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Arkansas Travelers: 1920
... circa 1920. Three gents in a dusty touring car with Arkansas and Colorado tags (and Yellowstone National Park windshield pass) are ... designed to deliver daylight to the basement below. Arkansas & Colorado tags As a keen observer, Dave notices every detail. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/03/2015 - 10:36am -

San Francisco circa 1920. Three gents in a dusty touring car with Arkansas and Colorado tags (and Yellowstone National Park windshield pass) are the stars of this 5x7 glass negative with the caption "Studebaker. Chester N. Weaver Co., S.E. corner Van Ness & California. Remodeled and occupied by Crocker-Citizens' Bank in 1967." Photo by Christopher Helin. View full size. Glass sidewalksWe saw a big one here on Shorpy recently. Glass sidewalksDon't see much of those glass dot sidewalks any more. As I recall, they were designed to deliver daylight to the basement below. Arkansas & Colorado tagsAs a keen observer, Dave notices every detail. As a foreigner, I was not aware that a license plate could also be called a tag, but O.K. now I know. Finding examples of circa 1920 license plates was not that easy, but I finally found a site worldlicenseplates, which provides images of (nearly) all years and all countries. There I found that in Colorado only the years 1913 thru 1918 (**Correction** and 1920!) had the letters "COLO" vertically on the left side (Arkansas had these plates until 1923), so the photograph should be dated in those years. Unfortunately I could not find an example of the Yellowstone National Park windshield pass. Studebaker, Tags, & the Day-Elder DealerBased on the Studebaker and the tags on it, the photo can be conclusively identified as being taken in 1920. The Studebaker shown is a 1920-21 Big Six which is easily identifiable by the height of the hood, the number of louvers on the hood, and the windshield with the small lights at the lower corners. The wind wings at the side of the windshield are an accessory. As mentioned by 'Alex' below, the vertical "COLO" on the license plate identifies Colorado as the state issued, but this feature was also used in 1920 for the front license plate. This was the first year that Colorado issued a front license plate. What is shown in the photo, however, is not the accidental placement of the front tag on the back. The number '0' next to 'COLO' indicates this is a "Guest" license plate that was issued to people traveling through Colorado. Full reciprocity between all 48 states did not exist at this time, so some states required you to obtain an additional license plate. The embossed format on the Guest plate shown only matches 1920. The 1921 Colorado Guest tag was not embossed, and later year Guest plates are also of a different style. The size and coloring of the Arkansas tag also points towards the same year, therefore I have to conclude the photo is from 1920. A photo of a 1920 Colorado Guest license plate is below. The Chester N. Weaver Co., a Studebaker and Day-Elder distributor, can be seen here on Shorpy. Note the worm drive depiction in the Day-Elder logo in the window above the car. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chris Helin, San Francisco)
Little Rock: 1935
Interior of tenant farmer home. Little Rock, Arkansas. October 1935. The "round thing" is an old-fashioned convex mirror. ... Interior of tenant farmer home. Little Rock, Arkansas Umm--can anyone tell what that "thing" is hanging down into the top ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/03/2012 - 1:52pm -

Interior of tenant farmer home. Little Rock, Arkansas. October 1935. The "round thing" is an old-fashioned convex mirror. View full size. Photo by Ben Shahn. It's interesting to note inIt's interesting to note in both this picture and the Domestic Bliss photograph the use of newspapers to seal the walls of the houses, probably to stop the wind and rain from blowing through the houses. Little Rock 1935Three pictures on this page have children pictured. In two of the pictures the children were noted. Yet in the above photo, only the room was worthy of comment. [That's the caption as Ben Shahn wrote it. Evidently he wasn't one to belabor the obvious - Dave] newspapersThe houses had just boards for walls so newspaper, cardboard, or wallpaper was used to keep out the wind. My grandparents house, built in 1917, was like this only I remember they had wallpaper. Over the years new wallpaper was layered over the old so a decent wind barrier was formed but it didn't keep out the cold. Indoor plumbing was added in the 1950's but it was always a treat to take a bath in the washtub outside. Interior of tenant farmer home. Little Rock, ArkansasUmm--can anyone tell what that "thing" is hanging down into the top of the picture? Interior of tenant farmer home. Little Rock, ArkansasAnd that paper job is on an interior wall, not exterior. Maybe for privacy? thinglooks like an oval photo frame, as was common in that era. thingor a roasting pan lid... thingan oval mirror Comics..I think it was intentional that the family, forced to use newspaper as insulation, deliberately picked parts of the paper that were pictorial and cheery- such as the comics. It's sort of moving to think of- the comics pages would have a little color and joy.. There's an abandoned houseThere's an abandoned house on an old farm I used to live on with my partner that has tongue and groove wainscoting. In other parts of the house there's newspaper all over as a wind barrier, but they've only used the news and classifieds sections. Based on the papers we can see, it dates from about 1942. thing it looks more like a picture frame with the domed glass faint image of something in the picture The Round ThingThe "faint image" is the photographer. It's an old-fashioned convex mirror. PopeyeI think there's a Popeye comic in the background. Still in print. That looks to be 'Maggie and Jiggs' up top and Wimpy and Bluto, 'Brutus', in earlier series, below it. I can understand why they would paste up the funnies on their walls, you can get them on expensive wallpaper nowadays. (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Great Depression, Kids, Little Rock)
Happy Hollow: 1901
Hot Springs, Arkansas, circa 1901. "McLeod's cabin, Happy Hollow ." A further note: ... this site. More on Norm Check out “Hot Springs, Arkansas,” page 102 and following. And roll out the barrel... Barrel ... of a deer for his prop, though. Elk became extinct in Arkansas in about 1850. They were reintroduced in 1981 and now number about ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/10/2015 - 9:02am -

Hot Springs, Arkansas, circa 1901. "McLeod's cabin, Happy Hollow." A further note: "Possibly associated with Norman E. McLeod, photographer, and menagerie." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Following along this line of photgraphyWere the stuffed (ex-live) horses in a bucking or rearing position at western destinations. They always seemed so "moth-eaten" as well. Maybe taxidermy wasn't what it is now. Thank goodnessI was more than a bit suspect of the signage, but that stuffed animal really gave me a turn. I am new at this old photography thing and should remember contrived pictures have probably been around as long as cameras. I really love this site. More on NormCheck out “Hot Springs, Arkansas,” page 102 and following. And roll out the barrel...Barrel staves work really well when building a barrel, but not so great making shingles....? Cocked and locked.Looks like his gun is ready to fire yet again. This all looks a bit contrived. If this were real, he'd probably not be able to spell at all, let alone poorly. Over the "Mune"Love the turn of the century equivalent of duct tape on the rifle stock. Fooled for a second Had to look twice to realize that this was one of those prop scenes built so that tourist dollars could be captured in Hot Springs National Park. It was one of the most popular destinations early in the 20th century. Funny that Norman used an elk instead of a deer for his prop, though. Elk became extinct in Arkansas in about 1850. They were reintroduced in 1981 and now number about 500 in the Buffalo National River area. Not so fast...This photo really feels staged to me. The crude spellings of "Arkansaw" and "Muneshine" are a little much and if a cabin were truly as crude as this it would be a lot deeper in the woods (and not along this decently improved road). The clincher though was this "hunter's" trophy. That's an elk not a deer. Eastern Elk haven't been in Arkansas since the 1830's. Goodness.What a big flag you have! Happy Hollow?The buck doesn't look too happy. Shootin at some foodWell the next thing you know ole Jed's a millionare. Elk in Arkansas in 1901?!According to this website http://www.agfc.com/hunting/elk/elk_info.aspx Eastern elk weren't found in Arkansas after the 1840's and western elk weren't reintroduced until 1933. Did this fellow shoot "bigfoot" with his Trapdoor Springfield? Hee Haw 1.0Norm McLeod's Happy Hollow was kind of the Dollywood of its day. Big on cornpone "hillbilly" humor. A Razorback's Pride of PlaceThat's "Arkansaw" to you, boy! I don't buy itNever mind the hokey misspelled signs written in chalk, with no chinking or daubing that cabin clearly was not in use. But, the forlorn animal sure looks to me as if it is a taxidermically preserved antique, plopped over on its side for the heroic photo. Such theatric, photographic fakery was already in place in 1901, and long before that time, no doubt. Happy HollowPronounced "holler." So, when's lunch? Poor elkHis horns are coming unscrewed! Another mystery solvedHere's a photo from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on Happy Hollow showing the same cabin, dead elk, and a few other props including what appears to be a stuffed bear (or should it be "b'ar"?). The latter is also just barely visible in the Shorpy photo, lying inside the doorway behind the butt of the rifle. It Really Is True...There IS one born every minute. Boaring....Personally, I'd have posed with the wild boar that's lying just inside the doorway... or both... (it COULD be a bear, too... little hard to tell from just the moth-eaten nose). Probably the one seen, here: http://baberfamilytree.org/Albums/Images/happyhollow.jpg (Billy Bob Thornton was born in Hot Springs, AK, which may 'splain a few things...) Nice Rack!...on that elk. I couldn't resist. How often can you say "Nice rack!" nowadays and not get into trouble? That darn Elk!I think the elk is lying just in front of the cabin in the photo posted by John Martini. A couple of years ago, I accidentally found myself just a little too close to an elk (luckily a female or I wouldn't be here now) and trust me when I tell you that you don't want to be too close to an elk (aka wapiti), male or female, accidentally or otherwise. I came away with a lot less blood, broken hands and some major bruising and was the talk of the nearby hospital. Elk != deerThat looks more like a deer in the photo posted by John Martini. It's much smaller and the antlers are different. (The Gallery, DPC, Hot Springs, Rural America)
Arkansas Travelers: 1938
... and eldest son's family. Father was a blacksmith in Paris, Arkansas. Son was a tenant farmer. 'We're bound for Kingfisher (Oklahoma wheat) ... to but we'll be in California yet. We're not going back to Arkansas; believe I can better myself'." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/20/2016 - 5:28pm -

June 1938. "On highway No. 1 of the 'OK' state near Webbers Falls, Muskogee County, Oklahoma. Seven children and eldest son's family. Father was a blacksmith in Paris, Arkansas. Son was a tenant farmer. 'We're bound for Kingfisher (Oklahoma wheat) and Lubbock (Texas cotton). We're not trying to but we'll be in California yet. We're not going back to Arkansas; believe I can better myself'." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Admin. View full size. That last utterancewas briefly considered for the Official Arkansas State Motto. Gasp!Yeah, I know that this is way before OSHA, etc., and at a time when safety details were low on the list of these people's concerns, but it is just a complete abandonment of common sense to leave all those people in the back of this homemade wagon supported by a flimsy-looking, listing jack anchored on an uneven gravel surface! Yikes. "Everyone git in the truck""We're movin' on'." Just imagine June in Oklahoma, 1938, most likely hovering around 100 degrees, constant dirt blowing in the dry wind, loading up the back with all your worldly possessions, mattresses, quilts and family, what looks like about 3 adults and 5 or 6 kids, and Grandpa with Pa and the oldest son sitting in the front seat. Imagine there is no a/c, no amusements, safety belts, car seats, toys, entertainment, snacks, drinks or bathroom facilities, and with no idea what awaits you or how long your vehicle would last as you go down the road looking for a new life. These brave people had incredible fortitude, courage and optimism, not to mention an iron will for tolerating certain, long-term discomfort, all in the hopes that there would be better days ahead. Think of any half dozen kids or adults you may currently know who would or could handle a week-long (or longer) journey like this with a broken down truck, no money and no comprehension of what or why this was happening. I can't help but wonder if people today could deal with such uncertainty and no plans for what happens next. I'm thinking we are all a bunch of spoiled whiners (including me) and maybe we should be ashamed of ourselves for lacking the ability to do what needs to be done to improve our situation, whatever that may be. Tire rims.Those old 3 piece rims were killers. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids, On the Road)
Girls in Smackover, Arkansas
Smackover, Arkansas, in the 1930's. Velma Reynolds, probably a cousin of Ruth Williams, ... comforting of Southern accents, that soft, honey-dripping Arkansas drawl. I had to know about that name. Read on here . ... 
 
Posted by johndxmurphy - 09/20/2011 - 12:47am -

Smackover, Arkansas, in the 1930's. Velma Reynolds, probably a cousin of Ruth Williams, and Suzanne Byrd. View full size. Gimme some sugarThese women likely possess one of the most comforting of Southern accents, that soft, honey-dripping Arkansas drawl. I had to knowabout that name. Read on here. You're kidding, right?There's REALLY a town named Smackover? The things you learn on Shorpy! (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Arkansas Pickers: 1940
... small children in fields with parents. Migrant mother from Arkansas taking a picture of the family before moving on to new work location." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/09/2019 - 10:43am -

July 1940. Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant agricultural workers -- 'fruit tramps' harvesting cherries and strawberries. Miserable housing in company shacks, cabins, tents, trucks, abandoned farm buildings, small children in fields with parents. Migrant mother from Arkansas taking a picture of the family before moving on to new work location." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. OUCH!"Fruit tramps"? Harsh! Somewhere ...Somewhere, in some hope chest, closet, thrift store, or landfill - is an 80 year old image from a Kodak Brownie of John Vachon sitting on the roof of a shed taking this image. Big Sis?Far be it from me to question Mr. Vachon who was obviously there on the spot in 1940, but... the young lady holding the camera hardly looks old enough to be a mom. Could it be that 'mom' is whose legs are visible off to the left holding the baby while big sister tries to snap a photo of her brothers and their dog? [Once upon a time it was not uncommon to see women in their twenties with little kids who were their actual children! - Dave] (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dogs, John Vachon, Kids)
Arkansas: 1924
April 1924. Washington, D.C. "Group holding Arkansas state flag." Regnat populus! Harris & Ewing Collection glass ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/16/2014 - 10:39am -

April 1924. Washington, D.C. "Group holding Arkansas state flag." Regnat populus! Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Old Post OfficeThis is one of a number of photos taken in 1924 at the Old Post Office in Washington, DC. They were having an exhibit of State flags which were presented by each State. I believe the fellow on the left is Postmaster General Harry Stewart New, who had been a US Senator from Indiana until 1923, when President Harding made the appointment. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, The Office)
19th Century Arkansas Boys
... date of this tintype. It was included in my grandmother's Arkansas family album. I thought it would be interesting to get feedback. ... 
 
