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- Office Xmas Party: 1925
- ... twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other? Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling ... nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker? Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still ... Posted by Dave - 12/15/2023 - 3:04pm -
![ It's two Fridays before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 98 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.
December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Leer Kings"That Guy" looks like he could be the son of the older leering man directly to the right of him. I shall call them Denis Leery Jr. and Denis Leery Sr. The two men with them are obviously Christopher Walken as The Continental, and a young Franz Mesmer.
Just a little creepy....Some of the looks on their faces, wouldn't you love to know what they were thinking!
Debauchery 2.0Four years after behaving scandalously at the Krazy Kat, our bohemian friends find themselves slogging away at desk jobs in the boring adult world. Just WAIT until the Christmas party, though!
The oil canOf course the bear and the cabin weren't mentioned -- everyone knows the best part of the party is getting well-oiled!
Thank you. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your server.
H.P. Lovecraft?Could it be? Standing in front of the "Go Go" guy, half hidden? Maybe Franz Kafka, instead? This would be the guy who takes an extra-long time in the lav in order to scratch unseemly things onto the stall partitions. Every office has one of these guys and in this office, its either him or else its the nearly invisible guy standing across from him on the other side of the tree. Also, the girl on the far left, standing in front of the door, is unforgivably cute. I'll bet she's told a lot of these guys "NO" and that's why she's way over there.
The Power Bloc ...Have you happened to notice how Big Boss Man - the guy holding that little stubby cigar - is surrounded by thugly-type guys? This is the power bloc for this office. The guys up on the top left are all from a different Department and are wary of Big Boss Man's thugs. There is a little bit of cross-pollenation, however. The first guy standing on the table at the right is shooting a bemused glance in the direction of his bud in that other Department. He's the shorter, unjacketed guy with the full frontal grin and the eyebrows in serious need of plucking. To them, this is all a goof. They hang out together and keep each other informed as to who says what about whom, which of the girls are doable and what the scuttlebutt is coming down from the top. There's more here but I don't want to get censored.
A Story in every faceThis photo can inspire everyone to write a novel because there is indeed a colorful character with his own personal bio in every set of eyes. The bald guy with the candle on his head particularly stands out as one who has a complex persona but so does everybody else in the picture. Some appear depressed, some look beat up, some seem desperate. Make up your own scenarios. Personally, I used to look forward to the office parties when the most unexpected facets of co-workers' personalities would be revealed, giving us the rest of the year to talk about that until the next one. Stuffy old lady accountants and spinsters turned out to shock us the most when relaxed by a "touch of the grape". Lots of fun, too bad they have mostly been eliminated. Thank you for this blast from the past.
[That's a "GO-GO" traffic signal on Mr. Complex Persona's noggin. - Dave]
WiredCould it be that they tapped the power for the Christmas tree lights from the ceiling fixture?
What a mod hairdo!The brunette peeking from behind the desk (right above the black purse) has such a 1960's hairstyle!
Fat ChanceThe corpulent boss, stogie in hand, actually thinks that removing his glasses improves his appearance. He also seems to be playing footsie with the marcel-waved cutie who inexplicably has an oil can in front of her.
A KnockoutThe woman with the pearl necklace sitting at the very corner of the desk is a knockout! She looks like a present-day actress whose name escapes me. The guy standing up and glaring into the lens at the extreme top right of the photo may very well be the Antichrist. His stare gives me chills. The guy behind him looks like an "evil character" straight out of Central Casting. This is a great photo.
Thought BubblesIt would take me all day to write out thought bubbles for what I imagine is going through all those heads, but the lady at dead center seems to be thinking, "What was IN that punch? Did they repeal Prohibition and nobody told me?"
The "dark lady" downstage right is thinking, "I hope they snap that picture before I freeze to death down here on the bare floorboards. You would think the electric company would have better heaters in its own offices, but old man Pennyfarthing won't even spring for a rug to keep the draft out."
Western Electric (Shock Therapy)Great pic. And I'm sure there are as many stories as people in this one. But let's admit that the lady sitting on the floor on the left has to have the most interesting one. There is a haunted, post-experimental-therapy look to her that immediately reminded me of the psych-ward scenes in "Changeling."
Where's the copier?Ahhh, the days before every office had a copier, and every office had some joker trying to get the temp to sit on it!
Re: Fat ChanceWait -- so the oil can is worth noting, but not the bear statuette or the small house?
Western ElectricWestern Electric was the manufacturing and distribution arm of American Telephone and Telegraph. I suppose that this office in Washington was one of their distribution points. At any rate one interesting thing about the photo is the decided separation of men and women as though they might have come from different sections of the business. I also note that the ladies are sitting on a pretty rough floor, which is something I would have thought they would have avoided in those clothes. As to the glasses, I suspect that the photographer cautioned them that the flash might reflect from the lenses, assuming that I can assert that there was flash. Who knows, maybe there's a window somewhere.
That Office GirlI find her the most intriguing face in the picture. She looks almost out of place in this setting... her face is striking. Her expression says that she's part of a back story going on around the office that no one knows about.
Wow. I'm falling in love with a woman who's long long dead. How sad is that?
GiftedJudging by the peculiar items in the shot I'm thinking they exchanged white elephant gifts at the party. I got a big stuffed fish at our last party. I would have preferred the oil can.
This is so great!A bevy of attractive females here but I'm partial to the blond girl standing at the far left of the photo.
Wowzer!
Also, standing next to Boss Stogie on his left: ladies and gentlemen ... Mr. Joaquin Phoenix.
The Black WidowQuick somebody, get the story on the raven-haired woman sitting in front of the desk.
She looks like she ate her young; perhaps she has a few "missing" husbands buried in her dirt-floor basement.
I get the very distinct impression that if you crossed her, you ended up joining the silent majority long before your time.
Dark LadyWell.....the woman at bottom left certainly catches the eye. Something of a femme fatale, I think. Not generally popular with the more strait-laced ladies, like the woman two to her right who's giving her a very frosty look. The younger woman though, above and slightly to the left, is more sympathetic.
Since it's not uncommon here on Shorpy for unflattering comments to be directed at the olden-days womenfolk, let me be the first to say what a grim bunch the men are. I'll make an exception for the guy under the tree.
Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas PartyThe oil can on the foreground floor is absolutely precious. There can be no rational explanation for it. Then again, one tends to get oiled at the office party.
The hot babe is standing, far left, if not the girl sitting left, in pearls by the purse on the desk corner.
The fat guy with the cigar has his conjoined twin growing out of his forehead.
Girls on one side, boys on the other? Weird.
How dare these people all die off before telling us why that guy is holding the little horsey?
"Hey, Griselda. Spin my copter. If it says 'STOP - STOP', you are not mine. If it says 'Go - GO', oh you kid!"
Most riveting photo ever.I've been a lurker on Shorpy for months, but this photo has prompted me to register and comment. I've been coming back to this picture every day since it was posted, showing it to everyone I know.
What strikes me is that though there are several vintage-type characters here, there are also quite a few very contemporary looking people as well. This photograph represents such a vibrant living moment in the lives of these people. Some of them look like they could speak to you right from the picture. And, oh what a story they could tell!
This photo takes first place from my previous Shorpy favourite, They Shall Remain Nameless.
(But it's so close... check it out if you missed it.)
Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there ...
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen......hair! I think that's my favorite part of this picture. There's such a great group of hairstyles among the women. A few of those girls were pretty darn good with the curling iron, or whatever they used. I wonder if they're more glammed up than usual for the big party. For some reason, the hairstyles are more striking to me than in other pictures. Anyway, fascinating as always.
P.S. I think the guy that bdgbill thinks looks like the antichrist is actually kind of a hottie. I'm going to go on the assumption that he didn't look that intense all the time. If he did...well, I could see bdgbill's point then.
Now I KnowMy father worked for Western Electric. The money wasn't very good, so I never figured out why he stayed there. Guess this answers the question.
IN and OUTI noticed the IN basket on the desk to the far right, but where's the OUT basket? I sometimes wonder why I have an OUT basket on my desk at work - it's always less full than the IN one.
The woman sitting on the floor to the far left bears a striking resemblance to the Italian actress Ana Magnani (The Rose Tattoo).
Dramatis PersonaeMona, the woman on floor, far left (one of the few without the Marcel wave), is probably a Suffragist or at least politically active. Maybe she's trying to organize these party animals into a union and all they want to do is balance traffic signals on their heads and be wildly social.
Don't mess with these guys!The boss from Hades has what looks like a goose egg on his forehead and the coatless guy on his right has a black eye and cuts on the nose and eyebrow: maybe the partying started the night before. Looks like a smoking hot curling iron was de rigueur for any well-coifed lady.
That guyOf the four guys standing in the upper right, the guy who is on the left side, closest to the tree -- which girl is he leering at?
Western ElectricIf you flip the picture around, you can sort of read the door sign. I can make out:
504
[Western Elec]tric Com[pany].
[INCORP]ORATED
[?]ION DEPARTMENT
I wonder what the missing part is. Administration?
Office TensionThis must have been just after Phyllis spilled the beans about Dwight and Angela. Poor Andy!
The Power Bloc, continuedThe balding gent just over Boss Stogie's left shoulder-- the real power in the office, he certainly looks confident that his recent appointment to regional director will lead to greater things. Boss Stogie's son, Junior (with the candy cane), was on the fast track to becoming a junior partner until he was befriended by Harold from the mailroom (his hand on Junior's shoulder), which displeased Boss to no end.
UndercoverIsn't anyone going to ask why the woman in the middle is wearing a hat with a Police badge? Is this a costume xmas party? Could she possibly be a real cop??
My GirlSay what you want about the woman on the floor or the blonde with the pearl necklace, but my heart belongs to the woman standing fourth from the left, middle row. She reminds me of Bernadette Peters.
The henchman second from the right at the top has a menacing Snidely Whiplash quality about him. You just know he slipped a mickey into someone's drink.
Re: Western ElectricYou know you're a Shorpy addict when you "get" Anonymous Tipster's reference to the photographer's use of flash (or WAS there a window somewhere?!). Nice shot, A.T.!
Twins or Sisters?Study the features of the young woman directly in front of the door - then look at the one just to the right of (and looking directly at) "blondie with the pearls". Eyes, hair, smile, shape of face, body build: if they are not twins then they must at least be sisters. It is uncanny!
Christmas BackstoryYes, the young lady at the lower left leaning against the desk has the most interesting backstory in the room. Thanks to the passage of time we'll never know what was behind her haunted expression beyond that the woman giving her the evil eye must have had something to do with it.
Dave continues to put these evocative photos up knowing our emotions will never be satisfied!!
Meanwhile, notice the vintage Chia Pet resting on the scales in the "shipping department" (the desk along the left side). The girl in the fake police hat is looking longingly at it. Chia bunny? Chia elf?
The guy in front of the Christmas tree holding the toy, "I got a PONY!"
Keep them in their place.I, too, wonder why all the women are sitting on the floor in their silk satin dresses with fur collars. Surely there were some men who would have been glad to give up their places for them (and to sit amongst the women!)
How did they get Xmas light strings in 1925?I thought people used small candles until the '60s. How did they happen to have these string lights? Great pic of us back then.
[The 1960s being, I guess, when covered wagons brought in the first supplies of wired Christmas lights. - Dave]
I spy...Second woman in the third row...Frida Kahlo, at her day job.
SpellbindingI cannot stop looking at this picture. So much to see. The Al Capone looking guy is mesmerizing. The guy at top, second from right gives me the creeps.
1920'sI'm kind of young so maybe I'm missing something, but did pretty women not have to hold jobs in the 1920's? This office is worse than the one I work in, I didn't think that was possible.
Re: 1920sI'm kind of young too, but I disagree with you. I think this office has quite a collection of lovely women (and some not-as-lovely ones too, just like today). Sometimes, it's hard to look past the hairstyles and the clothes. If you are young (20-something? younger?), you've really only seen one ideal of beauty--you've missed a lot of the different fashions and hairdos of the rest of the 20th century. You also underestimate what modern makeup does for women. There are so many more varieties of it today than there were then, and it's generally of higher quality and easier to use than in the past. If you took one of the women in this picture, say, the girl with pearls sitting next to the desk and plunked her down in 2008 to get a makeover, her hair would be longer, probably highlighted and dyed, and aided by daily washing and a host of conditioners. Then, add some good moisturizer, foundation, and concealer, as well as a lash curler, mascara, and a healthy helping of eye liner, and I'm guessing you'd think her quite the fox.
Conversely, take the most attractive woman you know now, and put her in short hair and marcel waves, take away her hair dye and most of her makeup, and I'm guessing she'd look quite similar to the ladies in this photo. Even something as simple as the shape of plucked eyebrows really change the look of someone, and with the change in aesthetics, it's sometimes hard to get past the fashion to see beauty.
It works with the men too--you'd probably look a lot different with a side part and a pompadour!
That's right . . .. . . pretty women did not have to work in the '20's so, Miss Oilcan's exemption is assured, in my opinion - what a hottie.
Foy
Las Vegas
That's my desk!I have a desk that's identical to the one on the left. I had guessed it was 1940's vintage. It's nice to see it's even older than I thought.
Record Breaker?Look at the stats on this photo: 53,000 + reads, and still climbing. That's a lot of forensic partyologists! I wonder if even Dave knew what he had pulled out of the hat with this one?
[I am shocked. Shocked! - Dave]
re: Xmas light strings LOL! Dave, a lot of your comments (like this one) crack me up! Are you a comedian in real life? Merry Christmas!
[Please folks, no applause. Just throw money. - Dave]
Hotness quantificationI count 20 women in that picture; most of them you can see no more than their face and hair, and two you can't even see all of that.
Out of the 18 you have a good facial shot of, I'd put 3 of them at 8.5-9.5 on the scale... three of them are SMOKING hot. I'd put another 4 at the 7-8.5 mark, meaning serious cuties, and at least three of the others are a 6 -7.
Where I work we have 100 women in my office; I'd put exactly three in the 8.5-9.5 scale, and another 10 in th 7-8.5 scale; of the rest, probably only a smattering are really in the 5+ range.
So, I have to know ... where do you work that the women are so attractive? Playboy Enterprises?
Taking into account the differences in style, these women were, mostly, very attractive, and even a couple of the less attractive weren't awful.
The Men of Western ElectricIn the interest of gender equality, I got to wondering about the relative charms of the office boys. I found three who tickled my fancy.
1. The tall smiling fellow whose head is sticking up behind and to the right of Police Woman. His face is open and honest, he's smiling with his twinkly dark eyes as well as his mouth, and although his ears are a bit prominent there's a lovely overall symmetry to his face. I'll call him Dimples.
2. The one man who has the sense to sit down with the ladies. He's a bit older, but I love his soft wavy hair. There's a certain aristocratic but slightly sad angle to his tired half-smile that puts me in mind of a young Prince Philip. I'll call him Phil.
3. OK, here's the hotness - the brash, cocky young sheik peeking out confidently between the heads of Boss Stogie Pennyfarthing and his wan shirtsleeved assistant. He's got the eyes of Frank Sinatra and the hair of Jack Kennedy. I don't know what he looks like from the neck down, but from the Arrow collar up he's all, "How YOU doin'?" I'll call him Frankie.
In summary: Were I one of the office flappers, I would ride in Frankie's Studebaker, nurse a secret unrequited crush on Phil, and take Dimples home to meet Mother.
Rogues' GalleryI can't stop staring at the chilly filly down by the leftern desk. She looks like three out of every five women I've ever fallen for. It's the eyes. As to the resemblance to Ana Magnani, she might be of Italian descent.
I am also like the older gentleman in the upper right. Mr. Leery Senior, was it? Right between Charlie Sheen (or Leery Jr.), Snidely Whiplash, and Mr. Deer-in-the-headlights. What a jovial sort. And a snappy dresser, as well. Conversely, the startled fellow's vest is well off-center and makes him look like he couldn't decide which part of him was the front. Or maybe he was taking a nap under a desk just before the photo op and somebody had to drag him out.
Funny how a photograph will turn Bob & Lisa from the office into Dick Tracy characters once you let your imagination do the walking. Thanks to all you for sharing your insights.
You were linkedA local blogger from Beaumont's newspaper linked your site today. I will be forever gratful! Nevermind I got absolutely nothing done today and instead pored over your site at length. This is truly an awesome site!
This Won't DoOne chubby gal. One chubby guy.
As an official with the State of California, I say that this does not pass muster. There was hiring discrimination here. Walk into any State office and you'll see what I mean. Not to mention the plethora of Caucasians.
The chubby gal is next to sheet music. Wonder what this melba toast group was singing?
They're all dead nowJust think ... they all had their youth, their lives, their personalities, and now they are all turned into worm food. Just a happy thought for Christmas.
No, wait a minute. . . okay, I've changed my mind. Now I like Miss Lookingaway, sitting in the lower left. Definitely. She's the one.
Foy
Las Vegas
Oil Can GalThe siren sitting with the oil can is undressing me with her eyes. I'll ignore the fact she is 112 years of age, and let her.
