in upstairs windowWhat is that?
[A refrigerator of sorts. Where you keep milk bottles in the winter. - Dave]
Little negativesI get spoiled by all the 8x10 images we see here. It's good to see 35mm for a change to help me remember to appreciate the large format images.
Ham AlleyWhere Cinci's bad actors end up after too many years of scenery-chewing?
Looking for TenantsThe previous ones hopped a freight car on the tracks next door in hopes of obtaining more humane living conditions.
Mystery rodWhat is that rod angling out from the eaves? Flagpole? Lightning conductor?
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos)

City Life: 1936
... 912 North 8th Street. Milwaukee, Wisconsin." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Hide Out ... Shorpy auto ID'ers? (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Milwaukee) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2014 - 11:46am -

April 1936. "Exterior of house at 912 North 8th Street. Milwaukee, Wisconsin." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Hide OutWith the cars out front and the house widows covered it looks like a typical gangster hide out for the era.
A learning experience.This is one of my favorite Shorpy pictures, even without a train. A classic with everything. A car with front plates with double numbers, a policeman writing a ticket, very classy billboards, and cars that show why we call that storage space "the trunk."
Thanks for posting this one. Now I will look some more. 
Milwaukee Vocational SchoolThe large building in the background is the Milwaukee Vocational School built in 1923. It is known today as the Milwaukee Area Technical College.
View Larger Map
1936 Olds Eight1936 Olds Eight
[It's a 1936 Chevrolet. -tterrace]
I was referring to the advertising sign on the building. 
[My blushes! -tterrace]
Rolling stock ID'sL to R: circa 1925 Chevrolet with Ryan headlights; Cadillac coupe; Hudson sedan; 1930 Ford Model A sedan; 1936 Chevrolet.
Cars and Old OscarThe car in the center of the photo looks like a pretty nice set of wheels, if not-so-brand-new. Shorpy auto ID'ers?
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Milwaukee)

Washboard Abs: 1936
... Raleigh, North Carolina." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. ... camera? [No. - Dave] (The Gallery, Carl Mydans) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/03/2010 - 10:13am -

March 1936. "Women washing clothes. Crabtree Recreational Project near Raleigh, North Carolina." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. 
There's what a rub-board'll do to yaThe faces say maybe 25 at the outside; the hands say 45.
 Recreational project, big timeImagine the fun they had after they added some soap. 
Small WorldThis pic was taken just a few mins down the road from me in what is now Umstead State Park. Thanks Dave for a great local pic from the past!
The Photographer!Wow, having you picture taken by a guy that will become one the greatest photographers of his generation.  Even the great ones have to start somewhere.
"Your soaking in it"Madge would have had a great TV commercial for Palmolive with these women.
[First they had to invent the apostrophe. - Dave]
Posed?My wife, a  slat bonnet historian, was wondering if the women were posed at the tubs. The dresses are plain, but a little too nice for wash day, and the women would probably be wearing aprons. The woman on the left has her rings on and has an inexpensive looking cameo pin. Their hands look wet, but yet we do not see a lot of wash day paraphernalia about. They are likely wash tub veterans, but are they only pretending for the camera?
[No. - Dave]

(The Gallery, Carl Mydans)

Our Gang: 1936
... Homesteads, Indiana." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Don't ... Fire Dept" hood decals. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Carl Mydans, Dogs, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 4:04pm -

May 1936. "Boys playing. Decatur Homesteads, Indiana." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Don't Toss Away Antiques!Wow, That Antique Pedal-Car on the right...would easily fetch Thousands now on Ebay!
Any old 'Pedal-Car' is valuable and this was an especially nice one.
Don't toss old things away...they only gain in value!
Petey, you've changedYou have turned into a Pomeranian mix!  That's a far cry forma Pit Bull, Americas favorite family dog at the time.
These kids are too cute! They are pushing eighty now.
Those two on trikeswould turn out green if this was a colour photo.
InspirationThis scene is exactly what inspired Hal Roach to create his famous "Our Gang" series - an unscripted and largely ad hoc collection of kids just being kids.  
Is nothing sacred?A Plymouth nameplate on a classic, ox-yoke Packard grill? 
Love these guysThe dog is thinking, "I.Hate.This".
City Fire Dept.The pedal car appears to be a 1933 Steelcraft "Plymouth City Fire Dept" model.  It was built by the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company and sold under the "Steelcraft" brand name.  Murray also made bicycles and tricycles.
Here is a restored car, missing its fire bell and "City Fire Dept" hood decals.
(The Gallery, Bicycles, Carl Mydans, Dogs, Kids)

Rear Window: 1935
... of appalling and appealing. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size. Dad-burned young whippersnapper! Note what ... that still had outdoor plumbing. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C.) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/27/2011 - 2:19pm -

September 1935. Washington, D.C. "Negro back yards near Capitol." A back alley view of some F Street tenements that are an interesting mix of appalling and appealing. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size.
Dad-burned young whippersnapper!Note what looks like the remains of a tricycle on the roof.  Some grandfather probably threw it there after a nasty trip coming out of the house.
I get the appalling partBut where is the "appealing"?    Was there even indoor plumbing?
Outdoor priviesIn David Brinkley's excellent book, "Washington Goes to War", about his time in DC during WW II, he points out that at the beginning of the war there were something like 17,000 homes in the capital that still had outdoor plumbing. 
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, D.C.)