Posted by GChandler - 03/09/2013 - 12:10am -

Unknown date of this tintype. It was included in my grandmother's Arkansas family album. I thought it would be interesting to get feedback. Post-Civil War work camp? Clothing and settingSomeone should be able to offer a rough date for this photo based on the clothing. Are those tents in the background? There is an interesting iron stand to the boy's right and a low-hanging floral backdrop behind the boys for staging portraits. Outdoors? Looks like dirt the boys are standing on. Both have buttoned their coats at the top, a style peculiar to the mid to late 1800s. The boy’s hat on the left may also help date this picture. His clothing is rough and patched which might suggest work cloths or he may simply not have the means for better clothing. The boy on the right looks like a character right out of Tom Sawyer's adventures. Tom and Huck? (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Newsies and Dog: 1909
... decent and I earned my walking-around money. Piggott, Arkansas My dad, born 1919, loved to demonsrate his pitch, "St. Louis, ... newspapers in the downtown square of small town Piggott, Arkansas, about 1930. One of my best memories. (The Gallery, Boston, Dogs, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 9:38am -

Sunday 5 a.m. Newsies starting out. Boston, Massachusetts. October 1909. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. my grandfatherMy grandfather was a newsie in Cambridge MA. He was born in 1896. Newspaper boysNewsies probably had it better than suburban newspaper boys, at least they got their money on the spot. I had to collect from the customers every week, and often some of them refused to pay: "My paper was wet on Tuesday. I'm not paying for it." Globe, Traveler, American! Paper here!I sold newspapers on the street outside one of the the subway kiosks in Central Square in Cambridge in 1950 or 1951, when I was 11 or 12. After school. The afternoon papers were the Globe (afternoon edition), the Traveler (the afternoon version of the Herald), and the American (P.M. edition of the Record). Papers were a nickel (of which I got a penny), but the tips were decent and I earned my walking-around money. Piggott, ArkansasMy dad, born 1919, loved to demonsrate his pitch, "St. Louis, Chicago, and Denver aaaaaper" which he used while selling newspapers in the downtown square of small town Piggott, Arkansas, about 1930. One of my best memories. (The Gallery, Boston, Dogs, Kids, Lewis Hine)
Intimations of Autumn: 1952
... has correctly identified the location as Eureka Springs, Arkansas. See the Comments for details. "7 Oct. 1952 -- Entrance to ... "on a limb" and say its the entrance to "The Ozarks". Arkansas Hwy 7 outside Hot Springs. Entrance To ... North Dakota! ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2014 - 12:10pm -

        UPDATE: Shorpy member SteamBoomer has correctly identified the location as Eureka Springs, Arkansas. See the Comments for details. "7 Oct. 1952 -- Entrance to ______  _______." Who can tell us where we are in this latest installment of Minnesota Kodachromes? (Hint: not Minnesota.) 35mm color slide by Hubert Tuttle, on the road with wife Grace. View full size. If only we could see a little farther leftFrom the trees and the rocky terrain my best guess is that this is somewhere in Upstate New York or northern New England. What makes the guessing game especially tantalizing is the sign partly visible at far left. Someone named Horton or Morton or Norton was running for state attorney general in the 1952 election. Here's hoping Wikipedia has enough detail ... [Edit: as another person helpfully noted, this could not be Upstate New York or northern New England in October. I should have known that.] [Further edit: the suggestion of Florida is an intriguing one, and there are some areas north of Orlando that might be hilly enough, but the rocky outcroppings at the right wouldn't be found in the Sunshine State.] Highway signDown the road a piece we see what looks like a shield-shaped US Highway number sign with an auxiliary above. The latter could be "NORTH," "SOUTH," "ALT(ernate)" etc. My guess is "alternate," specifically the earlier main route, based on the narrowness and the 1920s-1930s-era cement pavement, and since bypassed by a wider, straighter roadway. Of course, this only narrows the location down to the entire United States. There's something about the nearest trees at the right that says California live oaks to me, but I can't quite make out the leaf shape. Too green?I think it may be too green for the photo to have been taken in New England in October. Farther south, I think. I would be tempted to say, "entrance to Blue Ridge Parkway" if there were three spaces. California? Near a polo field?Judging from the trees (is that a madrone on the near left?) I would say coastal California. It's a bit lush to be Southern California. My guess would be near Santa Cruz. The sign with the horse icon on the left looks to me like a sign for polo grounds, rather than horse riding or racing. The area around the Polo Grounds Park in Aptos looks similar, but I couldn't find a road that matched that topography. Maybe not so far awayIt's 1952 and these are our friends whose previous photos have always been in southern Minnesota. Not Minnesota? OK, how about western Wisconsin, someplace between the Twin Cities and Eau Claire? I'm going with California, somewhere.The trees on the right look like Madrone or large Manzanita. There are some pines floating around in the trees as well as what could be a tallish live oak. The cut bank of dirt looks like the kind where I grew up. I'm going with North Central California. No idea as to the entrance. Process of EliminationIf the election poster is for state Attorney General, then California can't be the state. Pat Brown was elected in 1950 and didn't run again until 1954. There was a State Attorney General elected in Oregon named Thornton in 1952, but the last four letters of the last name on the poster are definitely "RTON". [Interesting, but knowing who got elected doesn't help you much if the guy on the poster lost. - Dave] US 12Looking from the rocks and trees, could they be on US-12 south of Baraboo, WI on their way to Devil's Lake State Park? Wonder SpotLake Delton, Wisconsin, just south of the Wisconsin Dells. Trees suggest not CaliforniaI'm pretty sure I see post oak, black oak and shortleaf pine. I could be wrong, but I'm going to go out "on a limb" and say its the entrance to "The Ozarks". ArkansasHwy 7 outside Hot Springs. Entrance To ...North Dakota! Florida?Forgive me if this a stupid suggestion (I'm a Brit and have visted parts of the US but not Florida). Someone named L.Grady Burton stood for Attorney General in Florida in 1948*. If elections are every 4 years he may have stood again in 1952. Does this help? *Daytona Beach Morning Journal - May 21, 1948. Folger Stable and Wunderlich ParkI think we are on what is now SR 84 North, Woodside Road, Redwood City, San Mateo County, California. The election poster seems to be for Atherton. The entrance to the left is for the Folger Stable, where one could hire a horse and take the equestrian trails through Wunderlich Park. Glib Bartonran for Attorney General in Arkansas in 1952, so I'm going to cast my vote for Arkansas, as well. [Ahem. CLIB Barton. - Dave] Route 120 in CaliforniaThere are ponderosa pine, digger pine, madrone and black oak (I believe) in the picture, all native to California. I'm going with Route 120 on the way to Yosemite Park out of Groveland, CA. 3500 foot elevation because everything is still green in October. Let's go to Hot Springs (Ark.)Looks a lot like an Arkansas highway, plus the sign with the racehorse on it indicates they are on the way to Hot Springs which has a major thoroughbred race track and is on Highway 7. Route 120 in CaliforniaBased on the vegetation (the near pines are Ponderosa pine and there are a couple of digger pine along the horizon), the madrone near the electric pole of the near left. I guess it to be somewhere around Groveland, CA on the road to Yosemite Park. Hot Springs to WinYes, it must be Hot Springs. Hot Springs has had a horse track since 1905, Oaklawn Park. [You're not even Warm. - Dave] Play SafeElect Clib Barton your Attorney General. Agree with MbillardAs you suggested Dave, find the one who lost the election. Glib Barton fits the bill. As for the fill in the blanks, how about "Ozark Mountains"? [Not quite. And Clib wasn't Glib. - Dave] My vote - not CaliforniaTwo things I see, both road-related: 1. California's two auto clubs (and the Division of Highways beginning in 1948) were in charge of road signage and paid meticulous attention to detail in doing so. That yellow diamond sign would've been mounted to a post painted yellow to match with black at the base. 2. If this is indeed a US highway, there would likely be white striping down the center of the roadway, even if it wasn't quite wide enough for two full lanes. Reading the hintsWarm Springs, Georgia? It's on my mind. Warm Springs?Going by your hints, is it Warm Springs, Georgia? [Getting colder. Brrr! - Dave] Strange if CaliforniaThe foliage definitely looks like California, but if that is a US Highway sign whose back we see things are a bit odd. My memory was, and checking the online 1952 highway map verified, that there were relatively few US Highways in California in 1952, none were designated Alternate, and all were relatively main roads. (Except for good old US 395 to Alturas, which had sections listed as oiled dirt or oiled gravel.) If it was a state or county road it's unlikely but possible that a stretch that long would not have a distance marker (we called them "paddle signs" in the rally game) showing. Nifty puzzle. OuachitaCould it be Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas? They hit Iowa on the way home from the trip.I was going to guess Iowa, due to this article which places them in Iowa not very long after this photo was taken: [I suspect Iowa was on both both legs of their trip! - Dave] Entrance to Eureka SpringsHubert and Grace have turned north off US Hwy 62 onto Arkansas Hwy 23. The photo was taken somewhere around GPS coordinates 36.394231,-93.742166. [Now that's what I call specific. And correct! How did you figure it out? - Dave] I simply had a Eureka moment! View Larger Map Eureka!SteamBoomer seems to have nailed it. The irony for me is that I was originally convinced that this was one of the roads in the state I grew up in, California. Instead, it turns out to be in the one town in Arkansas that also figured in my childhood. I spent a few summers in Eureka Springs staying with relatives. I remember the beautiful buildings and houses of the town well, but I'd forgotten the wild look of the countryside around it. Eureka Springs, 1904Family outing, 110 years ago: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3276 (Minnesota Kodachromes)
Rural Mother: 1936
... 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 ... 
 
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)
Zinc, Ark.: 1935
... 1935. "Among the few remaining inhabitants of Zinc, Arkansas, deserted mining town." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by ... KKK headquarters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc,_Arkansas (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Great Depression, Rural America, Stores ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 1:55pm -

October 1935. "Among the few remaining inhabitants of Zinc, Arkansas, deserted mining town." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn. ZincThe guy in the middle, in profile, looks like Gregory Peck and Tommy Lee Jones all in one. Sad how these small old places vanished. Even the old dawg looks down. 73 years later, Zinc carries onPer Wikipedia, the place still exists. It is home to 76 people and a KKK headquarters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc,_Arkansas (The Gallery, Ben Shahn, Great Depression, Rural America, Stores & Markets)
Little Rock Garbage: 1910
Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "City Hall." With a sampler of interesting signage, and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/15/2023 - 9:38am -

Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "City Hall." With a sampler of interesting signage, and an elaborately rigged street light. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Das HundAnd man's best friend keeping an eye on the photographer. Does anyone know why the dome was removed? Storm damage? Structural? Hair?Ark. Brick and Mfg. Co. Brick, Lime, Cement. Hair, Plaster, Sewer-tile, Sand. Hair? [Horse hair was used for insulation, and also mixed with plaster as a strengthening agent. - Dave] PlasteredSome things don't change -- the mailbox and garbage companies, but what in the world would you do with the hair? I guess mix it with the plaster for that new wave look. (Pun intended) [Horsehair was mixed with plaster to reinforce the matrix. - Dave] The doomed domeFrom a 2008 press release of the City of Little Rock, relating to the 100th anniversary of the City Hall building: By 1955, the Dome which sat on top of City Hall needed severe repairs. The wooden supports and the copper cladding were both in dire shape. Mayor Pratt Remmel set aside money for the dome to be repaired. After defeating Remmel in his bid for a third term, Mayor Woodrow Mann scrapped plans for the repair and, indeed, scrapped the dome. Following the lead of County Judge Arch Campbell who had removed the tower at the County Courthouse, Mann proposed removal of the dome. He had an informal survey which had three options: repair the dome, replace the dome with an aluminum one, or remove it. This was open to anyone to respond – voting eligibility or Little Rock residency did not matter. By a slim margin, remove the dome won – so the dome was removed. Horse HairHaving lived in an old home that had walls plastered in the early 1900's, I became aware of the use of horse hair to reinforce the plaster. We had removed the build up of old paint and paper from the walls. When it would rain or the weather was damp, the walls would emit an odor of wet animal hair. This persisted until we sealed the walls with an stain sealing undercoat and then painted the walls. Still City HallThe mayor of Little Rock has had an office for 103 years in this building. The garbage sign pictured was on the east side of the building and across the street from what now is the Robinson Auditorium. I watched Jerry Seinfeld's show in that venue two years ago. My wife and I and 2500 other folks had a great time. No ParkingI'm curious. Was it against the law for horses to be parked within 15 feet of a fire hydrant? Horsehair-was also very handy for keeping horses warm. 100 year old mailboxI'm amazed that the barrel-top US Mail collection box was around 100+ years ago. [They were in use as early as 1906.] How Green Was My Lumber?Several of those light poles/power poles are pretty warped--wonder if they used green lumber and are now paying the price? And the horizontal marks on the bottom of the pole at the corner--from years of people lashing horses to the pole, as on the next pole down? (The Gallery, DPC, Little Rock)
Southern Trust: 1910
Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "Southern Trust Co. building." Tallest in the state at ... two buildings that would wear the title of "Tallest in Arkansas": the Southern Trust, which would earn that distinction in 1906, and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/15/2023 - 9:58am -

Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "Southern Trust Co. building." Tallest in the state at the time of its completion in 1907. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tell me a 'story'How many stories were in this building? Depending on the method of counting, I'm guessing either 8, 9, 10 or 11. A lot depends on if the first floor is really the 1st Floor or the Ground Floor; and if the second floor is really the 1st Floor, then is the "second" second floor really the 2nd Floor, or the Mezzanine; and (if this were in Japan), was the ninth floor really the 9th Floor, the 10th Floor, or did it just get skipped altogether? And if the 9th Floor doesn't really exist, is the next floor up, the 10th Floor, making the 11th Floor the Penthouse (or is the Penthouse really the 10th Floor, just not in Japan)? And if the building were much taller, don't get me started about whether or not there was a 13th Floor, as that seems to be unlucky everywhere. I'm just "floored" over this whole "story". I think I'll bring this back down to solid ground... but wait, there's (potentially) even more! What about the basement, or Lower Level 1, or whatever they call it? And finally, "Who's On First?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Trust_Building License plate identification, pleaseCan anyone in Shorpyland get a high res detailed photo of the license plate on the auto partially obscured by the pole? Little Rock issued plates for 1909, 10, and 11 and all a very rare. As a collector, I would like to archive this detail if possible. I just don't have the skills to do it myself. Thanks everybody. -- Steve Passing the CrownThis picture is remarkable for two things: 1) it captures the two buildings that would wear the title of "Tallest in Arkansas": the Southern Trust, which would earn that distinction in 1906, and (in the distance) the State Bank (aka "Boyle"), which would capture it three years later. 2) They're both still around.(In fact, so are the two the smaller buildings to the left as well as a building that's only implied - the Old Federal Building - as the phote must have been shot from it.) It pays to advertise?The concept of painting your firm's name on the building windows is established, but on the 8th floor? Who could possibly read them from the street? 10 storiesThis building is not only there, but looks very good considering the age of it. I was by there two weeks ago. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Little Rock)
Podcast: 1941
... company just shut down: https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/goodbye-to-little-rock-crate-and-baske... There are some ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/17/2018 - 11:31am -