[Guess that explains the oil can. - Dave]
Houdini?The guy on the left side, just above and to the right of the P.D. hat girl....did Houdini make a special appearance? In any event, he's got a mean set of eyebrows.
And you are correct, Stinky, the girl on the far left by the door is surely a looker!
Lost in the crowdNobody seems to have spotted Hugh Grant peeking out between Stogie Boss and Bald Guy.
Famous facesTo keep Hugh Grant company, fellow British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is peeking out from behind Shirtsleeves.
He is not a crookOh, my gosh. There's Richard Nixon on the upper right (with face partially hidden) just below old boss and crooked-vest guys.
Roxie & Co.I love this picture, and all the comments! Here's my .02:
*Girl with the oil can doesn't want to undress you, she's too in love with herself. You can see it in her eyes; she's a Roxie Hart if I ever saw one. "Eat your heart out, Sophie Tucker."
*I swear I graduated with the girl who has her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She's the one who organizes all our class reunions.
*If I were one of those girls, I'd probably want to date the guy sitting on the desk, right hand side. However, I have a feeling he'd want to "just be friends." So,
*I'd have to go for the one behind Ol' Pennyfarthing. No, not that one, the bald one. Handsome features and sense enough to not put some ridiculous piece of fur on his head.
*Girl leering at our castoff looks like one of Cinderella's stepsisters. Drucilla, I believe.
Office HottieI think the guy looking over the RIGHT shoulder of chubby-stogie dude is hot. There's something about the eyes that grab me. And the hint of a smile.
British InvasionNot only Hugh and Rowan - isn't that the actress/singer Patsy Kensit on the left, standing in front of the office door?
Can't Get Over This PhotoI can't get over this picture. It's my favorite one on Shorpy, which is saying a LOT. And, it has nothing to do with my collection of high-end Western Electric phones from 1905-1939.
The woman in front, referred to as the "Black Widow," I can't look at her enough. She surely would get a large kick out of the ruckus she would caused in 2008, unless it bored her as also being commonplace in her own time. The woman over her left shoulder has movie star looks.
They are on the fifth floor, and I wish I could see the name on the glass door. Then again, the woman obscuring it may be the one to take home to meet the family, so she can stay.
The finish on the floor is badly worn, as contrasted by the part under the desk. These fellas were habitually hustling to and fro, and with the feminine charms represented here, it's no wonder. Office romances must have been all there rage therein.
I have been hoping the Farkers would be all over this one, except they love to specialize in the one-person quirk shots. I could place the Black Widow in countless situations...
Is this the only picture you have on this stunning group?
[Afraid so. - Dave]
If onlyTterrance had taken this photo! We would know all about it, mystery solved.
I thinkthe mysterious suicidal communist was probably a cleaning lady whom the photographer sort of forced to be in the picture and she's embarrassed to be photographed in shabby clothes and feels naturally out place amongst the staff with whom she's always been subservient.
She reminds me of Camille Claudel on her way to the madhouse.
50 Little IndiansThis photo looks like a cast of characters who would end up in an Agatha Christie mystery....and I'm pretty sure I know who did it!
The Officethis picture reminds me of the TV show The Office. Jim is sitting on the desk in the right corner. Pam is all the way to the left in the back row. Michael is the guy with his hand on Jim's shoulder although he should be the bossman with the cigar. Stanley is the guy between the man holding the horse and the man with the cigar. Creed is Mr Leery. Kevin is holding the horse. Dwight is the only guy in glasses. Kelly is the bobbed woman behind the desk with the permanent smile on her face. Meredith is the creepy woman off alone... she's just waiting for her next drink of alcohol. Andy Bernard is the guy to the right in the back with the striped tie. I couldn't decide who Angela was. Ryan is the deer in headlights next to Andy. Phyllis is in the satiny dress to the right. Oscar is right by the right hand edge.
Man I love this picture.
AngelaAngela's sitting on the floor with that big lace collar, giving the stink-eye to Meredith.
Naughty NaughtySome young lady has just done something naughty off screen left. The Leery Boys approve, the Black Widow and Stink Eye don't, and the young lady behind Stink Eye is too drunk to comprehend.
Also, is the bald man by the Christmas tree wearing a traffic signal on his head, set to "Go?"
Somewhere in this crowd must be Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet and Prof. Plum.
My favorite pictureI and my co-worker check this site at least three times a day. He has never been on the Internet and when he passes by he will invariably ask "Anything new?" Which I know to mean "Anything new on Shorpy?" This Christmas Office Party is our favorite. We both live in Maryland and have seen many of the areas displayed in these pictures. When we scan the Office picture and see the "mob boss" guy with the stogie and the gun in his pants, he does a great Al Capone voice. I hope my posting this comment will bring new fans to
this amazing photo.
Merry Christmas everyone!have a great holiday and prosperous New Year.
Oh Christmas Twig! Oh Christmas Twig!Considering it is 1925 and an urban area they probably had a hard time locating a showpiece Christmas tree. Probably the best they could do was this poor little immortalized twig.
Timeless peopleEver notice how nearly every photo of a large group, from about 1900 on, contains at least one person who looks like he/she could have been photographed in just about any decade, or just the other day? The lady by the desk behind the pretty girl with the pearls looks like a teacher at my kids' school! There is nothing about her teeth, hairstyle, makeup, etc., that gives away the fact that she was photographed in 1925 except, of course, for most of the other people in it.
The Timeless DeskI'm still using the exact same desk as the one in the photo; my wife purchased it from McGill university when they replaced the professors' desks in the mid 1960s.
Oh what funAdolf (second from right at very top) has quite the leer going on. Peter Sellers could imitate him well. Mystery Lady could have been even more beautiful. I imagine her long hair flowing and her prominent features brought out even more with an expert's touch.
What is Stogie Man carrying, besides his eyeglasses? I also wonder who took this photo. It obviously took some arranging, with the piling up of people.
Excellent, almost spellbinding picture! I come here about six times a day just to visit it. I wonder who lived the longest, and what year they all died and how? Yes, I'm a morbid one.
Office A-Go-GoThe gent at the back is, indeed wearing the miniature street signal (it has 4 arms to the signal so not a railway signal) on his head. Firstly, the only thing behind him is a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall, certainly nothing that the signal could be perched on. And, secondly, if it was sitting on something, it would not be sitting at the angle it is.
Then and Now I'm wondering -- in today's world there is usually at least one person at an office party of that size who gets a little too inebriated and winds up making photocopies of their nether parts for distribution to all. Was there a way to do the same thing using a mimeograph machine or whatever other copying technology existed in 1925? Would the tipsy individual first have to draw their naughty bits on some special copy medium? Our grandparents sure had a lot of hardships to deal with.
At First Glanceand in the zoomed out view, I thought the gent at the far right might be the office troublemaker and that the folks wrapped him up in Christmas lights for his just deserts. Alas and alack, when you go in for a closer look, it's simply the ravages of time taking their toll on the negative.
[This batch of plates has water damage along one side. - Dave]
The Lady of the Deskjust wandered in from the Sergei Eisenstein film that was shooting on the set next door. She's on a break between takes of the Odessa Steps sequence.
RE: Oh GreatIf CBS could give us Rudolph, Shorpy can give us Western Electric.
2010 InterpretationsThis year, I think the Black Widow has pretty much just had it with that place.
Stink-Eye isn't looking at the Black Widow. She's disapproving of something messy on the front of the desk.
I can't find Don Draper Nor Joan Holloway, but this sure conjures up thoughts of Mad Men, 45 years earlier. I burst out laughing when my eyes scanned to the guy in the back with the stop and go-go item on his head! Maybe THAT is the flavor of the evening? More GO than STOP? This is the roaring 20s after all and these are certainly modern women..
Yes, this picture and your readers' comments may be my very favorites to date!
Some Like It Hot The mademoiselle standing in front of the woman wearing the Policeman's hat could have been Billy Wilder's inspiration for his casting Jack Lemmon in drag.
Another WorldThese people are denizens of another universe that, no matter how many photographs we study or books we read, we will never fully understand because we didn't live in it and never will.
These are people who knew how to navigate themselves in the distant world of 1925. All of these people were born at the beginning of the last century and were brought up by people from the 19th century.
If a modern young person were to be suddenly transported here without preparation he would find it completely disorienting and possibly quite frightening, because of so many technological and cultural and social differences between now and then.
Deja vuI loved this picture.
But the lass in front of the desk, looking stage right, is memorable. I think I've seen this picture before.
Then I noticed the dates of the previous comments. 2208? Surely two years cannot have gone by so quickly.
[To say nothing of the 198 after that! - Dave]
SteamyThere are some SERIOUS sexual crosscurrents and hot vibes in this picture! Amazing!
Slow on the uptakeI'm pretty sure Mr. Semaphore head isn't actually wearing that thing on his head; it's behind him. What is alarming is the second head growing out of his chest. The heads seem to be in agreement to lurk.
Oh great!Shorpy is doing reruns for the holidays.
Kidding.
Merry Christmas.
Uh-Oh TannenbaumThat's the most bedraggled Christmas tree I've ever seen. It has more tinsel than needles.
An unflattering portraitMy god, this is by far the ugliest group photo I've ever seen! Both girls and guys look like winners from the Walmart Ugly Photo Contest.
Kimono-wearing parrot?With a bouffant, no less? Over there, on the scale!!
The gal with the candy cane, to our left of the much-ballyhooed oil can chick, seems to be presaging late '60s hairstyles.
And yes, the balding dude in the rear with the traffic semaphore on his head wins the covert group-photo clown award in spades.
Sad to SaySo many hotties, so many dorks.
Season's GreetingsHope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, from Walter and all his friends in this, my favorite Shorpy picture.
General Electric Crime FamilyOk, a lot of the men look like mafiosi with the big-lips guy in front being the capo. The two guys at the right, top, are hit men.
Western Electrical FireI can't believe, in 90+ comments on this remarkable photo, that not one person pointed out the extension cord running from the ceiling light fixture to the tree. I think the answer to the comment about how and when these folks died is: a few minutes after this photo was taken, in a horrible electrical fire.
It would be a chore, but could someone pleasecolorize this!
BeautyI love the woman sitting on the floor next to the desk looking away. At first glance you think; boy she looks tired, and then you look again and you see how beautiful she really is. She is just stunning. I also find it interesting with the commentary just how similar our comments in the office were to the ones posted on this site. We too made up stories about these folks. I love this photo. Thanks for sharing it.
I never tire of looking at this one.Always noticing something new, frinstance,
The object on the scale, seems to have some heft to it based on how far the scale dial has moved, maybe a cast iron toy?
The young fellow on the far right, Candy Cane in his right hand but whats on his left hand? Looks like it's slipped inside of something, a toy holster maybe?
Completion All this tableau requires (perhaps) to make it complete, is a large paper bag on the floor stuffed with goodies, including the obligatory pair of turkey-feet protruding upward in a festive fashion.
Best of the Season to All in the Shorpyverse Continuum!
Secrets never revealedThere is no question that many secret alliances and not-always discreet hook-ups probably took place during and after this festive celebration 86 years ago. Luckily for those involved, there were no surveillance cameras, cell phone cameras, tape recorders, security guards, texting devices or other pesky snooping devices that could cause the merrymakers a permanent record (and deep lifetime regret) of their missteps. They were the roaring 20's when people gathered their rosebuds where they may and parties were for having the best time you could have. I'm betting many of these revelers took their sweet and sordid memories of that night to their graves.
Another Shorpy Party!I love this photo and we're going to test the limits of the reply counter. Merry Christmas everyone and have a grand new year!
Lord Almighty!!!It's the butler in the pantry!!!
I have never, ever seen so many guilty people in one photograph.
Unbelievable that it was not staged. But it obviously wasn't.
Wow!!!
My hat!How did she get it?
"Pure horse, Danno. Book 'em."Having just spotted the drug paraphernalia on the left - the scale, the packaging materials, the kimono-wearing parrot - our undercover coppette in mid-pack has whipped out her official police hat and ignoring the cries of "that baggy's not mine!" is about ready to haul the whole gang downtown. A bust like this baby was sure to bump her upstairs and away from all these dreary office parties.
Up to no good?The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?
Cost of that treeCould not have been more then a dollar in 2011 money
Must have been last minute!!!
The ion DepartmentA quick flip of the door confirms we are in room 504 of the ion Department.
FestivusIts good to see this one again. I just keep looking at the people and see more than a few that would have been great company. I hope everyone, viewers, commenters, Dave and webmaster Ken has a great Holiday Season in the company of friends and loved ones.
She apparently had a good time with my grandpa.As she is my grandma!
"The gal sitting on the floor behind the Oil can has had a drink or two already, and she is plotting mischief. I can see it in her eyes! Was she the good time that was had by all?"
3rd rowfrom the top 3rd from the left. I'm in love.
Oh wait.
Party HeartyOoooo -- Roaring twenties office party, bathtub gin. Oooooo -- I think I just threw up in my throat a little bit.
Shorpy Christmas cardIf Dave would produce an annual Shorpy Christmas card I would buy a few boxes, and I'm sure others would as well. Cards with this photo would be seen in every business cubicle in the country and quite a few places around the globe. It says Merry Xmas for me.
So much to read into This picture is as familiar to longtime readers of this blog as our own family photos and as evergreen as that Christmas Tree was before it was cut down. One can imagine so much here, for example that as soon as the photographer finishes with his duties, the Volstead Act will be violated by most of the people in this room (there are a few who look as if they might disapprove), and the usual office party shenanigans will occur, some of which might have consequences in the months to follow even if they all swear that what happens at the Office Party stays at the Office Party.
Al JolsonIs that Al Jolson in front of the "Traffic signal" bald guy? He's peering out just a bit from behind the guy with the vest and holding his glasses. 1925, the timeline is right. :)
Iconic StatusThis photo has taken on a level of immortality that few others can hope to achieve. A Photograph for the ages that will always be appreciated and admired. A Tradition is born! Thanks to Dave and all that visit here; hopefully someday your office pictures will be shown here and we can all marvel at how far we've come in so short a time.
Tiny Tim said it best so I shan't repeat it but that is my wish for one and all.
Thank you, DaveI hope this re-posting will bring new fans. Merry Xmas,everyone!
Why the oil canThose three objects in front - Maybe just spur-of-the-moment party silliness?
Another year olderI just love this photo. There's so much to analyze. Saw it last year for the first time. Here we all are, another year older. That would include those in the picture, in a macabre sort of way.
Best Christmas Party EverFirst, Dave, you have cured my holiday depression. I found this during a post-Xmas hangover and there are no words. I was instantly addicted to your site. Thank you.
Second, if there is anyone out there with connections to the BAU I would like you to seriously consider imposing yourself on that relationship and get them on it. I'm dying for a more complete story. You must be too if you're reading this. You know who you are. Pick up that phone and give him/her a call.
Not Al JolsonWade in NW Florida: if he looks like anybody of that period, it would most likely be Eddie Cantor, not Al Jolson.
The other 13I have just spent an extremely enjoyable hour reading all the comments reaching back to 2008. Of the 47 people in the photo, 34 have been commented on. So what about the other 13? Six guys in the upper left have been ignored, plus seven gals in the pack. The most prominent of the abandoned baker's dozen are, to my mind, the two women standing side by side, closest to the tree. Both have bead necklaces: one tucked in, one on the outside. They seem neither hot nor cold, neither suicidal nor drunk. The two of them actually look (dare I say?) like really nice people.
NOW it's the holiday season.....when Shorpy breaks out this holiday classic! I wonder what pop-culture figures of the past year will be likened to our hard-partying crew?
The face that could sink a thousand shipsThe guy holding the cigar, oh man I want to punch his face!
Every yearEvery year when I look at this, I think the same thing: do all those dames hate Desk Woman for the same reason, or different ones?
Lots of single women in that officeNo wedding rings on almost all of them. Perhaps a woman worked until she got married, or at least until she had children - and then she was sequestered in the kit home built in one of America's booming trolley suburbs.
It must have been a major change for these ladies to go from office life, with its daily human contact and pleasures (such as this office party) to a few rooms, kitchen and nursery figuring predominantly. My grandmother still reminisced proudly about her work as a lawyer's assistant in the 1920s, way back before she got married, had three children, and spent most of her time in the top floor of a Boston triple-decker for the next 20 years.
Colorized Version Hidden in Plain SightCheck out https://www.shorpy.com/node/11937 for colorized version in Colorized Photos by members. Dave, do I get a prize for finding it?
Talk About Your Lonely HeartsThis could be the Sgt. Pepper album just before The Beatles stepped into the shot
Par-TAY!I totally wanna party with this crew. I've always loved the Roaring-Twenties era, and the show Boardwalk Empire is doing a great job with the fashions and the music. I think Nucky Thompson needs to sprinkle a little Xmas cheer on this group. Volstead Act be damned!
Young bald guyEvery time I see this, my eyes go to the young, very handsome man who is looking over the shoulder of the rather portly guy on the right side of the photo. Balding men didn't have many options, then, like they do now, but I rather doubt that the premature balding kept all the young ladies away from him!
I wonder which of these men were veterans of WWI?