Gasoline Alley: 1935
... seen in the previous post. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Thank you ... to the right face Marengo Street. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/16/2016 - 6:34pm -

December 1935. "Hamilton County, Ohio. Cincinnati slum dwellings." An alleyway view of the "Garage" sign seen in the previous post. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Thank you ShorpyI had always thought Gasoline Alley to be mythical, after the comic strip. Not only are there quite a few Gasoline Alleys, there are several Tobacco Roads.
The Slums of CincyHaving grown up in Cincinnati, I think those slums were in the area of Eastern Avenue which ran parallel and close to the Ohio River. 
Since the photos are from 1935, they precede the great flood of 1937 in Cincy which caused great damage throughout the city.  After the waters receded, Eastern Avenue was still blighted and didn't turn it around until years later.
The last I heard, that area has been revitalized and is now a haven for yuppies with new condos, parks, and shopping built throughout the river bank.  Little do they know as they sip their Chablis on their patios on a summer evening, the despair that once thrived in that area. 
Ham AlleyAccording to Jeffrey's map, this is Ham Alley -- the buildings to the left face Eastern Avenue and the buildings to the right face Marengo Street.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos)

Gritty Cincy: 1935
... Note the railcar in the background. 35mm negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Both sides ... scrap or used by another family. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2011 - 10:26pm -

December 1935. "Hamilton County, Ohio. Cincinnati slum dwellings." Close-up of the houses seen in yesterday's post. Note the railcar in the background. 35mm negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Both sides of the tracksThat really is the wrong side of the tracks. Wonder who lived in the aforementioned castle up the hill.
[As it turns out, college students. See the comments here. - Dave]
Why...is there a stove lying on its side in the foreground?  I would assume that ANYTHING in this neighborhood would be scooped up to sell for scrap or used by another family.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Cincinnati Photos)

Olden Arches: 1936
... Knop Tavern, last seen here . Nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Phantom ... the viaduct.) (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/21/2021 - 1:55pm -

April 1936. "Housing conditions in crowded parts of Milwaukee. Housing under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct." Another look at the F. Knop Tavern, last seen here. Nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Phantom StreetIt's still sort of there, today as a dead-end turnaround.
I think it's 42nd Street.... and I keep going back and forth about this looking at the other photo, but now I'm pretty sure this is 42nd Street, on the west side of this bend in the Menominee River. The train tracks in the background, the streetcar bridge in the distance, seems to align with this 1936 map of Milwaukee. (Look for Wisconsin Avenue, and little stub of 42nd street going under the viaduct.)
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Carl Mydans, Milwaukee)

Cream City: 1936
... Milwaukee Vocational School in background." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Fix it ... ... College . (The Gallery, Billboards, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Milwaukee) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/18/2021 - 3:30pm -

April 1936. "Rear of houses at 711 West State Street. Milwaukee Vocational School in background." Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Fix it ... that's all I askI am troubled by the top two signs' misalignment atop the decorative background latticework (for lack of a better word). Why are they not even with the placement of the bottom two signs? All they need to do is move to the left about two feet, until they are centered. Then it would all look so much better.
Also, for davidk, I seem to remember remarking about a year ago on what appeared to be a window air conditioning unit affixed to an early 1900s tenement. A smart shorpyite informed me that it was meant to be a sort of refrigerator box, wherein a housewife would place items for cold storage during the wintertime. Which you probably already knew because that smart shorpyite may have been yourself.
And now I need a Mars Toasted Almond Slice and a spin in an $810 Oldsmobile Eight.
From houses to the Big HouseMilwaukee City Jail sits on that site, now. 

One for twoThe house on the left has broken windows and is boarded up.  The one on the right has curtains and people living in it.  And – in a whuzza moment – what I thought for a sec was an A/C unit in the top window.
Today I learned1. How Milwaukee got the nickname Cream City.
2. The Milwaukee Vocational School still stands as the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

(The Gallery, Billboards, Carl Mydans, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Milwaukee)

Main Street: 1936
... New Hampshire." View full size. 35mm negative by Carl Mydans. Modern View? I would love to see a modern version of this view, ... torn down after years of vacancy. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Small Towns) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 3:00pm -