June 1941. "Dressing crates of peas for shipment. Canyon County, Idaho." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Crate & BasketCummer Graham at some point wisely changed its name to Little Rock Crate and Basket. The company just shut down: https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/goodbye-to-little-rock-crate-and-baske... There are some interesting production pictures showing archaic wooden conveyor belts. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Russell Lee)
Migrant Mother II: 1936
... families out of the drought counties of Oklahoma and Arkansas had passed through from Arizona entering California." Medium-format ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/03/2012 - 4:59pm -

August 17, 1936. Blythe, California. "Drought refugees from Oklahoma camping by the roadside. They hope to work in the cotton fields. There are seven in family. The official at the border inspection service said that on this day, 23 carloads and truckloads of migrant families out of the drought counties of Oklahoma and Arkansas had passed through from Arizona entering California." Medium-format negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. A different timeMy first day in California was spent in Blythe in January of 1979. I know because that night in the motel room we watched the pilot of "Dukes of Hazzard." The family was headed for LA and I hated every minute I was in that town. I thought Blythe was a miserable town in January. I can't imagine what it was like sitting on the side of the road in August. This photo almost brought tears to my eyes. Whoa!Ohhhhh. So that's what they're used for. DaddyAnother shot by Dorothea. An Exotic CultureIt's a poignant photograph. By the sensibilities of the time, though, one just didn't show photos of women breastfeeding. Unless, of course, the woman was from an exotic and inferior culture, who's whose nakedness was suitable for display in the pages of National Geographic Magazine. One wonders if Dorothea Lange viewed the Okies this way. Sensibilities of the timeI doubt DL would have lasted five minutes if she had had such a patronizing attitude as to view "Okies" as an inferior culture. What she's saying IMHO is, "you sent me to document the indomitable American spirit and this is what I found." The first thing poverty kills is privacy. Sorority SisterTo me she looks amazingly contemporary. Minus the steely gaze and the nursing baby she could be a college girl.I'm sure she's in her early 20s. Straight out of Steinbeck. What a life. Slouching towards BakersfieldStill no room at the inn. StrengthOne of the most strinking and haunting pictures you've found. 'Powerful' is too weak a word. Thank you. Down but not outLook at the set of her jaw and near glare of her eyes. There was a lot of spirit left in this young woman. Ow. Ow. Ow.This is pure pain. This shot, all shots by Dorothea Lange transend time, simply put, each one is "art". IMO, she was the master of photography. I have so much personal pain viewing this that I cannot even comment. A long sleeved shirt?I'd at least have the sleeves rolled up, if that was my only shirt. Every August in Blythe when I passed through, it was 110 or more. And I didn't have air-conditioning in the VW, so I felt every one of those degrees even in a tank top, shorts, and sandals. You don't see any sweat because it evaporates almost instantly in the low, low humidity. My Ozark relatives would say that looking into those young woman's eyes, she got some spunk in 'er! Those were tough times.I like to relate to the pictures on this web page. 1936 was the year I entered the Henry Ford Trade School and now know how fortunate I was. Would like to know what happened to this young lady. Have read that some of these people or their children did quite well in California. Blythe, CA in Augustis hell on Earth under any conditions. This must have been pure misery. MothersThe child looks a little big to be still nursing which would mean this is the only way mom could feed him, Dad looks hopeless while mom looks strong. One of the strongest photos of motherhood I have ever seen. Those EyesEven though this is a still photograph, I believe she has what they would call an unwavering gaze. Those eyes have seen misery and hardship impossible for most of us to imagine. I wish you well, dear woman. Compelling time periodI am a huge fan of researching this time period the images, such as this one, capture moments of raw human emotion. I did a post recently about The Great Depression, using archive photographs to look at the support systems that are put in place to aid people, like the family member shown here. http://www.collectivepic.com/2009/08/the-great-depression-the-current-re... Nursing momI wish we had a breastfeeding tag here. I've seen other babes nursing. The child is definitely not too old to be nursing. It's only been within in the last century that Americans as a whole have put their babies on artificial baby milk or weaned from the breast way too early. The minimum recommended ranges from 12-24 months--and that's a minimum on the breast, not a maximum. I've come across other nursing mother pictures in old photos. I think that it was likely seen as a normal thing to do. Totally modest, there was no accusation of a lack of discretion--this is simply how infants and toddlers are fed and comforted. Hopefully we can move back toward attitudes such as this. This picture is both beautiful and sorrowful. This ladydefinitely has more femininity, modesty and class than modern American women. True BeautyThat is the face of the most beautiful woman I have seen, such strength, love, character. Antibodies, tooThis lovely mother isn't just providing food and comfort for her toddler. She is also passing on her own antibodies, to help protect him from illness, because his own immune system would have still been developing. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
D-Day: New York
... On January 6, 1944, I was 6 years old in Fort Smith, Arkansas, part of a young generation which at the time had no knowledge of a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2013 - 10:25am -