At the Ion Department Christmas Party . . .That exotic woman sitting in front of the desk in the lower left STILL seems distracted by something just out of camera, and the woman in front of her is still watching her carefully.
It's a wonderful photo worth our annual holiday attention!
--Jim
Naughty or Nice?This oft-repeated photo is starting to remind me of the traditional holiday tune by Eric Cartman (of South Park fame) singing about the Swiss Colony Beef Log; irreverent but fun.
What's printed on that document?Dave, can you zoom in on the piece of paper being held by the guy kneeling in the center, right in front of the tree? It's almost as if he's trying to show it to the camera. Thanks!
-------------------------------------
Just a something something
TO WISH
You and Yours
A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
Division Four Office
1925
Worth a second or third look There are some half dozen ladies in this photo. Like the one right behind the corner of the desk, with the chevron shapes on her dress and the one directly in front of the door on the left that are definitely worth seeing again.
Merry Christmas Shorpyites!
Is there anybody out there?Surely one of these people in the photo has a living relative (great grandkids, grandkids, etc) that might be able to shed some light on this photo.
2%Of the 47 people in the photo, only one is wearing glasses. Did the Ion Department require perfect vision of its workers?
My cueI don't even start listening to Christmas music until I see this picture reheated. It's a classic.
The Girl with the Curl -- and the candy cane. There once was a girl
with a pretty little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
When she was good
She was very, very good
and when she was bad
she was even better!
Re 2%The cigar smoker on the right in the three-button suit and the gent on his right both are holding eyeglasses, all the more to ratchet up their smashing good looks. Well, maybe just looks.
What's Left To Say?Besides their clothes and hair dos, two things that I’m glad have changed: The way Christmas trees look and protective coating for hardwood floors. And I’m guessing they had a White Elephant gift exchange, thus the whimsical gifts.
Raise your glassesI'm sure one of our more knowledgeable posters might know better, but I wonder if glasses were removed to prevent unwanted flash effects?
Could it be?I've looked at this photo for three Decembers now, and I just noticed that the girl sitting behind the girl with the striped blouse, and how much she looks like she could be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother.
Party TimeThe office parties and associated grab bags were created to give us all a chance to regift.
Allow me now to wish all of our Shorpy viewers, creators and commenters a very happy Holiday season. Let us all be well, prosper and keep returning to this wonderful site.
Love this photo....Like so many of you, I love it when this photo is trotted out! We are so drawn to it and love imagining what this party must have been like, the silly little gifts, the party girls, and those who just wanted it to all be over with so they could get back to work.
Each year I am struck by the lady behind the one in the striped blouse. She looks like she could have been in my high school annual from 1970. Yes, I dated myself there! Her hair style looks like it could have been from the 1970's, unlike her co-workers with their many finger waves. Keep posting this one, Dave....truly a classic!
An Evocative PhotographThe romance of old photographs is especially powerful in a picture like this. Studying the faces of what we assume are long departed strangers, we can't help speculating about the nature of their inner lives and how things turned out for them. Who ended up married to someone who made them happy or miserable? Which one(s) got ahead and who descended into poverty? Who died young - and so on?
With hindsight we know that only a few years after that Christmas party in 1925, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Then World War II winnowed out a great many - how did this group of individuals make out through all those difficult times? There are many such questions which occur to the curious.
This is an extraordinarily evocative photograph. The transience of everything is plain to see in this picture if you notice such things.
This photois what prompted me to make an account on Shorpy. The first thing that jumped out at me was, is that a man in drag standing with his hand on the young lady's shoulder? The lady in question looks a bit like Drew Barrymore.
I noticed the indentations between the eyes of many of the men, and realized that they did take their glasses off for the photo, to minimize glare. No featherweight lenses in those days!
Tales from the Jazz AgeI'd like to take a crack at imagining who some of these people could be --
Oil Can Girl (seated at bottom, center) - Never turns down a chance to cut a rug at a speke. Very generous with the contents of her hip flask, which in a pinch can supply fuel for her sometime-boyfriend’s Hupmobile.
Desk Girl (seated at bottom, left) - Staring intently at a winged, two-horned leopard and wondering if she should jump up and scream at everybody to run for their lives.
Lace Collar Girl (two left from Oil Can Girl) - Wondering why Desk Girl is staring so intently at the office kitty-cat.
Time Warp Girl - (immediately above Desk Girl) - Up until a few weeks ago was a liberal arts major at an Ivy League university in the year 1969, then stumbled through a time portal into 1925. Decided to stay and get a job because, well, things are a lot less crazy here.
Starlet Girl - (above and to the right of Time Warp Girl) - Avid reader of Photoplay, Picture-Play, Screenland, Movie Weekly, Movie Mirror, and lots more. Passionately believes that her good looks could bring her fame in Hollywood, if only she could manage to stop tossing money away on magazines and save up for the train fare.
Hat Girl (immediately above Starlet Girl) - Took a few slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, now having trouble remembering her name.
Trashed Girl (immediately to the right of Hat Girl) - Took even more slugs from Oil Can Girl’s hip flask, but still conscious enough to realize that if she stops leaning on the girl below her, she’ll tumble to the floor.
Handsome Guy (standing in the back, left side, farthest left) - All the office girls have swooned over him at one time or another. Been engaged six times, but it always breaks off when he tells his bride-to-be that his mother will be living with them.
New Pretty Girl - (third from left, standing) - Just started work this past month. Soon to be Handsome Guy’s next ex-fiancee.
Wow, this is way too long already. Anyway, you get the idea. This is fun!
White Elephant Gift ExchangeI going with a White Elephant Gift Exchange for an Office Christmas Party. It explains the goofy gifts and the attire. Some of the exchanged presents still have tags on them.
No one seems to have noticedbut the shy guy in front of GO GO is none other than Irving Berlin, on a guided tour of the Western Electric facility and already evidencing the reclusiveness of his later years. At uppermost left, we have the mustachioed miscreant looking disdainfully at those beneath him, which is everyone. And finally, we have Grishkin at lowermost right left, a handsome woman whose lean and hungry look hath a troubled aspect not customarily associated with holiday gatherings (apart from those with family members present). She seems to have wandered in from one of those Russian plays that Ira Gershwin makes reference to.
All of which can only mean one thing - it's Christmas time here at Shorpy's. Greetings and salutations to all!
Times they don't changeThe women definitely place this picture in time by their clothes and hair. The men, especially the back row, center in photo, remind me of my father's photos of the late 1950's. It's all quite timeless.
Hey, long time listener, first time caller!I wonder if camp Pierce Brosnan (top row, far left) found the Ion Deptartment accepting of his flamboyant wonderfulness.
Festive DressThe bald gentleman in the back has the best holiday hat I have ever seen, the festive Go Go hat atop his bald head.
We need those names!The spectacular Massafornian colorized image should have some labels for the people in it.
So, here we go.
(Gimp and Python/PIL scripts did the job)
Thanks for the MemoriesThank you for publishing this picture again this year. It just doesn't seem right to not have these wonderful people wishing all of us a Merry Christmas. I wish all of the Shorpy readers and the Admins a Merry Christmas also.
Merry Christmas!I'm a faithful reader of Shorpy, have been for over 10 years now, since I joined up. Every year, I always look forward to the Shorpy Office Xmas Party picture. I don't know what it is; maybe it's the continuity of it. We know every year we'll see it, and every year we'll get to talk about new fictions we've created for the people therein. It's such great fun.
Re Office StoriesNice commentary! You really bring life to this party.
Glad for TradIt's truly a fun Shorpy-looker tradition to view this pic large and spend an hour time traveling and reading the comments. Hope everybody had a Groovy Solstice yesterday. Happy Holidays!
Hair dressersWho did the hair styles back then, terrible......
Sic transit ursusI love the Shorpy Christmas party! This guy still startled me when I spied him on the floor, despite the fact that I commented on him FIVE YEARS AGO.
Dean NorrisAh, it wouldn't be Christmas without this delight from Shorpy!
The guy behind the big boss's left shoulder looks like a sightly younger version of actor Dean Norris. According to IMDB, Dean Norris was born in 1962 or 1963, but if this post on Shorpy is any guide, he's at least 100 years old. Is he pretending to be younger than he really is? And what's the secret of looking so young?
Cheers!Thanks for posting again, this is one of my favourite pictures on Shorpy. Some odd Barnets going on with some of the women though...I'd love to know if there was a gramophone at this party and if so, what the playlist was.
Tradition I can almost hear Tevya, singing the song in "Fiddler On The Roof", but not quite. It is of course the Holiday Season, office parties and good will to men and of course women. It is time for us Shorpy Junkies to wish each other the best of the season. Good health, prosperity and peace to all. Thanks to our Hosts Dave and Ken and to our interlocutor terrace for their grand efforts.
G-manI had to do ctrl-f for all three pages, and I'm amazed that no one to date has identified J. Edgar Hoover standing in the front row, cigar butt in hand, between vest-and-watch chain guy and three-piece suit guy. I can't believe I didn't notice him when I first commented three years ago.
Time for a Shorpy Xmas party!I think we are overdue to have one where we all meet and discuss THIS picture (because with 150 comments, we clearly have a lot on our minds about this W.E. holiday soiree).
Merry Christmas ShorpyitesMerry Christmas to one and all, fans of the photos posted in Shorpy. Thanks to Dave and everyone who helps out with the site.
I hope the new year is good to all and everyone will be back next Christmas to view Xmas Party.
I've been a member for 3 years, 2 days and anonymous for several before that I think.
What's with the oil can?I understand the Teddy Bear and little house in the front of the photo. But what is the significance of the Christmas Oil Can?
[Yet another beloved Christmas legend inspired by this photo. -tterrace]
Do they know?The standing gal, 3rd from the left, and the kneeling gal (center and one row back) both have the same necklace on (7 little cascading chains ending in a pearl). I think that the boss-man, J. Edgar Hoover (on the right with the cigar), is having an affair with both of these gals and he gave them both the same necklace. He thinks it's really funny and smiles when he sees them together; his own little private joke! I wonder if the gals know and are just playing him for whatever they can get? We will never know for sure.
Modern Woman+89
One must wonder if oiling the bear will make the Yuletide bright?
Thanks again!This is now my official notification that the Xmas season has begun. The Office Party re-post.
Threadbare BoughsNow I know where Charlie Brown got his tree. Merry Christmas everyone!
Hours and hoursI, like so many others here, have spent hours with this image. I'm always drawn back to the woman in the lower left. She's always struck me as the office outcast trying to get out of the picture. The woman to the right of her, with the lace collar, looks like her boss giving her the stink eye for not participating.
Roaring Twenties!Thanks for this flash-back, Shorpy!
Love the very mysterious Lady on the left...
and still dislike that pompous guy with the cigar.
Wee fish, ewe, a mare, egrets, moose... and a hippo gnu year!
I have to askDoes "Office Xmas Party" have the largest amount of comments?
[That record might be held by Our Lady of Lourdes School. Another much-commented post was The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
FinallyShorpy's annual "Office Xmas Party" has arrived! There's my guy standing in the back row, far left still waiting for me. Swoon.
Happy Holidays, Shorpyites!
And thank you, Dave, for all that you do.
Re 2%, and Raise your glassesI think glasses were considered unattractive. I remember lots of members of this generation (my grandparents') or the next who would whip off their glasses whenever someone raised a camera.
Tough Day At The Office?The best part about these office parties are the grab bags. It's always the best way to regift. Other than that, I hope Dave, Ken, tterace and all our outstanding commentators and readers have a wonderful holiday and a healthy prosperous New Year.
Must have been a heck of a partyAll the way in the back is a tall bald man with a traffic signal on his head! That's better than a lampshade. The body language between the woman on the far left and the woman to her right who is glaring at her is really very sad. You wonder what sort of ugliness was going on behind the scenes. The lady looks like she's been crying a bit. Who knows. It's fascinating to see such a candid photo none the less.
An oilcan!Now I know the perfect gift to get for all my co-workers. Merry Christmas Shorpy nation.
I look forward to these people each yearThey've become familiar yet remain interesting. As I said years ago, we're testing the counter on this one.
Merry Christmas fellow Shorpyites and wish a grand New Year!
It was ninety years ago today ...... and the photo never ceases to give.
The fun is overOkay, we had our Christmas celebration, now everyone back to your desks and let's finish out the day at 5:00.
The lucky onesDue to the magic of photography, this happy group has been celebrating now for ninety years. If you enlarge the picture and study their faces and demeanors, you may get some insight into their characters and personalities in 1925. After seeing this photo for many Christmases on Shorpy, I almost feel that I know some of them as well I know my own friends. Merry Christmas to all, especially the Shorpy staff.
What are we missing?Great photo, been seeing it for years now, but I always wonder what else was going on? People are looking left, right, straight, up, down. What was going on out of frame? That lady in lower left looks ready to bolt, especially with the other lady looking on concernedly. If this was a Halloween photo, the massacre would be about to begin.
I've been ill, and maybe delirious...
Spooky Lady of Christmas PastI remain endlessly curious regarding the woman with her back to the desk.
Spooky and haunting, amid all the fascinating characters in this classic shot, she is The One.
Department Name for Room 504Western Electric Company
Installation Department
5th Floor
1319 F Street
Washington DC
(From the 1925 Washington City Directory)
This department installed Central Office equipment (testboards, operator switchboards, signaling equipment, etc) supporting both local and long distance telephone service.
Google street view has an office building that looks old enough to be our Christmas Office party location. Perhaps another Shorpyite can add the street view for us.
[It was built in 1913. Interestingly enough, it's just one building away from Harris & Ewing, another source of many Shorpy photos. -tterrace]
Merry Christmas, George BabbittThe guy on the right, in front, with the grand forehead, holding the stogie, reminds me of Sinclair Lewis's protagonist in "Babbitt" (1922):
"He was the modern business man; one who gave orders to clerks and drove a car and played occasional golf and was scholarly in regard to Salesmanship. His head suddenly appeared not babyish but weighty, and you noted his heavy, blunt nose, his straight mouth and thick, long upper lip, his chin overfleshy but strong; with respect you beheld him put on the rest of his uniform as a Solid Citizen."
Room 504Flip the photo horizontally, and you will see that we are on the 5th floor. Who can guess the "department" we are in?
Now it is Christmastime for sureI couldn't truly celebrate Christmas without seeing this picture again. It must be after Thanksgiving or Shorpy would not have posted it. Any comments I could make about this picture would only be a pale response to all the previous comments. It just makes me try to think what an office Christmas party like this must have been compared to a modern day party. I look forward to this picture every year for some crazy reason.
294408That's how many people have called up this photo. Over a quarter million! And this isn't YouTube. What an amazing picture. What an amazing site. Merry Christmas to all my Shorpy comrades and a huge thank-you to Dave and tterrace for all they do to bring this amazingness to us every day.
YuletideI heard Springsteen singing about Santa on my way to work, and now I see this. It is truly Christmastime now.
Oh, Beautiful Lady in the Lower Left......let me unwrap that bear for you, before your nearby friend gets more worried that you're not having any fun.
DoppelgangerThe young woman framed in the door on the left looks remarkably like today's woman who was a business partner of mine.
Nothing but the best at Shorpy!!Thanks for this expected post!
Never noticed this beforeThe men's jackets have creases running the length of the arms. I wonder if this was a customary thing for "the office" or typical treatment "of the times" for pressing? Perhaps this treatment was typical only of a worsted fabric?
P. D. Police Dept.I keep being intrigued by the one and only joker in the crowd, our lady with the "P.D. Police ...." hat. There must be another word after "Police," I suppose it is just "Dept."
Marching In PlaceSeeing this picture so many times tells me that I'm growing older but these celebrants have become ageless. Along with that piece of wisdom allow me to add my Seasonal Greetings for a Merry Christmas, a joyous Hanukkah Past and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all. Of course we are all in the debt of Dave,Ken and tterrace (who may or may not be on the Payroll) for their addictive posts, explanations and comment rebuttals.
From NYC, where the Christmas Eve Fahrenheit is forecasted at 72º.
Mel
[tterrace is salaried, deals in a service and is bigger than a bread box. -John Charles Daly]
Life of the partyMy best guess for "life of the party" status goes to the lady in front with elf buckles on her shoes. I love this image- there so much detail and depth of relational perspective.
Afterlife Office PartyThis photograph has become a holiday tradition for me, as anticipated as my Christmas eve tradition of baking cookies, wrapping gifts and gently placing a dish towel under Uncle Trouble's chin so he doesn't drool on his good shirt after passing out on the couch.
Scanning the full-screen photo, I wonder if a small corner of the afterlife might be populated by tenants doomed to spend eternity at a perpetual office Christmas party for some workplace sin like stealing lunches from the office fridge, pilfering office supplies, or failing to replace paper or toner in the printer. I can picture Dickensian clarks with ink-stained fingers forever mingling over paper-cupped eggnog with 60's swinging secretaries, Old Kingdom robed Egyptian scribes trimming the tree with bored mid-level Qing Dynasty bureaucrats, and that impenetrable knot of young IT guys and gals speaking in that techno-babble, side-eyeing the boss, forever giggling.