October 1936. "Main and Marion. French section, west side of river, Amoskeag, Manchester, New Hampshire." View full size. 35mm negative by Carl Mydans.
Modern View?I would love to see a modern version of this view, since the location is so clearly named.  What is there now?  
Tabernak!This was my stomping ground as a teen - I went to school across the river but most of my buddies lived on the West Side. These were some hard-core Canucks, man, and I still remember the first time I heard my friend's father tell his wife to 'fix me a pair of toast'. Awesome people.
Manchester NowMarion Street used to head east from Main (former US 3) between Wayne and Amory streets.
	                						                        The Brooks Pharmacy now occupies this area. Marion would have run almost down the center of the building. The Catholic Medical Center also sits on former Main Street - The access drive in the back of Brooks Pharmacy is as close as you might get to this spot.
Great map!This area of Manchester is available in Google street view. I wonder when urban renewal cleaned this area up?
View Larger Map
Manchester NHThat's pretty amazing, thanks for posting.  I must say, 'tho, that I prefer the earlier view! Urban renewal destroyed much of the character of my home town, too.
Urban RenewalI live in New Haven, and downtown was all but destroyed to put up awful concrete boxes that eventually got torn down after years of vacancy.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Small Towns)

Monster Mash: 1936
... This old-timer is leveraging his assets. Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. A poem from ... going on not very far away. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Rural America) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/04/2013 - 6:09am -

March 1936. "Cider mill at Crabtree Creek recreational demonstration area near Raleigh, North Carolina." This old-timer is leveraging his assets. Photo by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
A poem from my youthThe cider mill runs merrily
as the juicy apples fall
and the lazy farmer chuckles
as he grinds them...
worms and all.
Umstead State ParkThis is not far from where I work in Raleigh, NC. The Crabtree Creek Recreational Demonstration area is now William B. Umstead State Park, located on U.S. 70 near Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).
Pressing businessThere's an orchard close to us that makes its own cider, which is sold straight from the press through the winter. The equipment is steel now, but a cider press is still pretty much the same.
Recreational demonstration areaInteresting that there were recreational demonstration areas even then, when the real thing was probably going on not very far away.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Rural America)

Carpe Diem: 1936
... o pioneers! Etcetera, etc. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Fair ... that Mikey? He'll eat anything. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2010 - 5:10am -

February 1936. "Westmoreland Homesteads. Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Young homesteader." Pioneers, o pioneers! Etcetera, etc. 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Fair WarningDon't even think about touching my grub.
Passing the timeUntil someone invents the juice box and chicken nuggets.
CautiousHe seems to be considering B. Kliban's advice: "Never eat anything bigger than your head"
Isn't that Mikey?He'll eat anything.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids)

The Big Apple: 1936
... of Cornelia, Georgia." Medium format negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Check ... Red Apple Monument (The Gallery, Agriculture, Carl Mydans, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/07/2018 - 10:14pm -

June 1936. "Apple monument at depot of Cornelia, Georgia." Medium format negative by Carl Mydans for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Check what's out backThe Southern Railway is blowing through town in the foreground. But behind the "deeepoh" is one of the most famous short line railroads in a state famous for its short lines, the beautiful Tallulah Falls Railway. One of their cabooses is just right of the big apple, and in the distance are two of their locomotives with one appearing to be missing its cab. 
The TF connected here with the outside world and ran north  58 mountainous miles to Franklin, NC. The TF is best remembered as the location Walt Disney selected to film his "The Great Locomotive Chase" in 1955. The little road also had a bit part in the 1951 film "I'd Climb The Highest Mountain". Movie parts and beautiful scenery don't pay the bills though; the TF Ry folded in 1961. 
It still exists!And you can find it by just Googling "The big red apple"

Still there!
TF still there, sortaPanning Vintagetv's Google view left will show TF caboose no.X-5 is standing behind the Cornelia station on former TF right of way. Nice.
Home of the Big Red AppleBig Red Apple Monument
(The Gallery, Agriculture, Carl Mydans, Railroads)

Domestic Bliss: 1936
... size. Farm Security Administration photograph by Carl Mydans. Domestic Bliss, 1936 I am compelled to defend this woman's scowl ... photos that had already been taken. (The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2011 - 7:47pm -

Interior of Ozarks cabin housing six people in Missouri. May 1936. View full size. Farm Security Administration photograph by Carl Mydans.
Domestic Bliss, 1936I am compelled to defend this woman's scowl - it seems like the private moment she's having with baby (breastfeeding?) is being interupted by the photographer.
InsulationI think it is a private time but also, it shows not only how they lived in those times but how they insulated their homes. Paper is the best insulation and they new it back then. Not safe, but all that they had if they were lucky.
Let Us Now Praise...These folks were poor. Think of the other pictures from the depression, like Lange's mother portraits. The newspapers were to keep the drafts out. This poor gal is probably barely 30 and already looks worn out by life.
This RoomI really love imagining this room in color (minus the newspapering) as a modern day room with people of our time. In many ways this picture just seems like a fairytale, like America could look less technological-- it almost seems impossible.
Woman's "scowl"Having seen thousands of pictures from this era, and having known Ozarks residents who lived in this time period, I must say that this woman is not likely scowling at all.  She probably does not know the concept of "smiling for the camera."  I recall my mother taking pictures of my grandparents in 1957, and my mother's attempts to get them to smile.  They couldn't understand why in the world anyone would smile when there was nothing at all funny.  Mom finally asked them to say "cheese," which they thought was hilarious, and caused them to laugh enthusiastically, resulting in several humorous pictures to go along with the sober, staid photos that had already been taken.
(The Gallery, Carl Mydans, Kids)
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