New York, June 6, 1944. ALLIED ARMIES LAND ON COAST OF FRANCE. GREAT INVASION OF CONTINENT BEGINS. "D-Day. Crowd watching the news line on the New York Times building at Times Square." Photo by Howard Hollem or Edward Meyer for the Office of War Information. View full size. Unidentified ObjectDoes anyone know what the curved metal object with letters on it is? It appears to be on top of a car on the right. [DeSoto "Sky View" taxicab sign. - Dave] Internet, 1944is what this could have been titled. The scrolling electric sign was as good as it got then, and I am sure those folks were fairly amazed to see it. I wonder what it took to program it? My great-uncle went in at D Day +60 (August 7) as a replacement in the 2nd Infantry Division (L Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment); he was seriously wounded at Brest, France, a month later, died in 1956...and I was named for him. That was never far from my mind when I served in Iraq in 2004 at the same age he was when he earned his Purple Heart and (I believe) a Bronze Star. To all those who went in on D-Day...and throughout WWII, I stand and salute. So what about that moving sign?According to various sources the NY Times installed the first moving "news ticker" in 1928, using 14,800 electric bulbs. Given the technology of the day, I can only guess that each bulb required a relay, which would have to click on and off almost instantly to momentarily light its bulb, as the text scrolls along. This must have been a maintenance challenge (there seems to be a few extra bulbs lit, and some brighter ones that may just have been replaced). They may have used or even invented the "matrix" technique still used today for LCD displays, which uses "crosspoint" wiring to greatly reduce the number of lines going from the elements to the control system, but my mind still boggles at the number of wires remaining, and what kind of electro-mechanical system translated "operator input" to the streaming text. If only Shorpy's world-wide readership included a retired electro-mechanical sign technician! Just the technology of the news line was something...Before zooming in to see the image full size, on first glance the guy on the left and the guy 2nd from the right were in a posture not to different than someone holding a cellphone to the ear. Of course it's clear they were dragging on fags, sucking on coffin nails, drawing down on Pall Malls while taking in the portentous news. As someone not born until 12 years after the war was over - I am fascinated by what day to day life in the US was like, mobilized for war. Of course I grew up knowing it was a success, but at that very moment, who knew how this was going to work out - the intensity of the moment, even for folks in the street in Times Square, must have been incredible. Pausing to rememberMy brother landed D-Day plus 12 and my uncle D-Day plus 20. They were lucky, I guess, and returned to us to live out long lives. Great photo. Really profound. 6-6-44Yet to be born, a twinkle in my father's eye as he dropped from the sky into Caen with the Canadians early that morning. RIP Dad. 23,740 days later Kind of Gladwe can't see many faces in the crowd. We'd have to start wondering what they were thinking -- Is my son there? My dad? My husband? My brother? Funny but I cannot summon up any memory of D-Day. VE and VJ Days, and the dropping of the two A-bombs are sharp and clear, but not D-Day. I think perhaps that it might relate to what happened in early May. I was out riding my trike when a Western Union messenger rode up on his bike and went into the three-family apartment in which I lived. I heard a terrible scream through the open windows of the first-floor unit. All the neighbors (women since the men were in the military or working) flocked to the apartment with screams continuing for some time. I learned that the woman's son had been killed in action. I did not totally understand the horror, but I was sad because the young man had been very nice to the punk kid airplane nut from the third floor, even letting me hold his model planes. The first-floor family were an elderly couple, with the one child, who had become a fighter pilot in the Pacific. The husband walked with heavy braces and crutches, and, as I later learned, they just quit and gave up life. They moved within days and we never heard from them again. I think that I was in a bit of a void for a while. Walking to churchOn January 6, 1944, I was 6 years old in Fort Smith, Arkansas, part of a young generation which at the time had no knowledge of a condition known as peace. On that day, my mother received a phone call from a fellow church member who was calling everyone in the congregation to say that the invasion was under way. This was the signal to come to the church to pray. Our family; mother, father and two boys walked to the church to pray for the safety and success of our "American Boys" on that day. DeSoto Sky ViewThose great old DeSoto cabs had a sliding roof panel to let passengers see the views above them while being carried through the Manhattan canyons. The skyscraper with the clock housed the Paramount Theatre, a wonderful place to visit for a movie and a live stage show. I saw Phil Spitalny and his "All-Girl Orchestra featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin" there with my family. The movie was "Miss Susie Slagle's," starring Veronica Lake and Sonny Tufts. Bright Lights, Big SignRadio CoverageThe National Archives in College Park, Maryland has recordings of the entire NBC and CBS broadcast day from D-Day and anyone can go in and listen to them. It's a very good way to get a sense of what the day was like for people at home listening on the radio as events unfolded. News ZipperFrom a 2005 NYT article on the Zipper: The Motograph News Bulletin, to use its original formal name, began operation on Nov. 6, 1928, election night, as a band of 14,800 light bulbs that extended 380 feet long and 5 feet high around the fourth floor of what was then the Times Tower. It was installed for The New York Times by Frank C. Reilly, according to an article in The Times, which identified Mr. Reilly as the inventor of electric signs with moving letters. Inside the control room, three cables poured energy into transformers. The hookup to all the bulbs totaled 88,000 soldered connections. Messages from a ticker came to a desk beside a cabinet like the case that contained type used by old-time compositors. The cabinet contained thin slabs called letter elements. An operator composed the message, letter by letter, in a frame. The frame, when filled with the letters and spaces that spelled out a news item, was inserted in a magazine at one end of a track. A chain conveyor moved the track, and each letter in the frame brushed a number of electrical contacts. Each contact set a light flashing on Broadway. There were more than 39,000 brushes, which had to undergo maintenance each month. The frame with the letter elements passed up and overhead, forming an endless circuit. Mr. Reilly calculated that there were 261,925,664 flashes an hour. D-DayJune 6, 1944, I was 16 years old and in Basic Training with the the US Maritime Service at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Many of us teenagers had close relatives in the military and wished we were there with them to fight the Axis. A month later, I was in a North Atlantic convoy assigned to a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun hoping that a Nazi plane would dare to fly over. "I'd show 'em." Of course I didn't tell this to my shipmates. skyview cabI believe this is the light-up sign on top of the Sky-View Cab Company. It looks like neon. I was watching an old movie from the forties (?) on TCM and I noticed these cabs. They had a sunroof cut into the roof of the cab so the passengers in the back seat could look up and see the buildings. I can't remember the movie, but the plot involved the passenger looking up and seeing something relevant to the story line. It must have been a gimmick for the cab company. It also must have been one of the early sunroofs in a car! More SkyviewThe Skyview NYC Taxicab that the tipster may have seen on TCM was in the musical "Anchors Aweigh". The scene where Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are Standing up and looking out at the city in Betty Garrett's Skyview cab. Those DeSoto Skyview Cabs were sold exclusively through James Waters Chrysler Agency in Long Island City, Queens. The price for a new one was about $1100. I once heard a story that he was Walter Chrysler's Son-in-Law but I can't confirm it. The Skyview cabs were all over the placewhen I lived in NYC from 1941 - 44. They were stretched DeSotos with a couple of fold-up seats and the roof had glass so that one could see the tall buildings. There was also a radio built into the armrest on the right. The driver turned it on and the passenger controlled the rest. I had many rides in those cabs. Hovercraft at D-Day@sjack: I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I certainly don't wish to denigrate the memory of your father and his courageous service to our nation in World War II, but I'm quite sure he didn't lower tanks onto hovercraft for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The US Army did not make use of hovercraft until Viet Nam, and then it was only on an experimental basis. As your comment is titled, memories are funny sometimes. Perhaps your dad talked about loading tanks onto landing craft, not hovercraft, like the LST (landing ship tank) or smaller versions like the LCU (landing craft utility), which were flat-hulled vessels that could approach fairly close to the beach and lower a ramp on the bow, allowing troops and vehicles to exit. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down"New York, New York, A Helluva Town" was sung in the Broadway "On the Town" but for the film changed to "New York, New York, A Wonderful Town" because of those archaic Hollywood codes at that time. Los Angeles may have our Dodgers but they don't have our songs or our Skyview Cabs. RememberingDuring my early teen's in the 1950's I was invited along on several fishing trips with 3 WWII veterans. One had been an Army Ranger, one a sailor who had been on the Murmansk Run, and the third a paratrooper. You can imagine the banter among those guys. The Ranger was in the D-Day invasion and had been wounded in the buttocks. The Navy vet always asked him how he could have sustained that injury advancing from the beach. Curiously, the paratrooper never spoke any particulars of his service. They're gone now, but I remember them being nice to this kid. Thanks guys. UnawareJune 6, 1944 - I was happily gestating in my mother's womb and would be born during the Battle of the Bulge (no relation to mom's condition). My dad, drafted in 1940 into the 7th Cavalry (yes, Custer's old outfit) had been converted into armor and was preparing to sail overseas to a place called Leyte Gulf in the Philippines where he would be wounded and spend the rest of the war, plus another year, in Letterman Hospital in S.F. Until his death in 1996 he could remember most of his company's buddies names and the names of their horses. More on radio coverageThe NBC and CBS D-Day broadcasts are available at the Internet Archive. NBC: http://archive.org/details/NBCCompleteBroadcastDDay CBS: http://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day That woundHow your Ranger probably caught that one: We were taught in training that buttocks wounds were very common; moving forward under fire without decent cover, one crawls. It is most difficult to accomplish this without making your buttocks the highest point of your body! Let us never forget the men of D-Day.An awful lot of them gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy our todays. 'On The Town'Is the movie 'Mr. Mel' is thinking of; 'Anchors Aweigh' is set in Hollywood. Right Stars, wrong movie. 'Lest We Forget'A line from Ford's 'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' that fits this day so well. Odd TriviaThere are a couple of boats trading on the Great Lakes today that were at the Normandy invasion. One still carries the battle ribbons with stars on her bridge wings. One other point is that the Times building was of very attractive design before it was covered up with billboards. Communiqué No. 1I followed the NBC link provided by hlupak604 and listened to some of the radio coverage and heard, more than once, the short text of Communiqué No. 1 from Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, which appears to form the basis for the scrolling text on the news zipper. It runs as follows: "Under the command of General Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France." Thanks! Uncle SamMy uncle Sam (no pun intended) landed at Omaha Beach, and immediately sustained an injury to his head. He was fitted with a metal plate to replace the part of his skull that he lost. Needless to say, his fighting days were over. However, he went on to be become an accomplished auto mechanic. Family, friends, and neighbors all asked him for automotive advice. He passed away last year at the age of 90. Thanks, Uncle Sam! - because of your sacrifices, I am free today to write this. Yeah, I remember.Although we didn't know it at the time, my brother was in the sand of Utah Beach just then. He survived the war. I remember vividly the headlines in The Detroit Times that afternoon, "WE WIN BEACHES". Due to the time difference, of course, there was plenty of fresh news of the invasion in the afternoon paper. I've been a news junkie since. May we never forgethow brave these men were. My uncle fought in Okinawa in 1945, unfortunately he never made it out alive. I still have the last letter he wrote to his "beloved mama", what a sweet soul he was. Bless them one and all. Memories are funny sometimesMy father was on a supply ship in the English Channel on D Day, lowering tanks into hovercraft that were being sent to French beach heads. Many, many, times I tried to discuss his experiences that day but he never really had much to say. He said that on D Day he was "on the water" (in the Channel) and they were pretty much working constantly getting the tanks loaded and shipped. They slept whenever they could he said. He landed at Utah beach (but didn't say when) and moved up the coast doing whatever was asked (he was in a supply unit) until he got to Belgium. And that was pretty much all I got out of him. His shared memories of the battle of the Bulge were even more meager ("it was very cold"). I'm jealous of people whose fathers discussed their war experiences; mine just didn't seem to want to share. Cold for JuneI realize most people dressed up in public back then, but most of the women in the photo are wearing overcoats. It must have been cold in New York that June day in 1944. Hovercraft tanks, sort ofOne of many unique innovations for the D Day invasion was the "Duplex Drive" tank, essentially a standard Sherman tank which was fitted with an inflatable, collapsible canvas screen and twin screw props which would enable the tank to float like a boat and wade ashore. Unfortunately, the contraption worked best in calm water, something that was in short supply off the Normandy coast that day. I remember a buddy of mine whose dad had served with the US Navy at the invasion re-telling his dad's stories of the DD tanks being dropped off in deeper, rough water due to enemy fire and sinking like rocks. Fortunately enough of the tanks were able to make it on shore to provide badly needed armor support for the ground troops, and the tanks were deemed successful enough to serve in the invasion of Southern France two months later, as well as during numerous river crossing operations during the remainder of 1944 and 1945. Good article with photos of the tanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank Full messageI believe the full message read: "ALLIES LAND ON NORTHERN COAST OF FRANCE UNDER STRONG AIR COVER" (The Gallery, Howard Hollem, NYC, WW2)
Shop Early for Xmas: 1922
... down on this scene. Nice guns Grew up in Rogers, Arkansas where the Daisy plant was located. I had a lever-action '.30-.30' ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/06/2015 - 12:35am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Sport Mart, 1303 F Street N.W." Shorpy would like one of each, please. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Update: For the window-shoppers among us, I've posted a bigger closeup here. Lionel Train SetThat Lionel Electric Train Set is to die for!! I know fellow collectors who, if they had only the original box displayed in this picture, would be in fandom heaven. Joshua Lionel Owen invented the first toy trains in 1901 so New York City Department Stores could use them for window displays during Christmas. The rest as they say is history. Great picture. Also, just can't imagine any store having all those guns in a front window anymore, with just plate glass in front of them as protection from theft. Were people really that honest back then? Don't bother with the girlsLove all the signs. Also interesting to see another pre-WWII swastika, and this one is even turned 45 degrees onto a point, the same as the Nazis did. [That's two interlocking S's, for Stetson Shoes. Ten lines. A swastika has six. - Dave] Airguns $1I'm sorry, Shorpy, you don't want that. You'll put your eye out. Western Auto, Carroll Cut Rite....In the small mill town where I grew up, we had the two stores mentioned as well as United Cigar and Hart's 5 & 10. Their windows examples of just about every single item in inventory. The multitude of tiered shelves allowed one to see what was inside without actually going in. For the kids (like me) that had a total of $10 to buy six gifts, it was great to stand in front of the window and budget out the allotment, figuring out who would get what before actually buying. Mom always got the blue bomb bottle of Evening in Paris or dusting powder, Dad got something in Old Spice, an inflatable toy for my baby brother, handkerchiefs or an autograph book for Sis, etc. Christmas will never be as meaningful as when we had to budget every cent because it really meant something more than just purchasing merchandise. I'll take the...Kodak Autographics, bike and Lionel train sets, please! Santa Please......bring me the sled that looks just like Rosebud, and the Lionel trains, and the golf set with those fabulous hickory shafts. I need a new niblick. Alice MaynardOne wonders what Alice Maynard is selling "upstairs." Probably entirely innocent - probably ladies clothing based on what we can see in the second floor windows - but the filthy mind gets all sorts of ideas. Can I have the .22 please?That Winchester pump .22 would be worth big bucks if it were in good condition today. Re: Santa Please...I couldn't help but notice the fatness of the "pre-pass" era type of footballs. More like a rugby or Aussie rules football. Toy StoryGreat photo, Dave. I can't tell how much the chess set is, but it looks like a nice one. Cowboy suede holsters and Indian feathered headbands would be frowned upon today. I am puzzled why a thermos is more expensive than a golf set. There's so much to look at. By the way, are those irons (the kind for pressing clothes?) What's with that? [The sign under the vacuum bottles is for a $15 "tackle outfit." - Dave] I have a pump .22 a lot like the one in the window......but its a "Savage" vs. a "Winchester", octagonal barrel, you can take it apart with one screw. Last fired about 25 years ago! Not to Nitpickbut it's Joshua Lionel Cowen, ne Cohen. He was the great-uncle of the infamous Roy Cohn, who later was board chairman of the train company. Fix bayonets!That Daisy BB gun has a bayonet on it -- more fun than lawn darts! SavageI believe Savage was taken over by Winchester way back when. I had a 1918 Winchester pump as a kid. I really loved it and used it in the late 40's and 50's. Wish I could find another under $1k. Aw, Why do I have to be a girl?I'm looking at all the really neat stuff in the window. All my friends were boys when I was growing up and their toys were the best. If I lived back then, my mother would have shopped for me one door over to the right, where they have a selection of ugly, boring dolls. Dreaming of the train set... .38How long would those pistols last in a glass storefront in 2008? Not long. Pistols..The pistol on the right is most likely a Colt Model 1903 .32 ACP or perhaps a Model 1908 .380. The Revolver is a Smith and Wesson. I can't identify caliber size or frame type. As to the pistol on the left, your guess is as good as mine. It's interesting that Washington D.C. in the 1920's where you could buy guns no questions asked at a department store with glass windows was much safer than 21st century D.C. where possession of any one of the firearms in that window was a felony until recently. What every boys wants...but should he get a revolver? Oooooh! Oooooh!I was born 25 years later, but in spirit my nose- and handprints are all over that Sport Mart window. I have hundreds of engines and cars in my collection but no Lionel that goes back to the 1920s, much to my sorrow. Dad couldn't wait to put one under the tree, so I had my first one at age 4; at 62 I still play with trains! (Sadly, electric train sales have fallen on hard times and only the old boys are interested.) I do have most of the cameras in that window but they aren't quite so shiny -- but they do work, even the ones going back to the 1870s. Air rifles weren't allowed in my family (had to play with my friend's guns on the sly) and they sure couldn't be had for a dollar then! Even the boys in my family spent a lot of quality time using an iron (the ones that put a crease in your britches and made your starched shirts crisp -- not the ones you hit little white balls with) but I don't remember thinking it was much of a sport! Note that the golf balls there are individually wrapped. I don't recognize the bike in the window, but it looks big; in the early 1950s we had a hand-me-down of indeterminate origin, the only 38-incher in the neighborhood. Not much in the window for the little girls in 1921. The signs seem to indicate they may not have gotten them personally as gifts, but in some families the "tomboys" had their ways! Some things have changed for the better. A Visit from the Innuendo FairyDon't all "bicycles" have "reputations?" Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more! ShockingBesides the toys there are bunches of household items on display (but don't get me wrong, I want the train set and a basement to put it in). I'm suddenly interested in the parallel history of the battery and portable electrical devices. Things like flashlights had to have been introduced for the consumer with a battery in mind. Of course after a few years batteries became ubiquitous, but imagine going to a store and picking up a battery and not already owning anything to put it in. Lionel for ChristmasI had a circa 1941 Lionel freight train complete with all the cars and a headlight. I got it for Christmas. It also had little tablets that you could drop down the stack so that the engine puffed smoke as it tore around the three-rail track. Alas, my dear mom gave it away to Goodwill one day when I was in high school. Sigh! Indoor SportsSome of the Christmas Specials in this display window bring new meaning to the term Sporting Goods. The lower left section is filled with electric-powered household appliances: Irons, a toaster, a coffee percolator ("perculator" in the sign) and a set of antler-handled carving knives for that Christmas turkey. When I was a kid in the 1950s there were a few moms in our neighborhood who seemed to think that Extreme Ironing was a competition sport, but they usually got their gear at Sears. And what about that accordion in the back row next to the electric space heater? $16There's a sign just below the sled for $16 but I can't make it out. Can you blow it up? [Kaboom. - Dave] Electric TorchJust to feed everyone's new interest in the subject, here's a post from the inimitable Daniel Rutter that includes some early flashlight background. $5.50 for a dozen golf balls.A lost ball in a water hazard or the rough had to have hurt! Made In U. S. A.For an advocate of American-made goods which are currently difficult (to impossible) to find for gift-giving, I assume that almost everything in this window was made right here in the USA. A twinge of sorrow takes over as I wonder if Lionel is still made here, or Daisy Air guns or Flexible Flyers. Christmas lights shown here for $8.50 (a huge amount of money in 1921) can be bought today for a couple of dollars. Yes, imports are cheap, cheap, cheap, but also disposable and short-lived. Time marches on and even Levis are made in Mexico, Converse in China. I did find nail clippers made in the USA last week for $1. Maybe I'll be like Jack Benny and give gifts of just shoelaces and nail clippers this year. Don't know of ANY toys or electronics made here. One other non-imported gift suggestion is to give the gift recipient a hand-made gift card for FOUR HOURS of personal advice. (few people will cash it in) Merry Christmas fellow Shorpy addicts. Get the boy something he wants...All he wants now is a Wii, a Playsatation, a Game Cube, an iPod... How unfortunate. I want a time machine. How dare they...Look at them! Creating these restrictive gender roles and explicitly marketing them to impressionable children? The audacity! The horror! Someone call the NOW and shut these advocates of boyhood down! Rampant (and refreshing) political correctness aside, this is a fabulous picture. I love these, where you can just drink in wonderful little details. You can even read the sign company name on the SportMart sign. You really do a great job sharpening these up, Dave. What's the white squiggly line in the upper left corner? Looks like the border of a postcard or something, but how did it get in that rather strange location on this picture? Either that, or I'm missing something very obvious and it's a water pipe or something. [It's the decoration (or alarm tape, which did indeed exist in 1921) on a windowpane. - Dave] Made in USA.Yoda, I know what you mean, but on the other hand, today when we sub out low end manufacturing, the material wealth is so much higher. Most kids today would already own some or most of the goods in the window display, whereas I bet that the overall market penetration of electric trains, etc. was much more limited in the 1920s. Is that a Red Ryder BB Gun?Santa sez "You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!" Jean Shepherd must be chortling (yes, chortling, that's what he said) and smiling down on this scene. Nice gunsGrew up in Rogers, Arkansas where the Daisy plant was located. I had a lever-action '.30-.30' style bb rifle that you loaded from the side - it lasted for years and received all kinds of mistreatment. Also, learned to shoot with my grandfather's .22 that looked quite similar to the one pictured, but I cannot remember what make it was. Smith & WessonThe 3 pistols in the front center appear to be Smith & Wesson. Their boxes sport the distinctive (intricate) S&W Logo, or an earlier version of it. Small Pistol on the LeftI realize this is 6 years later, but what the heck. The small pistol on the left in the group of three pistols appears to be either a Mauser 1910 (25ACP) or the 1914 (32 ACP). (The Gallery, Bicycles, Christmas, D.C., Stores & Markets)
Chevy Men: 1972
... (or he had a drinking problem). My own father, an Arkansas native, was posted to Fort Knox around this time, so the Gadney scenes ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/02/2010 - 2:19pm -