I imagine the mirthless rounds of the eternal white elephant gift exchange: the Take Me to the River-singing fish going round and round and round the conference table ad infinitum. I can see the everlasting greasy pile of stale taquitos, timeless sips from the bottle of booze hidden in the file cabinet, Starbucks Christmas Jazz CD playing in an endless loop -- the horror.
Goober Pea
UpdatedUsing John J's sleuthing on the location of this office, I recently ventured there to see if any resemblance to the photo remains. I got as far as the only door in the hall on that floor. Nothing appeared to remain.
Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!TimeAndAgainPhoto, that's a great job of investigating one of our Shorpy.com favorites, but I'm convinced that if you'll just badge your way into that office, you'll find a fellow in there with a traffic signal on his head.
I hope so, anyway.
Re: Seek and ye shall find . . . GO!Jim Page - I had to badge my way past security and up the elevator before I was stopped by the secured door.
Those were the daysI really do miss the office Christmas parties from my working years which gave us an opportunity to meet, greet and schmooze with people we hadn't seen in 20 minutes. Merry Christmas to all, rejoice and be glad.
Every Year and I am Still Captivated But I Don't Know WhyThanks Dave, I'm still enjoying this for some reason I don't understand, and I'm still curious about the front and center oil can.
SNL Time Traveler?That person standing directly to the left of the tree is either a time-traveling, cross-dressing Pete Davidson from SNL or his Great Grandmother worked at Western Electric Group in 1925!
Shorpy - I look forward to this picture every year and am a regular viewer of your site. Even have a couple of large prints on my walls at home, with another coming soon!
Thanks for this site - it's one of the pleasures of my day!
Yuletide.I love seeing this picture every year. As do my co-workers. Thank you.
I have seen this picture for six (I believe) years nowBut today, today there is a new face, one I instantly recognize, that I would swear was not there in any previous year.
I once found my wife's doppleganger (Trackless Trolley) in one of these pictures. Today, I find my youngest daughter, Cecilia (16); she's poking her face out between the 2nd and 3rd fully visible women on the left side of the photo (their right) from the tree.
Ok, it's spooky Dave.... but I'm starting to believe someone has a time travel machine, and everyone but me in my family is using it.
P.D. clocheWonder what she's hiding under that hat?
It's timeThis picture (and the myriad comments) are so entertaining, I sometimes search for it when I'm feeling low, even in July! I especially love Oil Can Sally's come hither look.
I amost know these peopleMy Great-Great Grand uncle was Dan Richardson, a senior accountant for Western Electric in the New England/Northeast US area. He certainly visited Washington D. C. during his time with Western Electric, and would have met and worked with one or more of the people in this photo.
Odd to think I could, via relatives, have been introduced to these people.
This is my first ChristmasI see 26 men, 21 women and hundreds of possibilities.
Oh My GoodnessI had no idea it was so close to Christmas. We really need to finish the baking...
Old Friends From The OfficeAre like warm Gluehwein to heat the cold heart at Christmas.
Merry Christmas my Shorpyite friends and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially Dave who keeps all of us in memories. [updated]
Phyllis Diller"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
QuorumThis picture puts the "mass" back in Christmas.
Sturdy DesksI guess the nine guys head and shoulders above everyone else are standing on two or three of these desks. Curious as anyone about the office relationships and the lady sitting in front of the desk. My eighth year of wondering and guessing about this picture.
The scraggly looking treein the picture most probably was bought with donations from some of the people in this picture.
Older Shorpyites will no doubt remember the single set of lights on the tree. The lighting "outfit" was an inexpensive 8 light series set, with C-6 miniature based bulbs. When a bulb burned out, it was time to hunt for it with a good one...unscrewing every bulb in the set until it was found.
I remember helping my grandmother do just that. For some reason, the C-6 series set was always at the top of the tree. Grandma would get up on a stool, with me holding the good bulb, and switching it one by one until the set lit.
Wonderful times. Timeless memories.
What Are They ThinkingI've enjoyed this picture year after year, and like many who had suffered through office parties, I often thought what goes through their minds.
Click to enlarge.
Lady in the foregroundI've also wondered (several years in a row) about the lady with her back to the desk. The thing that really stands out to me, is her hair. As far as I can tell, she has her hair swept back in a bun, which is clearly very old-fashioned compared to all the bobbed and shingled ladies in the office.
I know this is a bit far-fetched but her clothes and hair suggest to me that she wasn't an office worker, as they give the impression of having less money to spend on herself. I wondered if maybe she was the office cleaner/ tea lady who was called in to be part of the photo?
It could explain why she seems a bit distant from all the others in the group.
It's here! It's here!The Shorpy Christmas Cheer office party picture is here! Smack dab in the middle of Prohibition, the gang at Western Electric make merry with two or three hundred stories or thoughts about what the heck was going on in their heads!
My favorite is the seductress "oil can" Sally with her bathtub-gin induced come-hither gaze!
Merry Christmas!
#UsTooI bet if those girls had a voice today there would be some explaining to do.
Night Before ChristmasWhen what to my wondering eyes should appear
but a company Christmas calendar, the same as last year.
Season's GreetingsThis is simply the greatest captured moment in the history of office photography!
Nothing puts me in the spirit like --this pic, a glass of egg nog and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on a loop! Merry Christmas all!!
The distant gazeAs fun as it is, I think we're way overthinking the motives of the 5 or so "looking away" women. Yes, even the comment-generating pair of the sultry one in the lower left corner and the one sitting to her left who appears to be staring her down. It was evidently fashionable for many decades for women to "look into the distance" for a portrait photograph, and I think that's all they're doing here. My theory is that this practice started as a way to prevent the "zombie eyes" effect of the exposure capturing the blink after the flash. My mother always did it, even when I implored her to look at my camera with everyone else.
That GirlIn the middle front, her hairdo reminds me of a poem my mother (b. 1915) used to recite:
There was a little girl who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
[Nursery rhyme by Longfellow. - Dave]
Every yearI feel sorrier than the year before for the one sitting on the floor with her back to the desk. She looks like she is just waiting for the party to be over so she can throw herself out the window.
Reminds me of "The Office"I can find the whole cast from Dunder-Mifflin -- Michael, Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute, Stanley, Kevin, Angela, and Phyllis.
Let's danceHey, did anyone remember to bring their Lasses White albums?
ClaireThis pretty gal looks exactly like my wife. I just printed out the image and am going to show her tonight.
Work or PleasureIs the machine on the desk at the right (above the In Box) a record player brought in? A radio? Or is it merely some office device like maybe a phone-related routing/switchboard machine?
Also, wingtips apparently were in style.
Sure SignOf the Season: this picture on Shorpy (Thanks, Dave) and "A Christmas Carol" on TCM. All the best to all wherever ye might be!
Ghosts of Christmas pastIt really is curious that we can scrutinize a picture like this every year and each time we notice something different that we did not notice before. This year, while observing enlarged close-ups of these people's faces, I see resemblances to many of my own acquaintances, friends and public figures and one can almost even determine the personality and attitude of each person. I think the young lady standing on the extreme left, second row, closest to the door, looks like a younger Martha Stewart. I also know that these happy holiday office parties are quickly disappearing due to the current lawsuits involving harassment, etc. so the people of my generation (old fossils) can move into the history books with them and just remember how it "used to be" and know it will never be again.
This festive group gets a prime spot in that chapter and exemplifies what it was like, for better or for worse. Party on kids, 'til the end of time.
The BossThe one sure thing about this photo is who the boss is, probably flanked by his second in command to his right.
Ion Dept. XmasI have followed this wonderful Xmas photo for years but have never commented, till now. I always wondered what I might say, since so much has been said. But what really made me start this year -- the thing I’d never really noticed before – the new thing! – is that guy (head) craning behind the Xmas tree. Compared with all the other people, he’s really only half there, penciled in, lacking in the vibrancy and heft of every other person. So I guess my comment is: Merry Xmas, Ion Tree guy! (And Merry Xmas to all my Shorpy sisters and brothers, and of course to our all-puissant but beneficent overlords, Dave and tterrace, who make this daily joy available to us all.)
[Or maybe Ion Guy is just tinseled in. - Dave]
Was the Electric Company a Communist Front?Psychodramas? How about it looks like Alger Hiss and Whitiker Chambers’ cousins were exchanging Christmas gifts in Washington in 1925. Alger’s stands to the left and Whitiker’s to the right—significant? Whitiker’s cousin looks like someone socked him on the forehead and Alger’s has a smile on his face.
[Ahem. Whittaker, not "Whitiker." - Dave]
That Temptress!All these folks saying they see something new each year -- nuts. I first laid eyes on the beauty behind the oil can, what -- a decade ago now? And she has had me in her spell ever since. It is now officially Christmas season for me.
I'm busy here!You Shorpyites who fantasize about folks from over 90 years ago -- How strange you are.
And all your blather is distracting me from my mission of saving the saintly Love of My Life whose shoulder had been latched onto by the Evil Witch with no opposable thumb ...
I must complete this pesky time machine before Christmas.
Holiday RomanceI see that its time to renew my holiday romance. Every year I fall in love with the young lady the farthest to the left. Brings warmth to my heart, of course, I don't dare tell my wife.
Season's Greetings!I look forward to this picture every year. I like that it's been a running thing here for so long, because I see it as a way to bind all us Shorpyites together. No matter where we live, how old we are, what we're doing in our lives, we can all stop here and comment on this picture, wishing everyone a wonderful holiday. Thank you, Dave, for providing that for us.
I wish all of you that read this a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2019 be the year you've been waiting for.
Hip FlasksEven the Bear won't tell, but, I am sure the oil can will.
1925! Prohibition! Almost every woman had one and, I am sure, that there may be a few here.
Maybe, that's why Gladys sitting with the Bear and oil can, is smiling knowingly?
Even the person who introduced Prohibition had a still in his basement.
"It was 93 years ago today" Happy Christmas, John! Happy Christmas, Yoko!...Esther, Mary, Eugenia, Mabel, Nellie, Ida, Clara, Edith, Winifred, Maude, Violet, Gladys, Daisy,Doris, Agatha, Gertrude, Elspeth, Velma, Thelma, Myrna, Hortence...
The LevelingTo paraphrase William Makepeace Thackeray "It was in the reign of President Calvin Coolidge, that the above-named personages lived and quarrelled ; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."
Most popular galMy favorite - Oil Can Sally - has three gag gifts displayed. That probably makes her the most popular woman in the office. In addition, her provocative smile suggests a hangover was in her future!
Still GOGO after all these yearsI love the bald guy just visible in the back row with the traffic signal "ballanced" perfectly on the top of his head. Very steady!
It sounds crazy... but I swear the bear moved a bit since last year.
That old gang is back!The Christmas Party Picture is back! I'd actually forgotten about it, so a quick check of Shorpy was the most welcome way to end my Friday. The week to come will reveal new snarks about these buddies of ours, and I look forward to that. Thank you, Shorpy!
Those EyesThe beauty sitting against the desk gets me every year. She looks exhausted.
My Favorite TraditionI don't post a lot of comments, but I check the site every day to see what's new and to read what *other* people have said. This is probably one of my favorite posts on this site because it's great to go back through the years of comments and read people's observations about the image, maybe see if someone has come up with something new. I hope we keep seeing this picture on the Friday before Christmas until the heat death of the universe. It would be a lovely constant.
Happy Holidays to everyone at Shorpy. I hope it's filled with love, contentment, and joy.
If you like this photo ...You loved the Shorpy.com postcard you just received!!!
When mine came in the mail, my wife said, "Do you know those people?"
OF COURSE I DO!!!
Find the BossI just love the way he stands there holding his cigar. You can almost hear him barking out orders in a very Edward G. Robinson-ish voice.
This reminds me of --That photo in "The Shining" of the 1921 New Year's Eve party at the Overlook Hotel. These folks will be back, again and again.
The timeless shorpy traditionEvery year when I see the office party pic, my eyes always wind up gazing into the sideways glance of that beauty in front of the desk.
I cant help imagining what the conversations of the day were, who brought a flask full of illegal libations, was jazz coming from a tube type radio, did everyone get a little Christmas bonus (it was the roaring 20's mind you), and who has a crush on who?
Dave, thanks for all you do. Shorpy is a constant in my day.
Be well everyone!
I guessed the right number of buttons in the jarMerry Christmas!
The Shorpy Ion Dept.A crazy thought occurred to me this year with respect to this beloved standard photograph: what if it were not the Ion Dept. from 1925 but the Shorpy regular contributors from 2019? Which one is Dave? Where is tterrace? And what about so many of the devoted Shorpsters (in no special order) – Jim Page, fanhead, TheGeezer, PhotoFan, Baxado, BethF, TimeAndAgainPhoto, Vintagetvs, OTY, Solo, Jeb70, switzarch, DaveA, JennyPennifer, rhhardin, pennsylvaniaproud, JohnHoward, kines, loujudson, lindab, Jano, StefanJ, jimmylee42, Hayslip, rivlax, Mattie, joemanning, Born40YearsTooLate, GarandFan, mountainrev, perpster, Dbell, Doubleclutchin, Root 66, KathyRo, archfan, GlenJay, alexinv, karenfryxell, Gooberpea, Angus J, 510Russ, Michael R, Brett, BillyB, bobzyerunkl, Alex, jsmakbkr, Marchbanks, Commishbob, Jimmy Longshanks, DoninVa, mgolden, Alonzo, Dag, Juan de la cruz, bobstothfang, Ice gang, Rute Boye, Vonderbees, Ad Orientem, MacKenzie Kavanaugh, JazzDad, Maniak Productions, EvenSteven, Doghouse Riley, John.Debold, Sewickley, Paul A, and jd taylor. And let’s not forget some of the people we haven’t seen for a while: stanton_square, aenthal, Mr Mel. (My apologies to those I have not listed.) Best of the season to you all, my fellow Shorpsters!
Who's WhoDavid K - Dave runs the joint, so he's the three piece with the cigar. TTerrace is his major player on this site, so he is the guy looking over Dave's left shoulder. Now we just need someone to post a picture with numbers, and we label them.
Maligayang Pasko all.
Re:Shorpy Ion Dept@davidk, I'm the one peeking from behind the Christmas tree.
I hope everyone in the Shorpy pantheon enjoys all the holidays!
Postcards From The EdgeWhen I got mine, I literally jumped for joy seeing the people that I love and cherish so much. Now I can look at them anytime throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
And, thank you to DAVIDK for the mention.
[@davidk, I would be the guy with the object upon his head]
Our own office partyI love seeing this photo every year and thanks to davidk for the guest book entries of our office. Top of the season everyone!
Still HereEvery time I see this picture I think that these people could have been my mom or dad.The time and ages represented are almost perfect. It reminds me of aunts and uncles and family friends who are long gone although I will never forget them. I just turned 80 years old this past July and can remember a lot of people who would have been right at home in this picture. Thank you davidk for including me in your list of people who have liked this picture in the past and a big Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace for maintaining the site.
This one never gets oldHow is it that an old picture never gets old? Every year, I always notice something new that I hadn't noticed before. This year it's the guy with the beard, hiding behind the tree.
Also, the woman just above and just to the left of the woman in the striped blouse (her left, that is) - could that be Johnny Depp's great-grandmother? I see a definite resemblance.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love itI love this photo. The expressions, the faces. Some of the women are quite attractive. The man with his hand draped across the shoulder of another man is interesting.
Office desk sultry beautyI wonder why the dark hair beauty is staring off to the side? Was she jilted? Was she sick of the many advances by the suited men, or despondent that the one she wanted got away. Why does the women in the RBG collar stare at her? Does she know what happened?
I love the captions from another commenter.
Michael ScottIf Michael Scott were the manager of this office, I wonder if he would have said (as he did 85 years later on the TV show), "Unbelievable. I do the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for these people and they freak-out. Well happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame."
Merry Christmas, Shorpy! And for the record, I don't consider this a lame birthday party, and I doubt Jesus would, either.
Bal MasqueNinety-five years later, if there even would be a party! With an added suspense -- what does Hermione look like, under that mask?
Socially DistantWould they have believed it had someone told them that in 95 years their photograph would be the highlight of 2020 for a group of remote observers?
Merry and BrightThis photo has become the official kickoff of the holidays for me.
Best wishes to all the Shorpy regulars and particularly those who keep this place running.
Neither here nor thereEach year my attention is drawn immediately to the three beauties at the bottom left of the photo: sultry beauty far left floor level, looking off to her right at someone/something off camera; the lady to that lady's left who seems to be watching her with deliberate intent; exquisite beauty just behind the desk corner, beheld with what appears to be fond regard by the lady just behind her to her left; and wholesome beauty smiling behind exquisite beauty, being kept tabs on by the lady in the Police Department helmet.
I do eventually get past these women, to study the remainder of visages and postures and wonder about the other long-dead revelers of both genders, but it is these six who take up most of my time each year as I wonder what might have been the complexities of the various relationships. And as always, I hope each one in the photo had a Merry Christmas that year and many years after. I know that the likelihood is slim to none that all lived long and were carefree throughout, but that's still what I wish for in this suspended moment that so many have celebrated for so long, thanks to Shorpy.
So a Merry Christmas to beloved Shorpy and its erudite, esteemed company of gazers no less fascinating than any who attended Office Xmas Party: 1925.
Thanks Again Dave and Merry ChristmasThanks again Dave, I've been waiting for it. Obviously, we all love this yearly Christmas "surprise". I enjoy everyone's take on this party I missed awhile back.
Questions, questionsEvery year I wonder.
What is that thing on the postal scale? A misplaced elf? A misshapen magus?
Why is that woman with the oil can looking at me? Am I safe?
And why is the Christmas tree so scrawny?
Merry Christmas Dave!And to all the crew at Shorpy! Thanks for the memories and keeping some of us sane in 2020!
What I want for ChristmasI don't care what it is, I want one.
[Update, thanks to all the gizmo identifiers. I love tape dispensers! Now I really want it!]
Nothing stops this partyOh, thank goodness the Shorpy party is still on! It's the only event the pandemic cannot cancel!
Judging youDon't know what got into her holiday spirit. Not too pleased with someone.
Re: tterrace What I want for ChristmasIt's a gummed tape dispenser, similar to this one:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-vintage-ornate-cast-iron-...
She of the averted gazeI know that we enjoy interpreting what is in - or not in - this photograph each year. However, eight people, including "she of the averted gaze" are looking in that direction, suggesting something was going on while the picture was taken, sufficient to distract. A further basis for interpretation and speculation, perhaps? Merry Christmas.
Only one bow tieAmong all those Windsor knots on the gents, third on upper right. In group after group they are always in the minority, even until today.
Going to a Go-GoNothing says Christmas like a Go-Go party hat.
That machineMay be a gummed tape applicator.
National Package Sealer model #206
Do they know?Do you think the two women wearing the exact same necklace (dripping pearls) suspect that it might have come from the same man? Are the pearls from the handsome young gentleman with the pen sticking out of his pocket? Is this an early version of "The Bachelor" that we are witnessing? Which one will he choose?
Austerity Christmas?From the Charlie Brown Christmas tree to the lack of any visible food or drinks (except for a few candy canes) to the blank, unimpressed looks on some faces, it looks like an Austerity Christmas in Anytown this year.
Well, Merry Christmas TermiteYou can probably still find one somewhere. It's an automatic wetter and cutter for wide, brown packing tape. You just mash down on the handle and it shoots out a measured length of wet sticky tape and cuts it when you release. There is a messy water reservoir up front. I used one in a shipping department in 1974.
Buddha Bear!Puts in his once a year appearance.
Merry Christmas to Dave & Ken & tterrace and all the naughty boys & girls at Shorpy!
Nice $-value todayThat horse that guy in front of Christmas tree is holding. All with bit of wear and patina collected in 95 years.
Another yearWe all get another year older and they stay the same.
Five groupsPart of the endless fun with this photo is deciding which part of it to center as the embiggened image on my screen. I fluctuate between the five main Ion Dept. groups: on the left, the ladies on the floor, the ladies standing, and the men standing above them, and on the right, the lower men and the upper men. (If I had to distinguish a special sub-group, it would be solo guy behind the tree and the fellow on the very far right who hovers between the upper and lower groups.) Once I have the group du jour embiggened, I focus on the individual characters. As we who have been doing this for years well know, that’s when the fun begins.
Might I take this opportunity to offer the best of the season to Dave and Ken and tterrace and all my fellow Shorpsters. In this extraordinary year of greater screen time than ever before, I find that my Shorpy screen time is even more intense and valuable, if such a thing is actually possible. Bless Shorpy, and bless you all.
Elbow to elbowEvery year I have a different response to this photograph, depending on general mood and the state of the world. This year, I truly envy those people. They get to stand together in a bunch, breathing one another’s air, touching each other casually, sharing food and drink, simply going in to work at an office. They all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Happy holidays to all the people who create and enjoy this wonderful website that gives me joy and perspective on a daily basis.
Re: Elbow to elbowI must concur. Having spent nine months wearing a mask, practically bathing in hand sanitizer every time I touch anything, and staying as far removed from people I don't live with as humanly possible, I'm jealous of these long-dead coworkers for being able to crowd together, enjoying one another's company in person, rather than over Zoom or FaceTime.
It's been a bad, bad year, there's no denying that, but Shorpy has been a bright spot in my day since January, much as I'm sure it's been for the rest of you. Happy Holidays to all the Shorpyites out there — may you find some contentment and peace in the face of all this tragedy and come out the other side hale and hearty.
That Time of Year AgainThrough the miracle of photography and our friends at Shorpy, we are able to visit this party again.
A Vintage CrumpleAfter all these annual viewings I finally noticed what looks like a lone crumpled piece of paper at lower right. We'll never know what was on it. Maybe a dig at one of these people? Or love note? Ah, the mysteries!
Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at once!Every year I wonder about the dark-haired smiling young woman third from the front, beside the desk. With her modern-looking bob, she looks like a Time Traveler, so that's what I've named her. (Not far away are The Maniac, Da Boss, and The Very Secret Lovers.) This photo, along with its subjects, never gets old, and I hope the Holiday Spirit that originally inspired it never does either. Happiest of Holidays to everybody who produces and sees Shorpy, and a New Year of peace, love, courage, and good health to all.
12 Years of ChristmasMerry Christmas Shorpy. Thanks for the memories.
[This is Shorpy's 14th Christmas! - Dave]
PerspectiveThey all lived through a plague of their own six years earlier, and they look fine now, so there’s hope.
Thanks, jdtaylor--I'm sure I'm not the only one who needed that perspective today.
Happy holidays to Dave and all the Shorpyites. This site has been a great distraction lately!
Time to Move OnI vote that next year you post the 1926 photo. Some of the lingering issues must have been resolved by then.
The X-mas Party Presents!And here you may have a look on how Christmas looked 100 years ago in the U.K. (including a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater).
Mysterious machineNow that the gummed tape dispenser has been identified, I hope someone will be able to reveal the secret of the machine on the desk behind the in-box. A perforator or a mimeograph machine perhaps?
[It's called a typewriter. - Dave]
Dead ringer, etc.At the very back and far left - the attractive woman 3 in - I have a friend who looks exactly like her but with a more modern hair style, but identical facial features. How eerie!
Something tells me that Oil Can Mary's wicked smile indicates that she is already planning what flapper attire she will wear at the local speakeasy that night. Her future toast might be: "My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!" Published in 1920. Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I often wonder what became of all these people. It is my hope that they all lived long, happy, prosperous lives but alas, as we know, life can be more complicated than that.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year you ghosts of Christmas past!
The only Christmas party I'll go to.Merry Christmas to Dave and the Shorpy Crew, as well as my fellow Shorpy followers. It appears that I've been around for 12.5 of the 14 years of Shorpy.com, though it seems like yesterday and DoninVa no longer lives in Va. There's always something to be found in a Shorpy photo: the young woman framed in the glass of the door is the doppelganger for someone I once worked with. Cheers!
Newcomer To The PartyAfter viewing Shorpy for some years now, I finally decided to join this party; I'm in awe of the many observations, and for now, am unable to come up with any new angles on this fascinating photo. I do want to say that the comments of jd taylor and BethF most definitely struck a chord with me; I, too, envy those in the photo, survivors of even greater trouble, coming as it did following The Great War. Hope to see you all back at the party next year, and a few other places along the way. May you all find peace and hopefully some joy this Christmas.
A Merry Christmas to You All!It's been a rough few years for me (family deaths, health issues), and my Internet usage dropped off considerably. I may have stopped commenting, but I never stopped reading, and I've looked forward to this photo every year for a long, long time. I'm glad that for all the things in flux in this world, the Shorpy Office Xmas Party remains the same.
I wish you and yours the very merriest and happiest of holiday seasons. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white. :-D
EerieWhy the rush?
[??? - Dave]
MassafornianWhat a great comment, thank you. I’ve never colorized, and I use Photoshop for barely 10% of what it can do, but I truly appreciated your insight into the process. More amazing is that you’ve named them all. Gosh, I’d love to know who the others are, in addition to Mary, Bobbie, Lulu, and Lila. And how honest to share with us your faves, Mary and Bobbie, made legit by your wife asking. I agree about Lila: trouble. Also the lady with the marcel wave in the purple dress and blue coat with fur fringe behind the bear and oilcan and house: you might think of her in off moments but you could never make it work. (What’s her name?) Thanks for explaining about Remini because I wondered how their teeth and various other features were so brilliant and precise. And don’t worry about the rouging: it raised the temperature on the whole event (and not just on the ladies – it’s perfect for that guy third from the left in the upper right, the older fellow with the red tie, who’s had too much to drink or is about to have a stroke or both). One more thing: I’d never really noticed that unsightly blotch on the forehead of the boss with the cigar – you did it full, gross justice. Again, great job, and thanks, man!
I'd like to be the first this yearSurely, it's not too soon for this Yuletide Jewel ...
The Oilcan Need an explanation for the purpose of the oil can at the party.
[It's not a party unless everyone is well-lubricated. - Dave]
Now the season is complete!I look forward to revisiting this every year. Thank you!
- Ken
Colorized versionI've been working off and on to colorize this wonderful image throughout the year. Here's the result. You can also find it here in high resolution:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.jpg
Merry Christmas!
[Bravo! - Dave]
Amazing colorization!@ Massafornian -- thanks so much for that epic job. It adds so much to an already incredible image. (Judging by your username, I suspect we are compatriots -- I was born in Massachusetts and live in California.)
Merry and BrightWith retirement, our lives have been simpler here so the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier. But it isn't *really* the season until the annual Shorpy office party. Happy Holidays to Dave and the regular contributors that make this place special.
BTW...it's kind of odd that I get older but none of the partygoers ever seem to. Must be something in the eggnog.
As We Seek Normalcy, This Pic Provides it!The last two pandemic driven years, makes most of us seek glimpses of normalcy. Having this Christmas tradition each year, having a peek into the office Christmas party, gives a moment of that peace. Knowing these, and their children, and their grandchildren...made it through the Great Depression, WWll, the Cold War, etc., etc., still, a moment frozen in time, gives a certain reassurance, that everything is going to be ok!
Merry Christmas, office party, as well as all the Shorpy members that crash the party each year!
Bravo, indeedWell done on the colorization, Massafornian. It adds a level of vibrancy to an already-lively photo of an intriguing bunch of people. I’m also surprised at some of the effects, for example the oft-commented-upon woman in the lower left, sitting against the desk, craning her neck for a beady glare offstage – the rouge on her cheeks and the lipstick blunt the ultra-crazy impression and make her look, dare I say, somewhat fetching. Thank you for your addition to this seasonal favourite. And best of the season to my fellow Shorpsters and to the toilers in the digital mines who bring us this much-loved website.
Everybody's back in the officeNobody's working from home and the party is ON! Happy holidays!
WFHAs we head into Covid Christmas #2, it again strikes me that these folks would have no idea what working from home would even mean. (Taking in sewing?) Here they are, in joyous proximity one to the other, while we are still asked to distance, mask up, etc. Their mingled exhalations, their casual touches, the humid density of their gathering – how I envy them. Well, we come here to dream and fantasize, don’t we? Happy holidays to my fellow dreamers and observers and to the hard-working trio who bring us the stuff that dreams are made of.
Up to good or no goodI am incredulous that I have never really noticed the girl at the far left of the photo, just in front of the door -- the last of the women. She is concealing something. Knowledge or intent, benevolent or nefarious ... no matter. Keep a weather eye on that one.
Egad! New versions!Shorpy Patreon members have been treated to a short, elegant--well, creepy--music video in Ken-Burns-goes-Edward Gorey style. And now a colorized photo with costumes straight out of Technicolor heaven. And in 2021 they all sneaked in to party on Saturday!
Old FriendsI've seen this picture so many times over the years at Christmas time on Shorpy that the faces have become like familiar old friends. I'm of the opinion that Christmas will never be the same for me unless I get to see this photo at least once during the Christmas season.
Girl At The Far LeftNo one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”
Time For A Rhyme...or TwoIt's Christmas Party time again, so back to yesteryear,
To faces from so long ago, we now hold somewhat dear
They lived through their pandemic, and now we've had our own
For some, it was an ordeal; of much more time alone,
Yet, gazing at these faces here shows us things will improve,
And then to next year's gala even more will gladly move!
A Merry Christmas to you all, here at this special time
I thank you all so very much for bearing with my rhymes,
May next year's party be the one our current trial's behind us
But our friends from 1925 will be there to remind us ...
A very special thanks to Massafornian for the superb colorization!
A bit more on the colorizationThe colorization was done by hand, for about an hour most every morning, when I had the spare time while listening to podcasts. I started in early January and completed it around April. I am sure that most Shorpians know that colorization is tedious, mostly due to the need to mask objects and details as much as possible, to distinguish them from other objects. (The Christmas tree with its fir needles and tinsel was a bit of a job). Automated colorization just doesn’t compare in quality to doing it by hand.
Each person is a smart layer in Photoshop that in turn contains many layers of isolated bits to colorize. The fun part was choosing the colors of people’s attire. Hopefully what I chose is close enough to what this cast of characters might’ve actually worn in 1925, but I won’t claim any historical research was performed for color accuracy.
I could easily spend the same amount of time on this image again, by further masking textures and smaller objects, and separating their colors. If anyone wants the original layered PSD to do more magic, you can have it here:
http://www.hearthworks.net/1925/1925_office_xmas_party_12.12.2021.psd.zi...
You have exactly one year to post the next refinement!
You might notice in the high resolution version that the faces are oddly higher resolution than the surrounding parts of the image. This is a bit of AI deployed on the faces, called Remini. Google it to learn more, but in a nutshell, Remini analyzes a face that is low resolution or blurry and magically reconstructs it in high resolution by drawing from a huge library of face components. Remini reassembles face components onto a map based on the original image. The process is hit-or-miss as far as how it can interpret low-quality image data. It was fun to apply it to this image one face at a time and integrate the rendered AI faces back into the master image.
I feel that I know all these characters in the photo intimately, having spent a lot of time on each one of them. I’ve given them all first names to distinguish the Photoshop layer names. My wife asks me which lady I might’ve fancied back in the day, and I think it’s a tie between ‘Mary’ (the blonde in front of the ‘504’ door wearing purple) and ‘Bobbie’ (third-to-the-right of ‘Lulu’, (the pixie by the desk), with brown hair, a green coat and blue dress, looking directly into the camera). Those two have nice, approachable personalities. I’m intrigued by ‘Lila’ (the mysterious lady on the floor in front of the desk), but she’s perhaps too brooding for 1925 Me to take on; and ‘Lulu’ is far too racy and trendy for my sensibilities.
I was born in 1963, so I imagined a lot of these people from 1925 as being my many older relatives who were a huge part of my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s. My grandmother was born in 1890 and her gaggle of five sisters had birth years that ranged between 1885 and 1902. Though elderly, they were all alive and vibrant for most of my childhood, and greatly influenced me.
I’ve been patiently waiting for this time of year when Dave publishes this wonderful photo, to submit my contribution. I think this version turned out pretty nice.
@ Born Too Late - my geographical fate is the opposite of yours: I started out in the Alameda, California and moved to Massachusetts some 20 years ago. Massachusetts is really a great place to live—weather be damned!
@ DavidK - Yes, ‘Lila’ did indeed turn out to be beautified by the AI software, Remini. In retrospect I think I got carried away with rouging people’s cheeks, but without it, the skin tones just seemed too flat.
Cheers,
—Massafornian
HUAAgreed, davidk ... most likely she's a downright dollbaby but there is a definite glint in her eye and you must admit she has a secret or two or ten. Maybe she's even got something on some of the other girls.
Not nefariousI’ve had my eye on that woman on the far left in front of the ION window for years, JennyPennifer. She has a touch of high color, and I really like that ringlet that has broken loose by her right eye. She seems mild yet ready for fun. Not naughty.
At this rateI'm thinking that by the 2025 centenary we should be ready for an animatronic enlivening of this ongoing party.
Cast of charactersAbsolutely outstanding job of colorization, Massafornian!
It really brings out details that were easy to overlook.
I see the Serbian Anarchist, peering out just to the right of the Big Boss with the cigar, and wonder what he's planning. And the guy hiding just below the life of the party, with the STOP/GO headgear - he looks like he's hiding something, for sure.
But is the Big Boss truly the Man? My money is on the distinguished looking silver haired gent at the top right, overlooking the affair with a cautious gaze ...
And, who really *is* the mustachioed guy to his left, glaring at the photographer?
Is he worried about this photo getting out? Does he appear on a Wanted poster??
Merry Thank YouBecause it's never Christmas until the Office Party and new Office Party Comments.
Office Stories@ DavidK - If you have Photoshop, try downloading the PSD and you’ll see their names in the layers palette. The oilcan lady I named ‘Janelle’ because she looks like my cousin who has that name. I believe ‘Janelle’ to be the well-regarded office trickster.