"Cornett family. Leatherwood, Kentucky, 1972. Men and boys without shirts sitting and standing around two cars." Willie Cornett (seated, right) and some of his 12 children. 35mm negative by William Gedney (1932-1989). From Duke University's Gedney Collection, encompassing some 5,000 pictures taken from the 1950s through the early '70s. Do we want to see more? View full size. 1964 was OKSeems all of us boys did the same from 1964 to ?? I am not sure but those seem to be a 1964 Impala and yes we need and want to see more!! Circa 1979My buddy Whit had a '63 Impala. We spent hundreds of hours in that car on the back roads of Pennsylvania. Toking and listening to Led Zep, we ruled the world. Yes, we want to see moreMore Chevys, that is. Got any '58s? Junior's thought balloonIn jes' a few more years ah'll be able to afford: 1. Ciggies! 2. Shoes! 3. My own craptastic car! Ancient HistoryYes, would love to see them. The older we get the more the '70s seem like ancient history. This is so coolIt's a new twist on the Shorpy formula for success. A different era, still black-and-white, and nice insight into how people lived at another time. I like it. More, please! SpellboundThe young boy on the left is totally fascinated by the collective wisdom of the big guys whether the subject be cars or girls, and I guarantee it's one or the other. I know because that's me 10 years earlier. 1963 Impala hardtop on the right, and a 1964 Impala convertible on the left (owned one in '69). A few more, anyway. That's a good pic - very well composed and with excellent tonal range. Lurkin'Back at the right is a 1957 210 wagon. Chevy's forever in this group. Cigarettes, succotash and hard workWill keep you thin! My Kentucky HomeI was about this kid's age growing up in Eastern Kentucky in 1972. We lived a simple life but probably a little better off than these folks, although in the mid '60s my father was a sharecropper and we had running water only in our kitchen sink (no bathroom in the house). Sure made for some cold trips to the outhouse as a tot. Thank God my sister helped me. Times have surely changed but I'm still in Kentucky, and there's no place I'd rather be. You Betcha!You know the Bull City Boy wants to see more from this Duke University collection. I could probably do without the condescending comments, but that seems to part and parcel of the Shorpy experience. The One in ChargeIt seems clear from the dynamics captured in this picture that the boy in the middle, leaning on the trunk lid of the Chevy, with his right hand with the cigarette up on his left shoulder, is in command of this scene. The younger guys to his right hang on his every word, and the old guys on his left are afraid of him. Look at how the one older man shields his soft body, and the other holds his hand to his head. The middle boy is the only one not shielding himself in some way. Look how the third boy from the left has his legs crossed to protect his family jewels. [The "older one" with the "soft body" is Dad -- Willie Cornett. The others are his sons. - Dave] Yes, pleaseI'd very much like to see more of this collection. As a Hatfield I have a lot of history and interest in Eastern Kentucky and having spent quite a bit of time there I'd love to see more. Do we want to see more?Yes ChoiceHaving occupied that time and nearly that place, I understand the texture and tone of the choices that brought those men and boys to that spot. Though there is an escape, it does not require a change of place but a change of action and perspective; poverty does not by itself produce poor vehicle maintenance, nor poor hygiene or self loathing, but it does place a heavy air in one's lungs and a blur in the eyes. But I could be wrong: Maybe they were happy and had optimism, dreams, and plans for a prosperous future and I am the one who made poor choices. Minus the carsThis could be a shot right out of the Depression. Shields UpI have lived in Kentucky and I still work there and I can assure you that these young men aren't shielding soft spots or anything else except from gnats, flies, and mosquitoes. These guys are in a woods environment in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. They are shirtless because they are at home and among family so no modesty is needed. If the this image was captured in the late afternoon then the bugs are starting to come out and all three on the right hand side of the image seem to be swatting at the same time. If that is the case then they'll all be putting on shirts soon to give mosquitoes less of a target. It won't really be cooling off that much at night in the summer. I suppose in our bug-spray crazed society we forget that once upon a time in America people spending time outside dressed to ward off biting insects as much as to protect their modesty and to prevent exposure to the elements. RidezFor cars one model year apart, the difference in condition is striking. Neither car is ten years old in this image. I believe the better one is Dad's, since he's the only one sitting on it. I'd also believe that one of the boys picked up the battered convertible secondhand (or he had a drinking problem). My own father, an Arkansas native, was posted to Fort Knox around this time, so the Gadney scenes resonate. Family ReunionThis shot could easily be my grandfather and his five sons (as the eldest, my father would likely be the one in the center, sans cigarette). The age differences are spot-on, as is the time that they were these ages. The location is the only detail to indicate these aren't my kinfolk, as the family has resided in East Texas since the late 1950s. Interesting, though, because like lawgrl, I also have Hatfield roots in Eastern Kentucky. Thanks for the photo that strikes close to home on several different levels. No Money but Hearts of GoldJust think that with 12 kids, the Cornetts had at least 14 people living in their very humble dwelling but still voluntarily "took in" photographer Gedney who was not even kin. Can't hardly find people like that anymore. [There were indeed 12 children when William Gedney met the family in 1964, but by 1972 but they weren't all living with Mom and Dad. Some of them had married and had kids of their own. - Dave] Biding their time by the river... just waiting for Ned Beatty to glide by in his canoe. BuggedHey, remember "6-12", available in the yellow tube or can? How about "Flit", Real-Kill, Hot Shot, and Black Flag? Back then, every service station had their company's own brand of spray, probably DDT suspended in "petroleum distillates", a polite way of saying kerosene. They were also happy to sell you their pump spray atomizer. Us kids soon discovered what a wonderful experience could be had from spraying them at a lit candle. The thing hanging from the families kitchen ceiling might have been a "Shell No-Pest Strip". It was about this time that the miracle product, "OFF!" appeared, and put 6-12 out of business with its new technology: "They don't BITE, they don't even LIGHT!" More, more, more!Dave, you always pick great images. I would love to expand the time-line offering. Just keep the fantastic older ones coming too! Then and NowNo jeans. No shorts. No running shoes. No long hair. And no caps. Classic A classic southern photograph I recognize until this day. The men still take their shirts off and feel comfortable in doing so. The joy of looking at old photographs like this is the great conversation it brings up like above. I agree with Anonymous Tipster about the subject matter, it looks about right to me. Photographs are awesome in a way a video is not. You can notice all the fine detail in a photograph and to me black and whites are the best. As some of the other Hatfield descendants above have noted, our lines go way back in the south, so we know the good stuff is in the details. (Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cornett Family, William Gedney)
Migrant Daughter: 1936
... has other photos of this girl, one of which is "Ruby from Arkansas." Oh, women... All that hard work and she still found the time ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2017 - 4:26pm -

        UPDATE (2017): Thanks to the sleuthing of journalist Tori Cummins and historian Joe Manning, we now know the identity of the young woman in this photo: Ruby Nell Shepard (1916-1970). You can read her story on Joe's website. November 1936. "Daughter of migrant Tennessee coal miner. Living in American River camp near Sacramento, California." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. It's in the eyesFantastic. I wonder where her mind is. The crease where her hand meets her forehead shows just how heavy her head, and perhaps her heart, is. I like how she has her left elbow resting on her right wrist draped over her knee. When you have a bony elbow (like I do) it makes those long introspections slightly more comfortable. Ms Lange sure knew how to capture a moment. Another outstanding photo in a wonderful repertoire. LangeI am amazed how Dorothea Lange continually found beauty in pathos. Wow ...I can't imagine what's going through her mind ... but she is absolutely beautiful. T.G.O.W.It's like seeing Rosasharn from Grapes of Wrath. A true beautyThose young hands appear to have known hard work, and that right there is the look of lost love, if you ask me. BreathtakingHer beauty, the pathos, the stories it makes you wonder about in your head -- I might actually like this one more than "Migrant Mother." Devotion to her father? Trapped by duty? Lost sweetheart? Dreams of running away? Dreams already fading? Incredible photograph. Lange was a master of the character study, wasn't she. RubyThe Oakland museum of photography has other photos of this girl, one of which is "Ruby from Arkansas." Oh, women...All that hard work and she still found the time to wave her hair. Don't think I'm smack talking - I'm on here waiting for my flatiron to heat up! Happiness At Last!After reading her story on Joe's website, I can say that at last she found a happiness that only few women can attain in life. A man that adored her, a great adventure with the one she loved, and skills (making clothes) that have now, sadly disappeared (mostly). Kudos to Joe for the most fascinating story. I see a wonderful movie from this and Dianne Lane as the older Ruby, Not sure who would play the younger. Well done Dave for giving this glimpse into a life that (for the most part) turned out well. Spectacular sleuthingThanks indeed to Tori and Joe for Ruby's story. Joe Manning websiteI just read the story about Ruby. She actually looks a lot happier in the photos from the 40's. She was a good looking woman. Sadly cancer doesn't spare anyone. Tori Masucci Cummins and Joe Manning did an excellent research on Ruby. Thank you Joe and Tori!It is so satisfying to learn what became of people in these photographs and know that eventually life got better. Great job Joe and Tori! Joe Manning strikes again!The last time I read one of Joe's stories was the cotton mill girl, Eddy. Incredible journalism. [Well done, sir.] Ruby had a beauty that became rather elegant, as we can see by the 1969 picture. Gazing into the face we see here, you can tell she doesnt know that better days are ahead. A profound look of uncertainty. As Laura said, the look of a love lost. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
On the Road: 1939
... everything. My father was raised on a farm in rural Arkansas. He told stories of many traveling drifters and families coming to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/11/2018 - 1:13pm -

September 1939. "On the road with her family one month from South Dakota. Tulelake, Siskiyou County, Calif." Photo by Dorothea Lange. View full size. Are they drinking Coca-Cola?Are they drinking Coca-Cola? [It's a Coke bottle with a rubber nipple being used for baby formula. - Dave] Such a sad photoSuch a sad photo. It's almost as if you could sense their pain by looking at it. A good photograph!This is a powerful picture. I hope we never see these times again in this country. Is there something on Mom'sIs there something on Mom's ear? Yeah, they're wrap-aroundYeah, they're wrap-around aviator rim glasses. Ah. Makes sense. :)Ah. Makes sense. Generally they go behind the ear. ;) Really sadits a very powerful photo and I agree with the first post, you can sense the pain PowerfulSuch a powerful photo; such desperation in the eyes of the mother. Lange did have the knack of catching the telling moment. Genuinitythis picture doesn't look 75ish years old. [Well it is. It's pretty famous too. - Dave] DetailIt is a very moving image. Dave do you have a detail of the reflection in the mother's glasses? Looks like it may be interesting? [As a matter of fact, I do. - Dave] WowThis is an amazing picture... there is so much captured here, and the high quality gives makes it almost unreal - like it's a play rather than real life. A fly on the baby's fingerGreat photograph with amazing detail. Noticed the fly on the right hand pink and what looks like two more on and behind the left hand. What an expressionThis poor mother is exhausted! I have to wonder what ever became of the child. Powerful and sad! PictureThis is a very woebegone picture. Reveal pain with PaintI would like to obtain permission to use this photo as a reference to paint (watercolor) from. How can that happen? [Permission hereby granted to paint your painting. Not that you would really need it. - Dave] The MotherThe mother is so beautiful. Had this been 2007, she would have made a great model. The Great DepressionGrowing up in the 60's and 70's I'd often heard my parents talk about the Great Depression. Mom came from a fairly wealthy family in Warren, Ohio. Her father owned a coal business and by all accounts did very well. He allowed people to buy the coal they needed to heat their homes on credit during the Depression and very few were ever able to pay. The business went under like so many other of the era and Mom's family lost everything. My father was raised on a farm in rural Arkansas. He told stories of many traveling drifters and families coming to their door begging for food. His mom would give them food -- vegetables they raised on the farm and a few biscuits that she's put in a gunny sack for them to take. Dad always said they had no money but his family was much better off then most because they at least had enough to eat most of the time. The Depression had a very profound effect on my parents and most of their generation. Dad was a union plumber for years and opened his own plumbing business and did very well. As a kid I never remember a shortage of anything but not so the case with my parents. We had a huge garden and Mom would can and freeze everything the garden produced. My brothers and I hated that damn garden. We spent our whole summer tending it and always thought our parents were crazy for going to all the hard work and trouble of having such a large garden. We couldn't understand why because my father earned a very good living and we always had plenty. Mom always said if you've ever gone hungry, truly hungry, you never forget the experience and at some point in their lives during the depression they both indeed did go hungry so that huge garden was vital to them. To the rest of us it was just a big pain in the ass! After seeing Miss Lange's photographs of Depression era families and the terrible conditions that existed during the 30's I have a much greater understanding of my parents' attitude. I've concluded that what I see as modern day poverty doesn't begin to compare to what my parent's generation experienced! I guess I never really knew what poverty was. Miss Lange's photographs are haunting and heartbreaking yet very beautifully human. Through her photos I've learned there is a big difference in being penniless and being poor. Being flat broke is one thing but being poor is being without hope for anything to get any better. Her photos clearly show the hopeless look in the eyes of her subjects and to me that shows true poverty and what being poor is all about. During my adult life I've been as broke as you can get but I never felt poor because I always had hope for a better day ahead. Thank you Miss Lange for a greater understanding of my parents and what true poverty really is. I guess I never really knew what poverty was. When my wife and I served as Missionaries of the Episcopal Church in Honduras we saw what poverty truly is. Most folks in the US will never see it. We have so many safety nets in the US that are not available in the rest of the world. Still in the heart of bone-crushing poverty in Central America, I saw acts of filial and agape love that can only be classified as holy. No FormulaFormula for babies didn't exist in the '30's. That poor little baby was probably drinking water. The richer folks used Pet milk with Karo syrup mixed in. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Kids)
Weller's Pharmacy: 1915
... after he sold it. It was located on the square of Piggott, Arkansas and it was the most popular place right after school let out each day. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 1:13pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1915. "Weller's drug store, Eighth & I streets S.E." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Hmmmm chocolate!I love the Lowney's chocolate display advert in the back. It reminds me about 30 years ago of the Lowneys factory that was about half a mile from my house. They made the "Oh Henry" candybar and when the wind blew just right the air smelled of peanuts. Are those postcards to the right of the Lowney's display? It's a Wonderful StoreThe only things missing are a distracted Mr. Gower (behind the counter), Violet Bick (at the candy counter), young George Bailey helping out, and the future Mrs. Bailey ordering a chocolate sundae with no coconut. Label LustThe drugstore photos are among my favorites. They show what everyday life was like through the products people were using. That makes this photo one of the best and one of the most frustrating. There is so much just out of sight. I could spend a day in this store just reading labels. And thanks, Dave, for the sponge closeup. My point exactly. Two convenient locationsEventually Frank Weller had two pharmacies, at 755 Eighth Street SE and 3534 M Street NW. Click to embiggen. The folding seatsI would offer a suggestion that these unique seats, considering their height and location, may have been part of an actual fountain alluded to below in the comments, especially if one imagines that when the seats were originally installed there was no glass cabinetry on the underlying countertops. Rather, this may have been a true counter for enjoying the assorted delights one would find in a drugstore of the time. Without the glass display cases and the built up corner edging, these seats would have been at a more convenient height for patrons indulging in chocolate sundaes, egg creams and banana splits. This is one of those Shorpy photos when one wishes for turbo zoom feature on one's mouse. So much detail just beyond visual reach. Mystery MerchandiseCan anyone identify the things for sale in the curved glass case above the spittoon? The carved display cases are a thing of beauty. [Sponges. "Best bath, sponge bath." - Dave] 4:05 PM, I need a Carbello.I think if one was to ask me to describe what a classic drug store looked like, I wouldn't imagine being far off from this image. The tin ceilings, elaborate casework, patterned tile floor, paper-wrapped goods behind glass cases, it's all here. Of course, I probably wouldn't have imagined an ornate spittoon. [That's an apothecary jar. The spittoon is on the floor in the corner. And it's 12:54. - Dave] 12:54? Am I not clearly seeing minute hand on the 5, hour hand on the 4? [You are not. - Dave] FlooredAll quite beautiful, except for the dizzying floor. Any product put in such display cases instantly looks better. Washington EliteSomething tells me this is where the rich and fabulous Washington Elite shopped for their sundries, notions, lotions and potions. It is kind of near K Street. OutstandingMagnificent casework and displays! I can't guess what they would cost to replace in today's market, but it would really be a pretty penny! I love the folding stools for clients along the left side. All the detailsLove the retractable stools on the left. Very clever! Your Parents' Drug StoreWhat a great contrast to drug stores of today. Sometimes its hard to tell if you're in a drug store or a convienience store. Seems our town has a Walgreen's or CVS on every major block, not to mention the pharmacies in Wal-Mart, K-Mart and all the grocery stores. Waterman PensAh yes, Waterman's Fountain Pens, the fountain pen of my youth! Once, in Delaware in 1951, mine managed to spit out a blob of Schaeffer's Skrip blue-black ink onto the sports jacket cuff of Boston Braves' Manager Billy Southworth while he was signing my autograph book. That was sweet revenge for me, those Braves having beaten my Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League pennant in a tight race back in 1948. What goes around, comes around. The dirty look Billy gave me was priceless. Frank P. WellerThe 1900 and 1910 census records show Frank P. Weller and family living above his store at 753 8th st S.E. In the 1920s Weller teamed with druggist Thomas A. Moskey and the business began to be advertised as "Weller & Moskey Pharmacy." F.P. Weller is buried several blocks east of his pharmacy at the Congressional Cemetery (link to PDF of Congressional Cemetery record). I don't know what kind of store $350 could have built in 1890. The Capitol Hill Restoration Society database of building permits lists an August 31, 1892 permit for a $16,000 brick dwelling at 753 8th st SE. Washington Post, Sep 3, 1890 Building Permits The following building permits were issued yesterday: F.P. Weller, one brick store, at No. 753 Eighth street southeast, to cost $350. Washington Post, Mar 28, 1933 Franklin P. Weller Services Are Today Retired Pharmacist, Native of Maryland, Was Once in U.S. Navy Funeral services for Franklin Pierce Weller, pioneer Washington druggist, who died Sunday night at the residence of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Hynson, 3435 Thirty-fourth place, will be held today at 2:30 p.m. at the Hynson home. Interment will be in the Congressional Cemetery. ... Mr. Weller, 78, was born in Thurmont, Frederick County, Md., December 21, 1854, of Revolutionary ancestry. He came to Washington 70 years ago. During the early eighties he served as a pharmacist in the United States Navy on board the U.S.S. Galena. Upon his retirement from the Navy he engaged in private practice and opened a drug store in Washington at Eighth and I streets southeast which has been a landmark for a generation. he retired from business last October. He served in the hospital corps of the District National Guard for 27 years. He was a member of the Metropolitan Presbyterian Church, of the De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, and St. John's Lodge, F.A.A.M. ... 755 Eighth Street SEIf this is the right corner, the building is still in fairly authentic condition: View Larger Map And if this is the same building, it is also where 200 WWI veterans stayed during the Bonus March in 1932. Gas lamps, no electricityEdison didn't get his hands in this store's cash till yet! Look at the details in the ceiling lamp in front. No electrical anything in this store. The Great Time DebateI have to say that it looks like 4:05 to me. With the inset small face showing seconds, the only hands on the main face should be the minute and hour, and the hand pointing at the digit one seems clearly longer than the one pointing at the four. [As we can see below, this is an approximately 60-second time exposure taken from 12:53 to 12:54. - Dave] Thanks Dave, I can see it in your detailed image, couldn't see it in my blowup from the on line image. Granddad's PharmacyWhere's the soda fountain? My granddad had a pharmacy like this from about 1914 to 1964. He worked there another 6 years or so after he sold it. It was located on the square of Piggott, Arkansas and it was the most popular place right after school let out each day. The soda fountain was the main draw for the kids. The display cabinets in this potograph look more ornate than the ones at my granddad's store. The clock does say 4:05 and those items in the curved case might be bath sponges of some kind. I also noticed a clock through the far left window of the pharmacy area. What happens at Weller's, stays at Weller'sAn amazing place. I'm sure I see the words "Sub Rosa" on a box in the central case, behind the jar that looks like a giant Faberge egg, indicating secrecy to "all ye who look in here"? Folding stools on the display case/counter at the left. Did ladies get cosmetic makeovers there? Did people wait for their prescriptions on a fold-out stool? And is that a rotary greeting card holder in the center right rear? Precursor of Hallmark? Postcards to the right? Those cases are more ornate than any drugstore I've ever even seen photos of. A place where money is no object, and the things in the center case are secret!? And I'll bet someone MIGHT have spit secretly in that Faberge egg jar. Apothecary globesSome examples from the Drugstore Museum and the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. CountersThe "carved" sections look more like painted cast iron or plaster, not wood. Woodcarvings and moreThe woodcarvings are a delight, I wouldn't have imagined such beauty into a store. Those days the things were thought to last and therefore they wanted good stuff I guess. Make such a thing today would require a little fortune. And I'm not sure if you can easily find the skilled woodcarvers to do it properly. Amd the stained glass on the door! I may have four of those stoolsThis is exciting! I have four similarly spring-loaded stools, which were described to me as being trolley seats at the time I purchased them. The era of the casting looks about right. (The wooden seats on mine appear to have been replaced.) Anyone got a guess, or (gasp) knowledge? Are these something like jump seats for a trolley, or more likely to be for sitting at the counter having a soda? Even if I learn nothing else, I've now got an image that confirms how/where to install these things! re: I may have four of those stoolsHere are the patents for Linda's folding stools. They are a little different than the ones in the photo, which have a single, s-curved support pedestal and what looks like a different spring-loaded locking mechanism. Yours are described in the patent specifications as being "particularly designed for use in connection with store counters", not trolley cars. http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=_uE_AAAAEBAJ&dq=644,789 http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=gZpFAAAAEBAJ&dq=596,931 (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)
Scooter Sk8rs: 1922
... of plywood and riding down Mockingbird Lane in Fort Smith, Arkansas. If any of you know the area, that was quite some hill for 10 year ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:16pm -

September 15, 1922. Washington, D.C. "Scooter skates." On the right: Clarence Sherrill. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Current?this has a timeless look to it. It's also darned cute! That looks crazy funCrudely made, no helmets or elbow pads. These would never pass safety laws today, and we as a society are poorer for it. I would bet these guys probably didn't show their mothers what they had built. Dad, on the other hand, probably would take one out for a spin after the boys' bedtime. I want to build one for myself, and I'm 32. Timeless The only thing that would make you think this was from that era is the fact they had a street free of cars. That could easily be me and my brothers from the late sixties/early seventies. Girls vs BoysHere's the difference: When girls injure themselves it's by accident. When boys injure themselves it's part of the plan. Occupational hazard if you will. Skate, boardThe idea went through a number of experiments before they realized turning the board 90 degrees meant they could stand up on the thing. Wipeout!Look Ma, no hands... Look Ma, no feet... Look Ma, no teeth! Look Out for Potholes!I see skinned knees and knuckles ahead. My money's on Clarence in this race. Kid on the left is in the lead but too close to the curb. Boy in the center looks a little uncertain about this. Good to see Mom dressed Clarence in a necktie before sending him out to play. These ladsLook like they could have fit right in with kids of the 50's. They probably don't know or care that this would be a great exercise for the core. Old SchoolOne of the oldest skateboard "tricks"...the Coffin. The "greatest generation"The "greatest generation" before they grew up, and before extreme sports, helicopter parents, law suits and knee and elbow pads. In the 1960s my brother and I "borrowed" my sister's roller skates and did the same thing. Those Were The DaysBefore we covered our kids with helmets and elbow pads, and knee pads, and wrist guards, and blinking lights. Ahh! Freedom! PrototypesThese were obviously the forerunners of the land luge. MultitaskingNot only are they horizontally skating, they've exercising their abs. A board attached to a roller skatemust have provided great abdominals workout, but I picture some skinned knuckles, too. Dennis the MenaceMiddle boy - complete with cowlick! Top that!We used to do this on our hill, but with a folded-over shoe skate. You couldn't see the skate and it looked like you were gliding in defiance of physics. Sk8 '68A link to my own little kiddies doing the same thing on skateboards in the late 1960s. Daughter in front, youngest son in back (with the glasses). Photo by their Uncle tterrace: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3852 Luckily no one backed out of the driveway while they were rolling along. Crack a smile at least?These boys all look so grim it looks like they are being tortured by an exercise sadist. "You WILL hold your legs up for one more lap!" Such Fun!I remember attaching skates to pieces of plywood and riding down Mockingbird Lane in Fort Smith, Arkansas. If any of you know the area, that was quite some hill for 10 year olds! Both girls and boys took turns without the benefit of safety gear or much to hold onto. All had fun and I do not remember injuries but I do remember parental participation. This would have been in 1963. Young ClarenceMade his first appearance on Shorpy three years ago! https://www.shorpy.com/node/2018 His father, Col. Sherrill, was superintendent of public buildings and grounds in Washington. Also a keeper of public morals: https://www.shorpy.com/node/1070 Bruised tailsWe used to do that same thing back in the 1950s. I remember after a day's worth of riding, we actually had some big-time bruises on the lower backside. No helmets, bikes you could "grow into"Not to mention being able to spend the whole morning or afternoon doing what you wanted, where you wanted without parents trying to stuff you into knee and elbow pads, a helmet, and make you call home every three minutes. I had more scraped knees, elbows and shins from falling off the bike which, if I stood on the ground, I could barely reach the handle bars. I got bare toes caught in the spokes, and fell on the bar in a manner that any child (boy or girl) remembers for the rest of their lives. Despite the odd concussion, I survived to tell about it and still fondly recall riding out into the country early in the morning to have a cookout breakfast over an open fire or spending the day racing up and down the unfinished highway. Those were the days -- and we'll never get them back! Middle boy's shoesI was intrigued by the middle boy's shoes. I was this age in the 1950's and remember this style of double t-strap being marketed as "barefoot sandals" by Sears, Wards, Penney's, etc. They were always offered as boys or girls, i.e. unisex, and typically came in white, red, and brown, with black and navy blue available on occasion. Most of the time they were offered up to a youth size 3. The white ones were a staple for little boys serving in weddings. Today a few manufacturers offer this style, although generally only to toddler size 12, which eliminates older children. The most common term today is "English sandals". For whatever reason most sellers list these as girls shoes, although retailers who offer these as boys shoes report that most are sold for little boys. I recall many of my peers (boys) wearing these in the 1950's, although my mom preferred black/white or brown/white saddle shoes for me, a style that I still wear very frequently. I do have double t-straps in black, brown, navy blue, and red in adult sizes, and wear these often with jeans in the winter and shorts in the summer. Payless occasionally has them in adult sizes, although offered as a womens shoe, and Muffy's has them in red and navy for both genders, with the latter being a more dressy shoe. This style is a timeless classic. New and improved, And now for 1972, a completely new thrill, 'Skate Boards'! I built my first in 57-58 from an old pair of steel wheel sidewalk skates. The ride was awful, bumpy and tooth loosening, but the rush from roaring down 'Dead Man's Hill' at, no doubt, the blistering speed of 15 mph, STANDING UP!, was addictive. (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo)
Bensenville: 1943
... Benson? And a similar sounding town, Bentonville, in Arkansas, is where Sam Walton opened his very first store. And does anyone ... caskets in the form of classic cars in Bentonville, Arkansas. You can order Walnettos via the Internet, but neither Peter nor Paul ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 4:45pm -