The aging lush in the top-right standing group of men is named ‘Redd’. Me thinks he’s barely evading his mortality this fine evening, and perhaps is about to fall off of whatever he’s perched upon, to be carried out to a waiting cab, muttering something about his childhood pet dog, Wilberforce. After his early departure his hip flask was found on the floor, where he fell. No one knows what happened to it, or its contents.
The leader of the pack is named ‘Boss’, for obvious reasons. My wife thinks that perhaps he has a familial connection to ‘Bertha’, the large lady in the red dress. Boss’s blotch is an expanding skin growth. By 1945, it will have grown over his face, poor fellow. Unfortunately, the portly Boss died of a heart attack in 1946 while un-crating his new supply of Consuegra cigars and munching on a donut.
I note in this photo that there is no evidence of food or drink, save the candy canes. So while we have conjectured on this post about the state of inebriation these people might be in, strong drink seems unlikely at this event, particularly in the age of prohibition these people find themselves in. (Redd is the exception, having brought his own supply of spirits.) The food might be in another part of the room, but the lack of it has me thinking that this event was a relatively brief gathering after work.
‘Lulu’, the office pixie, is only 19 years old. She is Boss’s niece. This makes her somewhat problematic for all concerned in the office, and something of a political figure. She’s not exactly incompetent at her job, but the office matriarch, ‘Ursula’ (sitting on the floor in the green dress) was grudgingly forced to hire her. Lulu got married to a Studebaker salesman in 1928, moved to Pasadena in 1930, and had 4 children. She died in 1988 in a car accident.
The thing about the brooding ‘Lila’ that no one knew was that she had a very wealthy aunt in New York City. In 1934 her aunt passed away, and Lila inherited nearly $3 million dollars in property and bonds. She moved to the Upper East Side in 1936, but never married. She lived to the age of 103, dying in 1998.
Here's a closeup of Lila:
Go-GoIs that something hanging from the wall or sitting on the man's head as a prank? Has it ever been commented on before? Though not shown, there has to be a portable Victrola and stack of jazz records somewhere for when the party gets hot! This was the height of the Charleston era and there are plenty of flappers present!
A White Elephant In The RoomMay explain the oil can, the Honey Bear, and all the other strange gifts.
I don't know how long the White Elephant Gift party has been around, but my wife and I just had one at our house.
That is one thing that I have been looking at all these years on Shorpy (the crazy gifts), and now realize the crazy gifts could be from the White Elephant in the room.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year to all my Shorpyite brothers and sisters.
(Thanks archfan. Good to know that it is still around after all these years)
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Colors!Kudos, Massafornian! At first I thought, hm, some of those dresses are awfully bright, but then I realized of course that for the office party some people always wear a “special” outfit. I doubt that woman in the red satin dress would have worn it any other day but it’s so Christmasy how could she resist!
Re: Go-GoVictrolaJazz asks if the mini traffic signal on the head of the man at the back, to the right of the tree, has been commented on before. Yes! Many times over the years, in fact. This would provide a fine opportunity to review the long and enjoyable string of comments where you will find the following: Going to a Go-Go (12/12/2020), Still GOGO after all these years (12/20/2019), Festive Dress (12/19/2015), Must have been a heck of a party (12/23/2014), No one seems to have noticed (12/14/2012), Office A-Go-Go (12/25/2010), Slow on the uptake (12/24/2010), Kimono-wearing parrot? (12/23/2010), I can’t find Don Draper (12/23/2010), Naughty Naughty (04/21/2009), Getting Oiled at the Office Xmas Party (12/15/2008), Dramatis Personae (12/15/2008), and, finally, A Story in every face (12/15/2008) which includes a Dave link to a Shorpy post with a real GO-GO traffic signal in it.
Time travel?Either Johnny Depp was the original Doctor Who time travelling as a woman or his mother was working Working for Western Electric that Christmas
A white elephant party?I hadn't thought of that and now I'm disappointed. For years I have been daydreaming about the oil can lady, the one with the unnervingly lascivious direct look.
Then I remember she'd be old enough to be my grandmother. Jeepers.
Grateful Holiday pome These people, alas, are all now dust.
But we on Shorpy surely must
visit them once more.
Cheer to all on Shorpy!
Sad or Stimulating, or a bit of both?Having been recently retired, with no more company Christmas parties to attend, I am faced with a conundrum.
Is it sad that the 1925 Christmas Party on Shorpy is now the Office Party I look forward to the most, or is it tantalizing that the faces and actions of these folks, now long gone, give all of us smiles nearly a century later?
Let this serve as a reminder to treat every moment as if that moment is also "frozen in time"!
Merry Christmas, Dave, and the entire Shorpy family!
MomObviously, this is another photo in the Shorpy Hall of Fame inaugural class, but the best thing about it for me is that it was likely taken when my mom was just a newborn, having come into this world on December 17, 1925. Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Heavenly 97th Birthday to my mom!
My how time fliesSeems like it was just a month or two ago when last Christmas flew by with this pic.
NobodyHas changed much from last year. Remarkable.
Gag Gifts?I look forward to this party every year, and I notice something new each December. It's occurred to me that everyone in the photo is holding some kind of small gift, and all of them look like "white elephants": a toy horse, an oil can, a little bear, a toy policeman's hat—perhaps it was a "Secret Santa" kind of gag gift swap, and each gift was appropriately unique to the receiver. The photograph makes every one of these people forever young, and I always wonder what happened to each one of them: all those life stories that we'll never know. (I hope they all got a Christmas bonus!) Happiest of Holidays—and a Happy, Healthy New Year—to every Shorpyite.
The finer detailsI’ve chosen to focus on some of the smaller, obscure points this year in my investigation of this beloved photo. The woman in the bobby hat towards the left? Go south to the hand of the woman in front of her, the hand on the shoulder of the woman in the light-colored dress: that hand looks disembodied and is therefore creepy. Person who looks most Photoshopped in? The woman to the immediate left of that hand, staring right into your soul. Stuff like that. The picture is positively filthy with wacky, kooky, scary little things.
Sober thoughtFourteen years of beautiful fascination. Wonder if some folks who commented earlier, by now "are with the people on the photo" too?
Go-Go indeedI just wanted to second the man at the back, being bald myself. Go Go, folks.
Christmas TreesIf nothing else, we have made great advances in Christmas tree technology.
Every year they look a bit youngerMeanwhile, every year I look less like my father and more like my grandfather.
Love the ones you're withThanks for the labor of love and commerce Shorpy is. Years ago this photo evoked for me speculations about what may have divided these office mates. Now what comes out of this photo is the love that is possible if only ... with enough time and enough patience and enough "having lived through" being absent from one another we arrive at a finality of cherishing "in spite of" or even "because of" the uniqueness we bring.
The big read 1925I wonder how many of them were concealing new books in their purses, briefcases, or desk drawers. It was an era of readers, and 1925 was a banner year. Here are some of the newly-printed titles waiting for them in bookstores:
Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Hemingway, In Our Time
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
Dreiser, An American Tragedy
Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
Cather, The Professor’s House
Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Milne, a Winnie the Pooh story at Christmas
Kafka, The Trial (if you read German)
Proust, Albertine Disparue (if you read French—though some of them may still be working through the 1922 translation of Swann’s Way).
By December, early subscribers could have accumulated ten months of the new “New Yorker.”
But let’s hope that they still had a few years to be blissfully unaware of Mein Kampf, published in Germany in July.
There's one in every office. Frank is holding up an equipment assignment sheet while calling (vainly) for the frivolity to end and a return to work. He will not succeed.
Group AnalysisObviously far too long a comment, but Shorpy is so inspirational. Still had fun thinking and writing, as well as viewing picture again.
I was wondering about the woman at the far left. She is showing a sideways glance, and nobody else in the picture has a sideways glance. A sideways glance can be a powerful indication of attention to a subject, like romantic attention or professional attention or just surprise, but in any case something out of the ordinary. Like here, it seems different, just that one woman.
Trying to analyze a sideways glance, there is the face angle (determined by the nose angle) and the eyes angle. For a sideways glance like this, the eyes are directly pointed at the subject, but the face is pointed elsewhere. Using a reasonably limited choice of angles (0, 15, 30, 45) and expressing angles as "eyes angle / face angle" (eyes come first, most expressive), then this mystery woman with the sideways glance could be a 0/30.
Directly below her on the floor is a 45/0 woman, and her eyes angle is the extreme opposite. Seems absolute difference between the two angles can show degree of interest or attention, not the amount of either angle. With any 45/0 difference then attention seems to be very much elsewhere. The 30/45 woman to her right apparently has her attention directed to the same subject, but not to the same degree, more a casual interest, just a difference of 15 between her angles.
And the next woman above is a 30/30, also looking in that direction, but no difference between her angles, no indication of interest or attention, just looking.
Also just looking, but now at the camera, are all the 0/0 men and women, no differences, the largest group. They seem to be posing conventionally for the picture, and there is no apparent sign of interest or attention (other than to the camera). The exact pose varies by individual, some are smiling more than others, but they are all 0/0's. Some 0/0's may be simple conformists, and others may be nonconformists bored stiff (they can still smile, for the camera), but you can't probably tell which is which from the picture.
The big boss on the right is a 0/0, and the men in line with him are mostly 0/0's too, diligently following his traditional example. Above him are three 45/45's, you may not be able to tell about attention or interest from a 45/45, no difference there, in that way like a 0/0. However they are definitely not posing for the camera in any conventional way, not following the big boss example, and probably not in line to succeed him. His successor would probably be a 0/0 closest to him.
We could also consider tilt angle of the head as a variable, but that's more difficult to determine, because it varies with perspective, further away or closer to the camera. Also could consider extent of smiles, but that also difficult to determine. Eyes angle and face angle (nose angle) should be easier.
These angle measurements are probably useful only in a posed office photo, like this one. In a family photo 0/0's can be visibly full of emotion. And in real life anyone can look at you straight on, a 0/0, with amazement or fury or love or anything else. So angles won't help much in real life, although a sideways glance can still show interest and then create reciprocal interest, even mutual interest.
Mistletoe and High Voltage for all the women!I love how the ladies' hair has that "Bride of Frankenstein" look ... creepy yet sexy. It reminds me to get the yule log out.
ZoomThat was a quick year.
Another Year Gone ByBeen seeing this annually for a long time now, am I the first to comment ?? Anyways all these souls, their troubles and happy days are behind them and now are just dust in the wind … enjoy yourselves as we will be dust too! Merry Christmas
My Newest Favorite Christmas Tradition!I have gotten to the point of looking so forward to this party each year, it has indeed become one of my favorite Christmas traditions! LOL
For most of those attending the party, they are indeed, "living life!" That is so valuable, the ability to live life. On a personal note, I am learning that this year, having lost my precious wife in March, to Dementia. As iamjanicemarie well noted, all of these, are now just "dust in the wind."
Which makes me wonder, in what order did they pass? Did some in the picture in 1925 not survive till the party in 1926? Who was the last to go, and in what year? In the hundreds of comments, some pointing out actual things, others just speculating ... we can learn one lesson.
Live Life Fully Every Day. Who knows, a hundred years from now, you may still be having an effect on someone who you never even met!
Merry Christmas, Shorpy family!
What's up with the gals?Are they wearing kryptonite jewelry?
Old friendsI never get tired of this party and these coworkers. The job, yeah, I'm sick of it, but the people make it all worthwhile. I feel like I've known them forever.
Welcome Back, Dear 1925 Office Party Friends. . . and all Shorpy friends, too!
I look forward to seeing this wonderful photo every year. These folks never age, unlike the rest of us. I find this reassuring: life goes on, as it did for the office partiers whose lives continued through the Depression, WWII, and possibly even on to the 1990s. I always wonder who they were and what happened to them.
Here's to a Happy Holiday season and a peaceful 2024.
Seems Like Old TimesNice to see familiar faces, even though I never met them. However much they aged after this photograph, we'll never know, so just once each year, it's 1925 again.
StableThis firm has a very stable workforce. Every year, it's the same folks in the Christmas photo.
Macabre variationAlthough certainly macabre, I do like the door that iamjanicemarie tentatively opened and that HarahanTim swung fully open. In what order did these people pass? The annual response to this photo has definitely taken a curious turn, but I’m glad to chime in.
First to go, I believe, was Boss Man with the cigar, the very next morning, in the wee hours. He’s clearly in bad physical shape, a massive coronary waiting to happen. And it wasn’t the fault of one of those young ladies sitting on the floor that it happened in her bed. It was a different time when office and sexual politics were vile, and everyone was drunk.
Last to go was Heather on the far left in back, framed by the glass of the door. She’s only 23 in the photo, and she lived right into the next century, dying at 102 in 2004. She had moved back to Ohio, and on her last day was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even one of her great-great-grandchildren. They all loved her very much.
It's finally Christmas ...... when this bunch show up. I checked; they're all there. Proceed to celebrate. Merry Christmas, everyone xoxo
In the officeIt's hard to imagine this bunch "working from home". The dynamic would be lost with a "Zoom" holiday party.
Fire ExtinguisherJust behind the gentleman with the "GO" signal on his head it looks like there is a classic soda/acid fire extinguisher that I noticed for the first time today. Conveniently located next to what appears to be a rather combustible tree. Season's Greetings to Dave, tterrace and the whole Shorpy gang.
Well, having had time to ponderabout these folk for a good decade since discovering Shorpy, I have come to a tentative yet preliminary assessment.
The only woman with no apparent makeup and yet the most beautiful features is the lady sitting on the floor at bottom left. Really in a class of her own in this crowd with those almond eyes and high cheekbones, yet with hair and dressed a bit out of date, but still sporting brand new shoes judging by their soles. How they got her to sit on the dirty floor for the pic is beyond me.
In any case, the photographer has just given her a huge suggestive wink, and she's snapped her head to the right in response, looking faintly amused / bemused, no doubt used to the unwanted male gaze. The woman second to her left is staring at her, annoyed that Gloria (for that is her name) has caught the roving eye of the photographer instead of her -- the body language is obvious. The flapper two to the left of Ms Envious is giving the photographer a bit of a come-on with her lopsided grin -- she has sussed out his game.
Mr Fatlips the boss is terminally near-sighted but for photos and thus posterity takes his glasses off when posing, as one can see. What he looks like with them on is a subject for a horror movie.
The rest of the crowd barring a few are to a greater or lesser degree tipsy on smuggled-in booze, it being Temperance Time, er, prohibited drinkees time in America
I'll have an update in future when other things become more clear to me from my favorite Shorpy image.
Merry Xmas to all!
Finger WavesThe blond and brunette whose backs are against the door and doorjamb, respectively, look modern. The other modern looking girl is two rows in front of them, also a brunette. These three look timeless. The other women either still have long hair wrapped up some way or they have those awful finger waves that look like ridges in their hair. None of the girls that have finger waves have benefitted from that style. It does not flatter any face shape, it just looks weird and kind of Bride of Frankensteinish.
The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why.
Holiday Party Fun (2023)Dear Shorpy folks and friends of the site.
This year I used this very photo to make a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE game at our work Christmas party.
Each of the participants had 20 minutes to spot all 19 differences. I used Photoshop and AI to make the changes to the photo and we all had so much fun with it.
If you would like me to post that image here, you may have fun too! Let me know Dave!
Also, we have some new friends that might be joining us on this site as they were fascinated by all the expressions of this 1925 party. I did inform them of the site and URL.
Merry Christmas everyone
What is on the hand of the number 2 guy next to the boss?There is something on his pointer finger and thumb. Could these be some type of grippers for leaving through papers? Could it be he was working until they forced him to come get his picture taken? He is clearly annoyed to be there. Maybe he is plotting to have the boss removed so he can be in charge?
Half a MillionI expect that the number of reads for Office Xmas Party will pass 500,000 shortly. Is this a record number of reads for a Shorpy photo?
[Office Xmas Party holds the No. 2 spot. Shorpy's most popular post is ... Lady in the Water, with over 640,000 reads. And at No. 3 is The Beaver Letter. - Dave]
Merry Christmas to all Shorpians!May your holidays be merry and bright. A special Merry Christmas to Dave and tterrace who keep this very special website going. And to all pictured from that office party held nearly 100 years ago, a Merry Heavenly Christmas to all!
ONE MORE TIMEAfter passing this photo around for everyone to look and laugh at, it was probably hung on the wall for a time, then taken to someone's home and put away in a chest and forgotten ... perhaps copies were made.
But how would these people feel if they knew that almost a half million people have studied it?
Also those desks have been in their current positions for a very long time, the floor below them new and pristine.
[This was not a casual snapshot -- the National Photo Company was primarily a news service. Its photographs appeared in newspapers, advertisements and publicity material. This particular image might have been used for Western Electric's in-house newsletter or a company Christmas card. - Dave]
Thank ya Dave for clearing that up.
Meet some of the boys ...Introducing ...
Charles S. Barker, District Superintendent: "With the right personnel and a good organization, you can do anything in telephony"
E.N. Searles, Division Superintendent
J.E. Grant, R.D. Dick, and...