May 1943. Bensenville, Illinois. "Bensenville yard of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad. Track repair and work on the cinder pits at the roundhouse." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. Close-by observationI can smell the creosote and burning coal. As a kid I would be as close to all this action as I could possibly get. Only to go home, and due to the soil on my clothes, be told to stay away from those trains, it’s not safe! Great image. Uncle Clark is goneBut he'd probably have answers for the dozens of questions this photo raises. Not so many whos, but a big list of whys and whats. He was a railroad man for MoPac all his working life. One thing that I can guess is that most of those guys down there were probably "seasoned," meaning in 1943 there weren't too many young men around. InspirationPhotos like this create great inspiration for my model railroad. This is wonderful...thank you Dave StrandedThe locomotive near the roundhouse wall seems to be stranded on an isolated section of track. Hope they don't need its services any time soon. What's A Cinder Pit?Page 63 has a cross section of the pit. No PrivacySpot the guy taking a leak! Goings OnsThat looks like the side and roof of a locomotive cab over there on the right on the ground. Probably junk. I'll take it! Somebody spill something being soaked up by the white stuff? The 2nd engine and tender from the right appear to be on a section of track that no longer goes anywhere useful. As my daddy used to say:"Get in the roundhouse Nellie...they can't corner you there." And also, as my ADD makes my mind wander, does anyone know what ever happened to Robbie Benson? And a similar sounding town, Bentonville, in Arkansas, is where Sam Walton opened his very first store. And does anyone remember Peter Paul Candy's Walnettos? Good night Gracie. Coffee with cream and soot.On the far right side of the photo, between the rail cars and the sliver of road, is a chimneyed structure. That building was a restaurant and bed stop for trainmen. I lived a few miles south of the rail yard in 1949 and ocassionally grabbed a late night sobering coffee on the way home. White stuffAt first I would say it would be ballast, then again it looks like a huge pile of cocaine. Casey Jones better watch your speed! RobbieRobbie Benson is still acting, doing voice-over work and directing. He has two projects "in development," if you know what I mean. There's a company that manufactures caskets in the form of classic cars in Bentonville, Arkansas. You can order Walnettos via the Internet, but neither Peter nor Paul are involved any longer. Hang in there. Ash Pit 101For Howdy and others - On a coal-fired steam loco, the fuel is burned at the rear of the boiler in a large chamber known as the firebox. At its bottom is a large grate that actually holds the burning coal. Oxygen is drawn from below the firebox and through the grates for combustion. Coal has many impurities such as sulfur, iron, ash, and dirt that only partially burn, producing cinders. Other impurities mix with oxygen then fuse with ash and dirt to produce a hard lump called a “clinker.” As the fuel burns, these waste products drop through the grates into an ashpan below. The ashpan has to be emptied regularly, usually at every service stop and again at the end of each run, as the accumulation of cinders can restrict airflow to the point they greatly reduce efficiency, or in the worst case, actually extinguish the fire. As the ash was still red-hot, it was typically emptied into a special holding area below the tracks – thus the "pit" in ash pit — lined with heat-resistant stone or firebrick. It was usually hosed down, but some larger terminals had water-filled pits to speed cooling. A big terminal like Bensenville could easily generate well over 100 cubic yards of ash every day. Cinder was free and could be used like gravel, so it was reclaimed for a variety of jobs. The black material covering most of the area in the photo is cinder. Remains of the RoundhouseIt appears this view is looking WNW. The roundhouse is gone, but you can still spot its remains (including the turntable) in aerial photography. Coordinates 41°57'13.50"N, 87°55'54.58"W (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
The Cherries of Wrath: 1940
... Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant fruit workers from Arkansas." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA. View full size. ... to be in. However, nobody knows. Perhaps they returned to Arkansas and continued their hardscrabble life or maybe even prospered there. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/20/2009 - 12:33am -

July 1940. Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant fruit workers from Arkansas." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA. View full size. Fear NotPearl Harbor was a little over a year away. The country would change forever and for the better. They could return to Michigan for a job that would make them not rich, but not in the dire straits they appear to be in. However, nobody knows. Perhaps they returned to Arkansas and continued their hardscrabble life or maybe even prospered there. Life is a box of cherriesHow is it that men can age and weather in the elements and look kind of intriguing, rugged, and sexy, but women just look beaten down?! From Mr. Corncob Pipe's hands, you can see that he isn't that old, but the lady next to him, from the lines around her mouth and nose to her piercing expression, looks like she's seen millions of cherries, and all of them sour. Just going on record as saying it isn't fair... Hard work did itMeet John, age 28, and his wife, age 26. Purple and RedStalin banned showings of "The Grapes of Wrath," because it showed even the poorest Americans had automobiles. Must be the pipeAt first glance I thought of Norman Rockwell. Harvest of ShameMaybe they did get back home and give up the migrant life, but many who earned their bread cultivating and harvesting kept on doing that for another generation or longer. In 1960, Edward R. Murrow presented a documentary, "Harvest of Shame", on the plight of migrant workers on CBS. It was quite hard-hitting and made many Americans aware of this social program for the first time. Below are Murrow's opening and closing statements from "Harvest of Shame" This scene is not taking place in the Congo. It has nothing to do with Johannesburg or Cape Town. It is not Nyasaland or Nigeria. This is Florida. These are citizens of the United States, 1960. This is a shape-up for migrant workers. The hawkers are chanting the going piece rate at the various fields. This is the way the humans who harvest the food for the best-fed people in the world get hired. One farmer looked at this and said, "We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them." and The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do. Good night, and good luck." Have I met their grandkids?I live in Berrien County, the southwesternmost in Michigan, right on the lakeshore. One wonders if they stayed, maybe found work in the various machine industries that were prevalent at the time. These days, there are fewer cherry orchards, most being farther north. By contrast to the pair in the photograph, the last time I picked cherries, it was for the pleasure of a day in the orchards, and the indulgence of making my own jelly and pies with fruit I picked myself. Corncob pipesMy grandfather always smoked half & half tobacco in a corncob pipe. If we bought him another kind of pipe it would just sit on the shelf and he would tell us the flavor is not the same if it's not a corncob pipe. I know a couple a lot like this duoThey eat at our soup kitchen every weekend, and they both are seriously disturbed. He fights off a rage that makes him want to kill people. She is so shy and ashamed, she can't look you in the eye ever. But it's remarkable; their faces are almost identical. Almost as if they've been soul mates in past lives and are together again now. Makes you sort of wonder... Words on TruckWould love to know what it says on the side of the truck. ["Nashville Tenn." - Dave] My great-grandparents and their children were migriant pickers out of Western Oklahoma who picked tomatos and strawberries into Arkansas in the 1930s on their way to settle in Northwest Arkansas. So, while everyone else was going west, they were headed east. Lot of people on the move in all directions back in those days. Ma and Pa The fabric Ma's dress is made from is gorgeous, and her jacket is kind of pretty, too. Look at the broken in nature of Pa's work jacket. We pay $85 now for items of clothing that are artificially broken in before they're even worn. Pa's eyes are sensitive, intelligent, and defiant. Bogart could have played him. Ma, on the other hand, looks a bit like one of the browbeating wives that Laurel or Hardy might have been shackled to. I'll bet Pa knew to mind his Ps and Qs. I wonder how often he loaned her his pipe. (The Gallery, Agriculture, John Vachon)
Little Rock: 1910
Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "Main Street north from Sixth." 8x10 inch dry plate glass ... Also, whey does Colorado have a Boulder, and Arkansas only has a Little Rock? Is it because rocks that roll down the Rockies ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 7:02pm -

Little Rock, Arkansas, circa 1910. "Main Street north from Sixth." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. KressWe see the five and dime store, Kress. Kress, a national chain in its day, is not to be confused with SS Kresge, that company survived to found Kmart and eventually control Sears as well. The company is now called Sears Holding. Blocks and Blocks of Wonderful BuildingsIf you follow the buildings on down the street, you can see what a pretty downtown Little Rock had. It has a few businesses that were also in Dallas in that time. The ones I can spot are Kress Variety Store, Droughon's Business School and Metropolitan Life Insurance. Note the sign that designates the corner. In those days they often met each other on the corner of two main streets. In our Dallas history I have found that prominent corners were often used by speakers to make public announcements. Also, whey does Colorado have a Boulder, and Arkansas only has a Little Rock? Is it because rocks that roll down the Rockies are bigger than rocks that roll down the Ozarks? Now and ThenWhat consistently strikes me about the "now vs. then" picture comparisons is that the present day views are devoid of pedestrians and therefore feel without character - lifeless, even (another example here). I'd much rather visit the "then" places than the "now." Maybe I'd see Minnesota Fats sauntering out of one of those pool halls with a pocket full of sucker bucks. Waiting Outside the Pool HallThe woman in front of the pool hall with her hand on her hip could be aggravated because her husband is loitering in the pool hall. But, again, she could be positioned in a great place to attract some customers. You never know. Men were men and women were women back in those days too. Dark armsAbout those crossarms on the power poles: they're all black, or heavily coated in creosote. [Those are telephone lines on what look to be metal crossarms. - Dave] Pool HallI bet the woman standing on the corner in the hat and full length frock THOROUGHLY disapproves of the Pool Hall! In fact she's probably telling those guys next to her exactly where they'll be going if they go in there. Some of it remains, but not muchThe large white building to the left (The Boyle Building) still stands, while (unfortunatly) the domed Masonic Temple to the right burned in 1919. View Larger Map More pics and stories from the site of this photo Ya got trouble!Friends, lemme tell you what I mean. Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table. Pockets that mark the diff'rence Between a gentlemen and a bum, With a capital "B," And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool! Gotta love Professor Harold Hill! [He's especially loved today. - Dave] Little Rock's first skycraperThe white building on the left is the 12 story Boyle Building. It was built in 1909. I believe the pic was taken closer to an area midway between 7th and 8th street. The building with the dome on the right is no longer there and I don't remember it from the 40's or 50's. LocalThis is the same view I see from the front door of our office, the AR DHS building. I don't recognize a lick of this. Don' step in the ...I'm glad to live in a time and place where horse droppings in the middle of the street would be considered an oddity. Smoking and Playing PoolImagine a place to play pool and smoke too. My how times have changed. Bracy HardwareThanks for this photo! On the right side of the street is the E.D. Bracy Hardware Store. It was named for Eugene Daniel Bracy (b. Dec. 7, 1876). His brother, William Frederick Bracy (b. May 17, 1870; d. Nov. 13, 1934), also worked at this store and was married to my great-aunt Frankie Newton (b. Sept. 11, 1877; d. June 9, 1944). I've only seen, prior to this photo, only fuzzy postcard views of the street and buildings, so this is quite the treat! Three legged horseIn the lower right just next to Hollenburg Music is a wagon or cart being drawn by a horse with three legs. And The cart has no wheels, just these strange bow-shaped objects beneath it. Now I KNOW that movement blurs things in long exposures, but would it distort the straight spokes of a wagon wheel and remove a horses leg? (That wagon must have been moving at quite a clip!) [The fourth, invisible, leg is the one that didn't stop moving during the exposure. The curved-spokes artifact is seen in many of these images, including the one below. The spokes are revolving around an axis that's moving linearly. You can approximate the effect by loosely holding a pencil at its center and waving it up and down so it looks "rubbery." - Dave] +105Below is the same view from July of 2015. (The Gallery, DPC, Little Rock, Streetcars)
Uprooted: 1940
... Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant mother of family from Arkansas in roadside camp of cherry pickers." Our second look at the lady ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/24/2011 - 4:50pm -

July 1940. Berrien County, Michigan. "Migrant mother of family from Arkansas in roadside camp of cherry pickers." Our second look at the lady seen here last week. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size. ImagineJust think of the uproar if we tried this with the unemployed youth of today, the very idea of work would scare them shitless and the ACLU would have their underwear in knots screaming "abuse." These boys liked a hard day's work and they looked it, bet they walked standing tall not slouched and shuffling, true young men, boys are like horses if not worked hard when they are young they are never much use when mature, need to be pushed all the time. [Back during the Depression, my granddad had to wear the same dress two whole years. - Dave] Hard timesNot an iPhone or iPod in sight, folks think they have it hard today. WowLindsy Lohan has really hit the skids! Truer Image (IMO)This picture emphasizes the nomadic lifestyle, lack of creature comforts and the stress of being a migrant worker then. In the previous picture she appeared almost as a harried soccer Mom. Here fatigue is evident in her face. Note the broken mirror propped in front of the washing basin in front of the rear fender. And someone should tell her that her slip is beginning to show. Indescribably sadThis picture makes my heart ache just looking at it. Even the majority of 'poor' people in this country (the US) have it good in this day and age compared to poor people then. Today (and hopefully beyond) I'll make a conscious effort to appreciate the most simple things we take for granted. A shower, a refrigerator, air conditioning, a comfortable bed, the list is endless. The face of sheer hopelessnessI was thinking along precisely the lines of SlamDance when I saw this picture. It isn't only this one; there are numerous others on this site which depict people in similar situations. Most of these people don't just look tired; I imagine they had always been used to simple hardship, and hard work; here, one can see the utter dejection, the misery, and the hopelessness in their faces. It is awful to imagine just how hopeless they must have felt. I imagine that a reasonable number of them had been, some time previously, whilst not in any way wealthy, at least able to have shelter and to be able to get their daily bread. That woman's privations are now almost certainly over. Maybe her children, if she had some, still remember her tears when she could maybe not provide food some days. Of course, there are teeming millions around the world in just such a situation today. My apologies for being mawkish; but, gosh, what images these pictures conjure up .... David Leicestershire, England Luck?As I sit here eating my morning oatmeal and seeing this photo, I'm thinking....How lucky I am!! Picture does me goodI needed to see it this morning. Sometimes you forget all you have to be happy about. Poor lady, I hope she had some happy times. Modern migrantsI think that some of the people who make comments about how people today don't know how to work should go visit a migrant workers' camp today. Sure they have more than they did in this picture, but their living conditions are not significantly better. Our country is lucky that we don't have a large portion of a population that lives so poorly, but it doesn't mean that this still doesn't occur; only the demographic of the migrant has changed. Cute edit DaveMy comment was meant for the post "Boys to Men," smartypants. I suggest you tell those boys that they were skirts. [Were? Wear? - Dave] Previous commentsThe two odd comments above are obviously referring to the "Boys to Men" image right behind this one. Odd glitch in posting, I guess. Mommaappears to be pregnant. No wonder she's exhausted. Why I like it hereThis is a great group here, with a rare talent; the ability to look at a black-and-white image from long ago, and care about the people in it. And yet --She has an automobile, a rather considerable capital asset that lets her and her family go in search of work. The muscles on her bare arms and legs are well-fleshed, and she doesn't show the signs of chronic malnutrition. I can see a number of cooking and serving vessels, large and small, and a couple of pieces of simple furniture. She's poor, yes, but by the standards of an African villager or a Brazilian favelista, who would regard the chipped enamel cooking pot as wealth to be proud of, she's incredibly well off. Mawkishness isn't to be avoided. We should always have sympathy for those less fortunate, but we should also be alert to attempts to manipulate that sympathy. What this woman and her family need is a busy productive economy, which they can contribute to and earn their share. All too often we've allowed the cynical to use "abject poverty" as an excuse for redistributionism, which feathers their nests rather comfortably from the reasonable expenses they take out in the process but makes the problem worse by crippling the overall economy. Picture brings back memoriesThat woman closely resembles my mother in 1940. When I was 5 years old, my mother, my sister, and I were living in a converted chicken coop on my uncle's farm in Oklahoma, while my father was looking for work in Kansas. Many a day our only food was beans and bread. I appreciate the compassion shown by many posters on this site for the plight of common folk at this time in American history. Gotta say, WWII saved the economy of this country. (The Gallery, Great Depression, John Vachon)
Gasoline Allée: 1939
January 1939. "Main Street in Jerome, Arkansas." As well as a cozy, woodsy gas station. Medium-format nitrate ... just to the right of the tree. Jerome Grows Jerome, Arkansas became a busy place during WWII when a Japaneese American internment ... At one point during WWII it was the fifth largest city in Arkansas. The population in 2000 was only 46 people. The PBS documentary ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/17/2012 - 1:18am -

January 1939. "Main Street in Jerome, Arkansas." As well as a cozy, woodsy gas station. Medium-format nitrate negative by Russell Lee. View full size. CompactionWith cars driving over the roots and the occasional petroleum spill, I wonder how long the gas station trees lasted. Wait, is that George Raft emerging from the general store? Grove's Chill TonicGrove's Tasteless Chill Tonic--a quinine mixture suspended in a supposedly-tasteless syrup. No SmokingProbably shouldn't be lighting up that pipe by the gas pumps. Indiana JonesHas an evil twin who appears to be lighting up awfully close to the foreground gas pump. Health & SafetyLooks like a guy is lighting up beside the pumps. Could be wrong, but also looks like a makeshift fire drum sitting on ground behind him. Cold Medicine of the BeastThe tree at right foreground appear (edit: appears) to have a sign for 666 cold medicine nailed to it. The remedy, in liquid and tablet form, is still produced today by its original manufacturer, the Monticello Drug Company of Jacksonville, Florida. [The sign was also seen here. - tterrace] Thank you. I now note another 666 sign on the side of the building just to the right of the tree. Jerome GrowsJerome, Arkansas became a busy place during WWII when a Japaneese American internment camp was built which later became a camp for German POWs. At one point during WWII it was the fifth largest city in Arkansas. The population in 2000 was only 46 people. The PBS documentary "Time of Fear" is an account of this camp and one located about 30 miles away at Rohwer, Arkansas. A 1937 Plymouth is in front of the gas pumps and what looks like a 1937 Chevrolet is down the street. Photos of similar cars are below. All the houses appear to be raised off the ground for when the area floods. Gas PumpsI'm curious. Did those antique pumps use underground tanks like modern pumps? Those large trees growing next to the pumps would have large root systems. Those Tank Fill PipesI'm quite certain those capped risers you see protruding from the ground just inside the sidewalk line are for the underground tanks. 37 PlymouthWas the first car I remember my parents having, around 1960ish - age 2, along with a 56 Chevy P/U. The Plymouth was hard to start, and Mom would often get frustrated (angry?). It apparently had very loose steering also. I thought the faster you moved the wheel back and forth, the faster the car went. Reality was actually just the opposite, the faster you drove, the more you had to wiggle the steering wheel to keep the car on the road. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Russell Lee, Small Towns)
Steamboat Annie: 1909
... the 1909 Supreme Court case of "Hammond Packing Co. vs. Arkansas," but I lost my way in my reading and understanding of the case after ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/25/2014 - 11:34am -

The Mississippi River circa 1909. "Vicksburg waterfront." The sternwheelers Annie Russell and Alice B. Miller. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Old Faithful Not just one but two Coca-Cola signs. Coca-Cola and VicksburgThe soft drink was first bottled in Vicksburg by Joseph Biedenharn, who owned a small candy store on Washington Street. He shipped it to the plantations in the Delta. So there has long been a close connection between Coca-Cola and the city. This is why I love Shorpy!These are the pics that keep me coming back day after day. It's like Where's Waldo for history buffs. Beautiful! Coke Bottle HomeThe first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891. Its proprietor was Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design that is now so familiar. Not sure if the Vicksburg Bottling Works across from one of the Coca-cola signs was related or not. Um, BaconThat Bing way-back machine tells us that Hammond Packing Co. was indeed founded in a locale that came to be called Hammond, Indiana (how coincidental is that?); the company later established a plant in Omaha. No word on Vicksburg operations, alas. There is also the 1909 Supreme Court case of "Hammond Packing Co. vs. Arkansas," but I lost my way in my reading and understanding of the case after the third mention of a "claim of an irrepealable contract predicated upon a contract which is repealable." The thought of slow, idyllic days of floatin' on the Mississippi brought me back to "Annie" and "Alice," instead. SCANNINGfor a parallel universe-type person--maybe I want to trade places. Hammond PackingHammond Packing was the pioneer in refrigerated meat transport, and Hammond, Indiana, grew up around the company's transshipment facility. The business began operations in Detroit as Hammond, Standish and Co., and after the death of founder George Hammond -- who was my great-great-grandfather -- passed through a number of hands before being absorbed into the Armour interests around the time this photo was taken. Vicksburg was likely to have hosted a regional storage facility for the company. If one could only go back in timeVery poignant picture. Never thought I'd want to teleport myself back to such an industrial locale but the past is the past. You can almost see the breeze whipping over the river in the foreground. A Palace on WaterAlice B. Miller: Built 1904, Jacksonville, Indiana. Burned 1915, Vicksburg. Annie Russell: contemporaneous accounts refer to her as a handsome pleasure boat for the inland yachtsman. Built 1902, Dubuque, Iowa. Owned by Russell E. Gardner. The Carriage Monthly, September, 1904. Russell E. Gardner, president of the Banner Buggy Co., St. Louis, Mo., entertained recently the local carriage men of Cincinnati, Ohio, on his palatial boat, "Annie Russell." The prominent carriage builders of the city were invited to the boat, and were handsomely entertained. A trip was taken to the Queen City beach, where the party enjoyed a dip in the Ohio, and, on their return, a lunch was served. The "Annie Russell" is a palace on water, and is provided with everything that money can purchase. She is equipped with electric lights, bath, toilet rooms, electric fans and lounging rooms. Beautiful ImageThank you so much for displaying this scene. There is so much incredible detail of life back then, just fabulous image. Thank you. Coca-Cola BottlingBiedenharn Candy Company and Vicksburg Bottling Works where not related, although they both used the same blob-top bottle at one time. Washday on the MississipiWonder if they had the same washday -- Monday -- as you read about. Anyways, there's a lot of laundry draped over the upper stern rails of the Alice B. and there's bedding out to air over the doorways of some of the upper cabins. Annie R. is backing to slow and come to the bank of the levee, I think, there's no wake and the smoke is starting forward. Are the folks on the afterdeck the owners, or the captain's family? Also, the horses and wagons that are waiting might have supplies. Annie seems to be a passenger boat, no evidence of a lower cargo area at all, that I can see, and the upper deck, though clear, would have been awfully tough to load. What's inside?I would sure like to see a couple of inside photos and plans of the engine and boiler setup of those sternwheelers. Working WaterfrontsI love historic working waterfront pictures. You can see so many different examples of material culture and commercial-related activities. My favorite in this image is the wooden scow. They were so anonymous but conducted many 19th century activities from bulk cargo transport to ferrying. Clay StreetWe are looking up Clay Street at the First National Bank (now Trustmark Bank) building. Cars from far awayI find the two rail cars of interest. Both appear to be a long ways from home. The Dairy Land car is most likely from Wisconsin and has been on a mild products run. The Erie box is, again, fairly far from home. Neat to see them in this wonderful shot of Vicksburg. Related to Vicksburg PanoramaThis picture is clearly taken at the same time as a well-known panorama of the Vicksburg waterfront in 1910 that is in the National Archives. Was this picture originally a panorama by the same photographer. The shadows have moved between the two pictures and different steamboats have moved to the foreground. If there is another panorama, I would very much like to know about it. I grew up in Vicksburg and am writing a memoir of my father who would have arrive here for visits as a small boy. I would appreciate any help. These photo are true treasures. Thank to Shorpy for posting them. [The c.1910 panorama was taken by the Haines Photo Co. This one, by the Detroit Publishing Co., does not appear to be part of a panorama. To search for Vicksburg photos at the Library of Congress, use the search box at this link. - tterrace] (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Vicksburg)
3 Days Cure for Men: 1920
... is operated by a quack, one J. M. Byrd, whose license the Arkansas authorities revoked in 1913. In a letter written in 1914 Byrd said: "I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 9:58pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "U.S. Public Health Service." Dubious nostrums for, um, down there. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Interesting ingredientI notice that alcohol and opium are part of the "cure." I guess at least you "feel" better! RegretsI knew I shouldn't have googled gleet, but it's like watching a trainwreck. I did it and I am glad I wasn't eating anything as I might have lost it! Nasty!! Gentlemen's ClubWhat, nothing for the ladies? Weather ForecastViolent thunderstorms with possible hail or gleet. Manhattan InjectionThat label might be the worst thing I've read in my life. Yikes! Did they work?I had to Google "gleet." (Note: Don't Google "gleet"!) I sure hoped these cures worked for the men. What was available for the gals? Antibiotics all around! A ruling, pleaseIs "gleet" an acceptable word in Scrabble? Gadzooks!Yikes! Injecting or self medicating sounds worse than an embarrassing visit to your Dr. Huh?Inject it where?!?! I don't think so. Shoulda read comments firstI Googled "gleet" and really wish I hadn't. I love the progressive pictures of the cure. His gleet is so bad he can't even bring himself to brush his hair. Yes to the Scrabble queryReaders of James Boswell's London Journal (1762-63) will be well familiar with gleet, as dear Jamie couldn't seem to go more than a couple of months or so without another bout. BOSWELL. But by G-D, Madam, I have been with none but you, and here am I very bad. LOUISA. Well, Sir, by the same solemn oath I protest that I was ignorant of it. BOSWELL. Madam, I wish much to believe you. But I own I cannot upon this occasion believe a miracle. This may be a silly question but --Why is the "1st day man" holding a pencil between his teeth? The Third Day ManIt disturbs me that the fellow in "Day 3" is a dead ringer for Captain Kangaroo. Consult your physician."Manhattan Injection," the name and instructions notwithstanding, is "for external use." It should not be confused with, but may well be used with, "Manhattan Internal Remedy." In the futureour descendants will watch archival videos of Cialis, Hoodia, and Cognex commercials and think the same thoughts that this photograph invokes in us. Biting nailsI'm assuming the nail in Day 1's teeth is to help prevent him from crying out in pain, as in biting the bullet. The Google warnings prompted me to check Wikipedia for gleet instead, where I was subjected only to a verbal description. Thank heavens. An Ounce of PreventionSomehow, I suspect that the people who made the Ounce Prophylactic would also be willing to sell you the Pound of Cure Injection if necessary. Clears up your service recordIt sounds as if some of these nostrums would be useful if one had a Dishonorable Discharge, particularly one from the Foreign Lesion. Microzone Quackery Nostrums and Quackery, Vol 2, 1921 Microzone Medicine Company Writes a physician: "The enclosed envelope with contents was sent to my son, who is drafted for the Army. Evidently all of these boys are getting it. Something ought to be done to protect the boys." The envelope contained a card on one side of which was printed a picture of the "Heart of Hot Springs, Ark.," headed "World's Garden of Health Controlled by U. S. Government." On the other side the Microzone Medicine Company of Hot Springs, Ark., advertises "the only treatment which will positively cure inherited or contracted specific blood poison permanently." Further, the recipient is told that "out of 7,000 patients who have taken our treatment … not one has failed to be cured permanently. Many were cured privately at home by mail." In addition to the card, the envelope contained two crude facsimiles of ten dollar Confederate bills, on the back of which "Microzone," the "King of all treatments for blood poison," was advertised, "$25 for full treatment." The Microzone Medicine Company, according to material in our files, is operated by a quack, one J. M. Byrd, whose license the Arkansas authorities revoked in 1913. In a letter written in 1914 Byrd said: "I am now confining myself to the sale of a syphilitic cure … and I can make more money in that way and make it much easier than to do a general practice." At the same time Byrd was advertising a pamphlet with a salaciously suggestive title. Now, it would seem, Mr. Byrd would make more easy money by selling a fake syphilis cure to the young men who make up the National Army. Some men make a living out of war by robbing the dead on the battlefields; they at least do not impair the efficiency of the army. Other men rob the boys in khaki while they live, taking both money and health. They do this at a safe distance from the firing line and use as an instrument the United States mails. (Journal of the A. M. A., Sept. 8, 1917.) Of French Origin Nostrums and Quackery, Vol 2, 1921 Restoria "Restoria for Bad Blood" is sold by the Restoria Chemical Company of Kansas City, Mb. The label declares the presence of "alcohol, 34 per cent."— an admission that is required by the Food and Drugs Act. Restoria is sold as a sure cure for syphilis. It is "the Miracle Medicine," "the Medicine of Last Resort," it is "Safer—Surer—Cheaper than the Serum Treatments," it contains "no mercury—no arsenic, ask the druggist." No information, of course, is given as to what Restoria contains, except the information that the law demands. It is said to be "of French origin, and has been known and prescribed throughout Continental Europe for more than fifty years." While Restoria is recommended for rheumatism, kidney trouble, lumbago, eczema, and the omnipresent "catarrh," it is especially and particularly featured for syphilis or "blood poison." Here are some of the things the booklet has to say regarding syphilis and its treatment with Restoria and by other means: "Restoria goes to the seat of the disease. It cleanses the Blood, as it were, eradicating from it every trace of the Syphilitic virus." "One month of Restoria treatment may be equal to the services of the most eminent specialist, for whose skill you would be required to pay hundreds of dollars." "… to the average doctor this dreadful malady [syphilis] is only a name, and the patient is looked upon as a horrible example on whom he (the doctor) may practice and profit while he prescribes." "The average physician is utterly incapable of handling this dreadful malady. He lacks the experience, but he will not tell you so. He will assume a knowledge he does not possess. He will do the best he can for you. He will fill you with mercury or arsenic, perhaps, and make a helpless wreck of you in time; and all the while charge you all the fee he can get." "The unfortunate Syphilitic is considered common prey, and any physician is justified in trying anything on him, and charging three prices for the service." Restoria was first brought to the attention of The Journal in November, 1917, by a letter from the Council of National Defense, written by the chairman of the Subcommittee for Civil Cooperation in Combating Venereal Diseases. The letter stated that the Restoria concern had had the effrontery to write to the Venereal Disease Committee of the Council of National Defense, asking for a recommendation of Restoria! More than a year later — in April, 1919 — a physician informed The Journal that there was an effort to finance Restoria, and samples had been sent to him at the request of a friend who had been invited to take some of the stock. An unopened, original bottle of Restoria was submitted to the Association's laboratory, and tests were made to determine the presence or absence of mercury, arsenic or iodids. The report may he summarized thus: Restoria contains no mercury or arsenic, but does contain iodid, probably potassium iodid, and calculated to potassium iodid corresponding to 1.693 grams in 100 c.c. It also contains much vegetable extractive, some alkaloidal drug, and a bitter oil or oleo resin. (From The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 9, 1919.) (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Medicine)
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