Walter W. Lodding, Division Accountant
... with an invitation to Christmas at the Loddings':
This image was featured in the December 1926 issue of the Western Electric News with the title: "YOUTH AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT" and caption: "Santa Claus did right by this little lad the son of W.W. Lodding of the Installation Division 11 Headquarters"
Looking daggers?Susanhumeston wondered, "The blond miss sitting on the floor is looking daggers at the moody looking woman sitting against the desk. I will always wonder why."
I have always been intrigued by that interaction. Pretty much come to the conclusion that three of the ladies were diverted by something off set to the left. One (Charlotte) clearly annoyed, one (Lila) merely taking it in, and one (Gwen) mildly amused.
NamesMarkJo - nice job finding the real names!
I'm fascinated by the different names and nicknames in all the posts. Then I scroll to 12/23/21; alex_shorpy did a great job labeling everyone. Or go further back to 12/22/19 and see davidk's comment.
I also don't look at these folks as having turned into dust. Every year they come alive in the imaginations of many readers.
Maligayang Pasko to all.
Well, what else?Say, we don't view the full size for a micro-study. What we see is the "pyramid" of working stiffs that retracted into one side of the office against the forceful advance of upper management group. Sharp diagonal dividing line was disturbed somewhat at the bottom, by the lady and gent behind her.
There he is!Every year I look forward to seeing dear old Mr. Hilter at the top of the picture looking so skeptical!
"Mildred, what did you do with my flask"?This party was during the TEETH of prohibition too! The REAL fun will come later.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Christmas, Natl Photo, The Office)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/32246u.thumbnail.jpg "Office Xmas Party: 1925")
- Carnival Ride From Hell: 1911
- ... South Pittston, Pennsylvania. "A view of the Pennsylvania Breaker. 'Breaker boys' remove rocks and other debris from the coal by hand as it passes beneath ... Posted by Dave - 06/24/2021 - 11:31pm -
![January 1911. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. "A view of the Pennsylvania Breaker. 'Breaker boys' remove rocks and other debris from the coal by hand as it passes beneath them. The dust is so dense at times as to obscure the view and penetrates the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
From the 1906 book The Bitter Cry of the Children by labor reformer John Spargo:
Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous. Crouched over the chutes, the boys sit hour after hour, picking out the pieces of slate and other refuse from the coal as it rushes past to the washers. From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men. When a boy has been working for some time and begins to get round-shouldered, his fellows say that “He’s got his boy to carry round wherever he goes.”
The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and miners’ consumption.
I once stood in a breaker for half an hour and tried to do the work a 12-year-old boy was doing day after day, for 10 hours at a stretch, for 60 cents a day. The gloom of the breaker appalled me. Outside the sun shone brightly, the air was pellucid, and the birds sang in chorus with the trees and the rivers. Within the breaker there was blackness, clouds of deadly dust enfolded everything, the harsh, grinding roar of the machinery and the ceaseless rushing of coal through the chutes filled the ears. I tried to pick out the pieces of slate from the hurrying stream of coal, often missing them; my hands were bruised and cut in a few minutes; I was covered from head to foot with coal dust, and for many hours afterwards I was expectorating some of the small particles of anthracite I had swallowed.
I could not do that work and live, but there were boys of 10 and 12 years of age doing it for 50 and 60 cents a day. Some of them had never been inside of a school; few of them could read a child’s primer. True, some of them attended the night schools, but after working 10 hours in the breaker the educational results from attending school were practically nil. “We goes fer a good time, an’ we keeps de guys wot’s dere hoppin’ all de time,” said little Owen Jones, whose work I had been trying to do.
From the breakers the boys graduate to the mine depths, where they become door tenders, switch boys, or mule drivers. Here, far below the surface, work is still more dangerous. At 14 or 15 the boys assume the same risks as the men, and are surrounded by the same perils. Nor is it in Pennsylvania only that these conditions exist. In the bituminous mines of West Virginia, boys of 9 or 10 are frequently employed. I met one little fellow 10 years old in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, last year, who was employed as a “trap boy.” Think of what it means to be a trap boy at 10 years of age. It means to sit alone in a dark mine passage hour after hour, with no human soul near; to see no living creature except the mules as they pass with their loads, or a rat or two seeking to share one’s meal; to stand in water or mud that covers the ankles, chilled to the marrow by the cold draughts that rush in when you open the trap door for the mules to pass through; to work for 14 hours — waiting — opening and shutting a door — then waiting again for 60 cents; to reach the surface when all is wrapped in the mantle of night, and to fall to the earth exhausted and have to be carried away to the nearest “shack” to be revived before it is possible to walk to the farther shack called “home.”
Boys 12 years of age may be legally employed in the mines of West Virginia, by day or by night, and for as many hours as the employers care to make them toil or their bodies will stand the strain. Where the disregard of child life is such that this may be done openly and with legal sanction, it is easy to believe what miners have again and again told me — that there are hundreds of little boys of 9 and 10 years of age employed in the coal mines of this state.
-- John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of the Children (New York: Macmillan, 1906)
A little researchOne little search on google answers the question of if this is still allowed to exist.
http://hrw.org/children/labor.htm
Think Outside the USIt may not be happening here, in the US of A but that doesn't mean it isn't happening...
http://hrw.org/children/labor.htm
how trueI agree totally with the previous comment. But serious, this is a fantastic photo-- how incredible that this was (and probably still is) allowed to exist!
Breaker BoysThere haven't been any kids in American coal mines since the child labor laws were passed around 80 years ago. Plus of course coal-sorting is automated and done by machines now.
Breaking..The little boy in the center of the photo looks to be about my son's age. Thinking about my son living that life tears me up. I can't fathom what it would be like to send your child off to that, much less having to work it.
That dangerous line of work made for some amazing photos, and some serious thought...
This picture has me wondering..I realize that children had to work hard to survive back then, but even my generation had to help our parents as soon as we were able to. Aren't we now raising a bunch of lazy kids that will never grow up. First you worked when you turned 6, then 9 or 10. It's getting so that we are letting children stay children way too long today, and parents are spoiling them to the point that often they are still living at home as adults. There has to be a happy medium here somewhere. I expect that in coming years we will still be taking care of our "children" well into their twenties! Don't get me wrong, my heart breaks to see these tiny children in these photos having to do the things they did to survive!
Required School SubjectPerhaps a required course about child labor should be taught in schools. Maybe today's children would gain an appreciation of what they have rather than lamenting what they do not have.
Children staying children....Quote "...we are letting children stay children way too long today, ....." Unquote.
Pray tell....at what age should a child cease to be a child?
BK
Canberra
Children staying children...At what age should a child cease to be a child? That's easy. The answer in America is 18. If you're old enough to go to war or vote, you're an adult and it's time to get with it.
I started working part time (with a work permit) at 15, and my father made it clear I had to be self sufficient or in college at 18, after graduating high school. It worked out pretty well, and I think that vast bulk of children today would benefit from a few deadlines.
Children staying children....I remember my US Marine son saying "I'm old enough to vote and to die for my country, but I can't legally drink a beer." He was age 20 when he said this.
Coal Miner's DollarThis may be a foolish question, but where did the boys put the rocks and debris they retrieved? Was there some kind of separate "trash" channel within the chute? Did they just toss it somewhere to the side?
The text description of the work is chilling. And these children endured this hellhole for less than Loretta Lynn's "miner's dollar" - 60-70 cents a day.
Maybe not in Americabut people who aren't Americans are still human beings, right? Still people with souls and hearts and, as Neil Gaiman wrote, entire lives inside every one of them.
And we all tend to think of them as lesser beings, or their troubles as less important to us, because they were born on the other side of an artificial border.
Mine Owners BurdenDo you believe that any of the folks who profited from the work of these children every set foot in one of these mines? Do you believe THEIR children ever had to even lift a finger to get whatever they needed or wanted ? Just the same old story, the elites living on the backs of the majority. Don't think it isn't going on right now, and that it couldn't happen here if the moneyed elite (left and right) could just get their way! Ah, the good old days!
[Yes, they did set foot on the premises. They also provided a livelihood for the thousands of people who chose to work there. - Dave]
What beyond bare subsistence is a livelihood?Directed to Dave's response to "Mine Owner's Burden":
Perhaps the owners did set foot in the mines, perhaps they did support "the thousands who chose to work there"; but what choice did many of these kids have? Many were either orphaned or born into families without the means to survive if their children did not go to work in the mines. The fact is that the mine owners DID NOT pay a wage that allowed for the families to live above poverty level, even with their sons working beginning work at age 7 or so.
[As Lewis Hine documented in his report to the National Child Labor Committee, hardly any of these children were orphans (back when orphans were usually committed to orphanages). Most of them came from two-parent households that, as Hine took pains to point out, didn't need the extra income. And there were other employment opportunities for boys their age -- work in agriculture, fabric mills, markets, etc. - Dave]
From Bad to WorseJust when I thought Tobacco Tim had it bad, Shorpy's comes up with this. Unfortunately I'm quite sure that things have been even worse for some kids.
Something to ponderBehind every "endowment for the arts", "trusts" that built museums and public venues and all originating from the money made in that era there are proverbial hunched shoulders of the boys as on the photo.
AirI feel honored to join a line of comments that stretches back over 14 years to the time of the original posting of this photo. This is a piteous sight indeed, these children performing appalling work in such cramped and hunched-over positions. The text by Spargo documents the numerous horrible features of the job, not the least of which was the dust in the air. Which makes me wonder: couldn’t the overlords at least have opened that window? Sure, it was January, but wouldn’t the chill have been worth it for the sake of fresh air?
Constant reminderI live in Northeast Pennsylvania not far from old coal breakers, plus the mountains of culm and coal waste. I was told that the probably the hundreds of thousands tons of this stuff was picked by boys just like these.
110 years laterThis photo is heartbreaking. However, it struck me that today a group of children would have the same posture - all bent over their phones. That is heartbreaking, too, in a different way.
Gramps Survived ThisMy granddaddy (1891-1969) was a breaker boy in Pennsylvania. He had to help support a large family. I remember hearing that he got $2 a week and a box of groceries. Then he went off to Europe and fought in WWI in France. He must've been a tough guy but never showed it. He lived a long life but finally black lung disease and a heart attack did him in.
(The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Mining)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/SHORPY-05473u.thumbnail.jpg "Carnival Ride From Hell: 1911")
- Breaker Boys: 1900
- Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boys, Woodward coal mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... this work in Pennsylvania alone in 1900. These pics of "breaker boys" always get to me, especially learning on Shorpy more of what ... Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 7:20pm -
- Breaker Boys: 1900
- Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... interviews to form a sort of composite biography of these breaker boys, who sorted coal after it came out of the mine. Worked, got ... Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:15pm -
- Breaker Boys: 1911
- January 1911. "Group of boys working in No. 9 Breaker. Pennsylvania Coal Co., Hughestown Borough, ... most certainly shortened their lives.
What's a breaker boy, you ask? I didn't know, so I looked it up.
Breaker boys ... Posted by Dave - 06/24/2021 - 11:20am -
- Breaker Boys: 1911
- January 1911. Breaker boys in #9 Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Company mine at Hughestown Borough near Pittston. ... Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 6:59pm -
- Ewen Breaker: 1911
- Noon hour in the Ewen Breaker, Pennsylvania Coal Co., South Pittston. January 1911. Spooky full image. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
"Breaker boys," or slate pickers, sat astride the breaker chutes, through which the ... Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 3:23pm -
- Breaker Boys: 1911
- January 1911. South Pittston, Pa. "Breaker boys working in Ewen Breaker of Pennsylvania Coal Co." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full ... Posted by Dave - 09/21/2012 - 10:28pm -
- No. 9 Breaker: 1911
- January 1911. Boys working in the #9 breaker of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. mine at Hughestown ... let anyone ever call them... the good old days. These boys would have grown up just enough by 1917 to get sent off to France and ... Posted by Dave - 12/10/2007 - 3:10pm -
- Great-Grandpa was a PA coal miner
- ... Has anyone else noticed the 3 or 4 very young men, boys really, in the picture?
My great grandfathers too My ... father, Patrick McCue, born in the 1870's, worked as a breaker boy starting when he was 9. He was orphaned that year.
Please ... Taylor. I think my great grandfather started working Pyne Breaker in Taylor and my aunts at the Economy Silk mill in Taylor.
Coal ... Posted by gmr2048 - 02/01/2008 - 1:18pm -
![Miners from near Hazleton, PA. Exact year unknown (probably early 1900s). My great-grandfather is the bottom-left miner. View full size.
Great photo! Where isGreat photo! Where is Hazleton?? My Gr. Granpa and Granpa were from "Six Mile Run". Also miners. don't think they are in your photo, but really looked. Gayle
[The caption says Hazleton is in Pennsylvania (as opposed to Hazelton, in West Virginia). Google Maps shows it near Scranton. - Dave]
PA CoalminersMy great-grandfather (a Lithuanian immigrant) was also a coal miner in the Hazleton area right around dthis same time frame. I'd love to know more about the people in the picture, or at least your great-grandfather.
PA CoalminersI just happened to stumble onto this site and boy, the memories are flooding! My grandfather and greatgrandfather were both minors from Hazleton. Both are long gone but I still travel from Connecticut to Hazleton on a regular basis to visit family there. We have 5 generations going there.
PA CoalminersI too had a grandfather and greatgrandfather from Hazleton who were coalminers. They came from Czechoslovakia around 1910. I still make trips from CT to PA to visit family there.
PA Coal MinersMy grandfather came from Poland and also worked in the mines in Hazleton, PA. I seem to remember the family saying it was the highest point in Pennsylvania. I had relatives who lived both in Freeland and Highland not far from Hazleton. - Chris
PA coal minersHazleton, PA is in the "hard coal" or anthracite region of PA mining country. I grew up in Windber, in southwestern PA, in the "soft coal", or bituminous region. My uncle worked in the mine. I remember the "strike breakers" going to work, and more than that, I remember the BIG men with BIG guns who prevented anyone from interfering. I was about 5 or 6 yrs old. I still have a dear friend who lives there. (We are octogenarians). Has anyone else noticed the 3 or 4 very young men, boys really, in the picture?
My great grandfathers tooMy great-grandfathers both worked as coal miners in northeast PA, not sure if it was Hazleton or another town though. One was from Poland and the other was from Romania.
Pa. CoalminersMy great grandfather. grandfather, and great uncles were all coalminers in western Pa. One great uncle was killed in a cave in in 1927. Back then mining was done with picks and shovels and work was sporadic at best.
Mines in BelgiumI had too a grandfather and others in my great grandfamily who were miners here in Frameries - Borinage - Belgium.
Some of them and many other coworkers and friends died in the many coal mines installed in Borinage in the 19th and half part of the 20th century.
They worked hard and live wasn't very pleasant everyday.
A link to the last mine in Borinage closed in 1961, now a museum.
http://www.pass.be/index.jsp
Other links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frameries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borinage
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borinage
http://www.google.be/search?hl=fr&q=borinage+mines&btnG=Rechercher&meta=
PA CoalminersMy grandfather and great grandfather were coal miners in NE Pa (Plymouth, near Wilkes-Barre, which is of course near Hazleton). They were of Irish descent, and lived very hard lives. My great-grandfather lived in a home owned by the coal company, as did most of his time, and died in a mine collapse in 1895. His son lived into his late forties, and succumbed to 'black lung'. Fortunately, the family line continued and are all living much healthier and longer lives, some of them still in the NE Pa region.
coal dust in our veinsAlthough no one in my family was a miner, I am from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvcania and grew up with the consciousness of coal. I recall vivdly being a very small girl in the early 50s and hearing every morning on the radio the announcements of which mines wouild be working, and which, idle. Presumably, if the mine didn't work, you didn't get paid. Mining was the only economy of the area, and when the mines finally closed, the Wyoming Valley -- probably never ever a real boomtown, certainly never for the miners--sank into depression from which it has never recovered.
Our house was heated with coal; the truck would come periodically and empty its load into the chute. I would take the dark, hard crystals that had spilled in the driveway and try to draw on the sidewalk with them. As the 60s and 70s wore on, obituaries in the paper were filled with notices of old, and not so old, men who had succombed to anthracosis--black lung--the miner's scourge.
The men in the mines were taken ruthless adventage of by mine owners, who exploited them and offered them shacks to live in which, even into the 60s, had no indoor plumbing. I would like to recognize all of the souls who worked so hard for so little, many of whom met their deaths deep underground. Benetah those smudged faces were proud and hardy men.
Plymouth PA CoalminersMy Mother was born and raised in Plymouth, moving away in 1936-37. Her Father, and other relatives were miners. I'd like to hear from others with similiar backgrounds from the area. I still drive thru Plymouth a couple times a year. bb1300@aol.com
coal miner's granddaughterGreetings from another NE PA native. My great-grandfather, great-uncles and grandfather all worked in the coal mines of northern Schuylkill County. Other relatives worked in the factories, foundries and mills in the area. This part of the country was also the birthplace of the American labor movement and I am proud to say I'm a union member.
Does Anyone Have?My mother told me that we had an ancestor who was killed at one of the Southwestern PA coal mines in the early 20th century. Where might I find a list of those who lost their lives in the PA coal mines long ago? Please contact me at pje6431@hotmail.com. Thanks.
PA CoalminersMy step-grandfather was also a miner in Western PA in the period 1910-1920?? I don't know if it was Hazelton. His name was Dominick Demark or Demarco. He and my grandmother and my father came from Canada, but my father and grandmother were originally from Chaleroi, Belgium.
Hazleton, PA CoalminersMy great-grandfather and great-uncle worked as coal miners in Hazleton, PA. Both were born in Kohanovce, Slovakia. Great-grandfather, George Remeta, immigrated around 1892. How would I find which mine he might have worked in? I keep thinking I might be looking at a picture of him and never know it! Also, does anyone know if payroll records or employee records exist?
Mine near HazeltonThe Eckley Mining Village is located near Hazelton and Freeland PA. It is an interesting village and informative as well. Some of the homes are still lived in but when the occupants die the homes belong to the village. Well worth a visit. There are some names available and the museum and churches are very good.
Dot
Great-grandpa was a PA coal minerGreat photo...my grandfather was too a Lithuanian immigrant and worked in the mines in Scranton Pa. I cherish the stories my mom told me of her father during that time. I once took a tour of the Lackawanna Mines..it was an experience I will never forget. My hats off to our forefathers!
grandpa worked in the mines.My grandfather worked in the mines in the Hazleton area also, he kept journals, the year 1946 he speaks about working in tunnel 26 and such....hard life.
HazletonHazleton is in east central PA, near Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Wilkes Barre and Scranton. Upstate, as my grandparents called it. They were from Welsh coal miner stock and were born near/in Hazleton. These are hard, anthracite coal mines that had been worked heavily since the first railroads went through in the 1840s.
mining accidentMy great grandfather was killed in a mining accident at Highland #2 colliery in Luzerne Co. PA on 2/13/1888. Would anyone know how I could get a newspaper article/obit/any info available on this accident????
Anthracite mining recordsI don't think they are available online, but the Pennsylvania Archives has microfilm of old PA mine accident records http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/Coal%20Resources.htm
I'm pretty sure the coal region county historical society libraries have them too.
Re: Mining accidentTry newspaperarchive.com. What was your great-grandfather's name?
anthracite mining recordsFound some online. They even have 1888. Try here:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~paluzern/mines.htm
Throop Coal Mine Disaster of 1911I see you are from Scranton. I am from Pittston. I put together a booklet on the Throop (Pancoast) mine disaster. I included a few Scranton Mine accidents. If interested the booklet sells for $12. I will pay postage.
Jim Bussacco
1124 Main St.
Pittston Pa email bing1124.1@netzero.com
Anthracite coal miningI always like logging onto your site. My father and three brothers were coal miners in the Pittston region. I worked as an outside laborer in the tipple of a mine. In 1943, I left the mine to go into the US Navy. When I returned after the war. I worked in strippings.
Pittston was the greatest town in anthracite mining and had plenty of accidents. The last being the Knox mine disaster in 1959. I wrote a book about coal mining in Pittston, including most of the major disasters. I also have a great collection of coal mine pictures, including the Knox Mine Disaster.
I hope more people with coal mine connections log in your site,
Thank you
Jim Bussacco bing1124.1@netzero.com
PrepselsLooking for info on Prepsels, late 1800s early 1900's. My grandfather Raymond Prepsel (spelled Prepsal on some papers) came from Austria/Hungary to work the mines in the Hazelton area. On his certificate of competency issued by the Miners' Examining Board of the Fifth District of Luz. Co., Pa. dated July 16, 1898, his name is spelled Bribsel. He resided in Deringer in Luzerine [Luzerne?] County. My great-grandfather Paul was also living in the area and in Lost Creek, Pennsylvania. I'm doing my family tree and hope someone who reads this can help me. I only know that Elizabeth Prepsel (Raymond's sister ) married a Leo Witkowski and lived in Lost Creek. I'll keep checking back on this site.
This is the names of the people who signed his competency certificate are Anthony Reilly, Isaac Williams and William Dinko.
My Great Grandfather is in the photo too!John Yuhasz, the tall gent in the back row, fifth from the right (including the boy) is my great grandfather. He migrated from Hungary to work in the mines. He built a home on Goodman Street in Throop by the ball field just before he was killed in the accident. His wife never remarried, but his son, my grandfather Louis, worked in the mines until he was in his early 30's, then moved to Detroit, where he worked for Packard Motor Cars. My mother has this photo too. Louis passed away in 1994 at the age of 87, but he still had his carbide lamp.
My Great-Grandfather was a Coal Miner too!He lived near the Hazleton area and actually died in a mine collapse in 1928. I have tried to find records of this mine explosion, but all I can find is a list of mine explosions, and there was one where 10 men died in Parsons, Pa. There was no article attached. I'm thinking that might have been the one where he died. According to family stories, he died during a rescue attempt. Anyway, on the upper right hand corner of this picture is a young man standing in the background who has a strong resemblance to some of the pictures I have of my Great-Grandfather. I would love to be able to find out if that was him.
Looking for CoalAnyone know where I can order/buy a sample of anthracite?
Mine AccidentGo to www.nytimes.com, and do an archive search for the 1851 to 1980 archives. Put WILKES BARRE MINE in the search box, and confine your search to May 25, 1928 to May 31, 1928. You will come up with three articles about the Parsons mine disaster. However, you will only be able to see the headlines. If you can find a public or college library that has ProQuest, which gives you free online access to the NY Times, you can read and print these articles. Good luck! Joe Manning, Lewis Hine Project.
Johnny DeVeraMy dear father passed away one week ago. he and my mother are both from Pittston. PA. while going through his things, we came upon a story about a coal miner who never wanted his 11 year old son to follow in his footsteps, but rather wanted him to find a new life. Unfortunately, as the story goes, he found a new life, only to return to the old and meet his death. it is a two page story. beautifully written. my grandfather was a great writer. the story has no author. we are trying to locate the author. could be my father too. we wonder if this is a true story, regarding the outlaw, Johnny DeVera, the son of a coal miner in PA
Hazleton, PennsylvaniaHazleton is near where the Luzerne, Carbon, and Schuylkill County lines meet. It is about 28 miles South or Southeast of Wilkes-Barre.
PA Lithuanian Coal MinersMy grandfather was a Lithuanian miner sometime before 1960. He lived in Pittston. I'd like to find out more about the Lithuanian miners and their families.
Pancoast mine disasterMy grandfather (Joseph Urbanowich) and perhaps his father worked the Pancoast mine .. I was wondering if your information includes the names of the 72 people who perished in the disaster. My grandfather was only 12 at the time, and I cannot find any information about his father. My grandfather was Lithuanian, lived on Bellman Street in Throop (Dickson City) in 1917 .. and then a couple of other places in Dickson City. I vaguely remember him saying something about being born around Wyoming Pa as well .. In any case, I'm interested in your booklet .. do you take paypal ??
Belgian minersDoes anyone have information on Max Romaine or Alex Small from Primrose Pa.? Alex was my grandfather and Max my great uncle. We are trying to build a family tree and don't have much information on the Romaine part of the family. I know for sure Alex worked in the mine for 50 years and helped get benefits for black lung. I believe Max was also a miner.
Throop PAI was just reading your reply regarding your greatgrandfather being in the photo. i was born and raised in Throop and both of my grandfathers worked at the pancoast mine and also my wifes grandfather. Do you have any other names of people in the photo? I hae a lot of info regading Throop and can be contacted at sandsroad1@hotmail.com. thanks
Anthracite coalYou're asking about a chunk of anthracite coal. I can sell you a 5 or 6 pound piece for $5 plus postage. I live in Pittston.
Jim Bussacco
bing1124.1@netzero.com
River ferries & PA coal minesMy grandfather ran a river ferry at Frank, Pennsylvania, also called Scott Haven (name of the post office). The name of the coal mine was different and I have forgotten what it is. I would like to know if anyone knows where this place is today. I have pictures of the ferry and the school. Granddad moved the family in about 1920 to Crooksville, Ohio to a dairy farm. The mine either closed or was a strike and he had a family to keep. Any help is appreciated.
Judy
Langsford PAI am also interested in confirming a Lithuanian miner of No. 9 mine in Langsford, PA. Any help would be appreciated. Michael Lucas or Lukas or Lukasewicz. Thanks!
Lance Lucas
Amherst, MA
Scott HavenScott Haven is on the Youghigheny River south of McKeesport.Coal mines in this area were Shaner,Guffy and Banning.Many other small independent mines.There is not much left in Scott Haven now.I'm not sure there is even a post office left.
Knox mine disasterMy grandfather was the last one pulled out. Next Jan 22 is there any talk of a get together?
Hazleton MinesMy great grandparents Stephen and Mary Dusick came to this country in 1888 from Spisska Nova Ves in Slovakia. They knew the place as Iglo Spisska Austria. They had a one year old son also named Stephen. My great grandfather and my grandfather worked in the mines. On the 1900 census I learned that my father, a 13 year old boy, was working as a slate picker.
Perhaps George Remeta or his children knew my family. :)My grandfathers 1917 draft registration gives the name of the mine but I find it hard to read. Looks like Pzeda Bros. & Co Lattisonee Mines PA. I know I'm not close but maybe someone will recognize a few letters.
correction: Lattimer Mines is place where my grandfather workedAfter doing more research I now know the place was Lattimer Mines but I still cannot read _____ Bros. & Co ____
Lattimer Mines and Mine RecordsPardee Brothers and Co. Ario (Ariovistus) Pardee was patriach of one of the three prominent families (Markle and Coxe Families are the others)who first developed the mines in the Hazleton Area also known as The Eastern Middle Anthracite Field. Pardee operated the Lattimer Mines where my great grandfather worked and where my grandmother was born.
For those looking for mining records, look for the Annual Report of the Inspector of Mines. These reports cover PA's anthracite and bituminous mining districts from 1870 to present. The reports from 1870 to 1920 or so are particularly detailed. If you had an ancestor who was killed or injured in an accident, his name, age, and a description of the incident will be included. You can find some years for some districts online at rootsweb. Otherwise if you know the area where they worked, the local library may have copies. If not the State Library and PA Geologic Survey Library in Harrisburg have the complete set.
Lansford PAIt's Lansford, not Langsford. The No. 9 mine is now a tourist attraction. It also has a museum which has lots of history and photos.
WOW!Wow! I haven't been back to Shorpy for a while now, and it's cool to see that this photo has sparked such a discussion!
I'll take a look at my original scan when I get home tonight and see if there is any other info on the back of the image. I scanned both front and back. (The original photois in the possession of my Uncle). As I remember it, tho, the only person identified is my great-great grandfather. I'll post back if I find anything else interesting.
Your grandfather John YuhaszDo you know the names of the other miners in the photo? I'm still looking for information on my great grandfather, George Remetta and his son, also George, who were coal miners in Hazleton or Freeland during that time. Also, what was the name of the mine?
Stephen and Mary DusickIf you could let us know the exact name of the mine it would help! Not sure if my great grandfather, George Remetta, knew your relatives. If there were Slovak Lutherans, there is a great chance they knew each other. My great grandparents attended Sts. Peter and Paul Slovak Lutheran church in Freeland. Church records are available through LDS Family centers and are complete although they are written in Slovak! Let me know...I'll be checking back with this site from time to time!
Deb Remetta
DusickThe 1900 census just says that my great grandfather worked in a local mine. Doesn't help. They were Roman Catholic as far as I know. My grandfather's 1917 draft registration form gives more clues. He worked in the Lattimer mines and lived on 992 Peace Street Hazleton.
When my great grandfather was 60 in the 1920 census he said he worked with a timber gang. Does anyone know what that was? My grandfather worked as a slate picker when he was 13. Those poor young boys.
John McGarveyMy grandfather died in a cave-in in 1887, before my father was born in late November 1887. Name John McGarvey. wmcgarvey@tampabay.rr.com
Great-GranddadMy great-grandfather John Davies was a coal miner from Milnesville. I believe he's in this photo, bottom right hand corner, second from the right. He came to the U.S. from Wales between 1880 & 1895.
Hello from WindberHello from Windber, Pa. I am writing stories at the present for our new quarterly historical newsletter for the Windber Area Musuem, it is being mailed out to museum members as a thank you for their support, membership is only $5 per yr, if interested in receiving it. Your story of remembering the guns, etc. is one of the few I have heard from someone who actually still remembers that period of time in Windber's coal strikes., etc. If you have any photos, or a story of interest, small or big, memories, etc. that I could put in our newsletter I would be happy to receive it. Also if you happen to have served in the military service we are planning to honor the men and woman from this area by having their photos and service records displayed during the month of July in the museum. thank you for your interest in our endeavor. Patricia M. Shaffer, dstubbles5@aol.com
No. 9 MineMike Lukas was my grandfather from Lansford, Pa., and worked in the No. 9 mine until it closed in 1972.
- Mike Futchko
badkarmahunter@yahoo.com
No 6 mine LansfordI am looking for any info on # 6 mine in Lansford. My grandfather was a miner there and suffered a massive stroke in the mine. PLEASE if you have any info or pictures of this mine, PLEASE contact me papasgirl@verizon.net. Thank you very much.
Lithuanian Miner George NeceskasMy grandfather George Neceskas was a miner in Scranton PA at the Marvin Mine. (His Army discharge papers list his name as George Netetsky). Some of his relatives still live in Scranton, although I am not personally acquainted with any of them. None of us ever went down in the mines after he did. He had 4 children. 3 of those 4 had a total of 6 children (including my brother and I) and those 6 children had a total of 8 children. 2 of those 8 children have 2 children each. None of those 4 bear his last name anymore, although there are still some Neceskases living in New England now. Only his children spoke Lithuanian. None of his other descendants were taught the language.
Pa. MinersHi! My family (from Plymouth) were all coal miners. They were McCues, Burnses and Keefes, from Carver Street and Vine Street and Shawnee Avenue. My Uncle Fritz (Francis Keefe) was blown up in a mining accident in the 1950's, and nearly killed, but left with a green freckled face on the left side.
The early relatives were Hugh McCue and Peter Burns from Ireland. County Cork and County Downs. Do you know anything of that? My mother's father, Patrick McCue, born in the 1870's, worked as a breaker boy starting when he was 9. He was orphaned that year.
Please respond to Turkeyfether@aol.com
Thanks, Kathy
My great great grandfather My great great grandfather worked in the PA coal mines. He died in 1906 in Scranton when he failed to heed his helper's warnings to not go back and relight the fuse. He was 46. I have his obituary and death certificate. He suffered a crushed hand, fractured skull and a fractured radius and died from shock. There were reports that his eyeball fell out but I'm not sure. His wife had a ride to the hospital but did not have a ride back so she had to walk 15 miles back home to tell my great grandfather and his siblings that their dad had died. So, my great grandfather and his younger brother started working in the mines when they were 11 and 10, respectively. He was born in Switzerland and only spoke German at home. He's buried in Forest Home Cemetery in Taylor. I think my great grandfather started working Pyne Breaker in Taylor and my aunts at the Economy Silk mill in Taylor.
Coal miners in the 1920 CensusI'm researching family in VA and WV. I found in a 1920 census in column 13 (normally for year of immigration) the letters BWF and sometimes MH and these men were coal miners. Can anyone tell me what the initials stand for? I'm aware of the UMWA, a union. Could they be the initials of the company name of the mine? Also the birth state has USW above the state name. Am I on the right track? Thanks for any help.
Carol Caf1b2h@cox.net
[Googling those initials gives this answer: The census abbreviation BwF means boy living with father; MH means a miner is the head of the household. - Dave]
Two Lithuanian GGF's were Coal MinersOne was naturalized in 1892. He lived in Scranton, Nanticoke or Sheatown at various times.
I suspect he was brought over as "Contract Labor". That was the story from Grandfather, supposedly it was a German firm. Anyone know the names of the companies that did this sort of thing, in those days?
Does anyone understand what the immigration process was at that time? I'm trying to work backwards from the Naturalization to establish the year he came over.
His last name was Lastauskas (which morphed into Lastowski).
Underwood CollieryI am looking for pictures, information, families that have relatives that lived in Underwood Village near Scranton that are interested in sharing photos, etc. My grandfather was a mine superintendent there until they tore the village down. Thanks.
[How are people supposed to get in touch with you? - Dave]
Underwood Connection?I recently found a photo of breaker boys on a site called "100 Photographs that Changed the World" by LIFE. My grandfather and G. Grandfather worked in the mines in PA and W.V. The 4th boy from the left, in the front row I believe is my grandfather. If you took my nephew, put him in those clothes, and smeared coal dust on his face, you would not be able to tell them apart. Even the way he stands to the look on his face (we call that the Underwood scowl, my dad had it, my son has it, and my granddaughter has it.
In researching the picture, it was breaker boys from South Pittson, PA. If any one has any information on Clyde or Fred Underwood, I would be excited to hear from you at: kenginlaz@comcast.net.
Thanks!
Mining disaster 1911I live in the uk and have two family members with a date of death/ burial 13/5/1911. Can you tell me where I could find a list of miners killed in Throop disaster in 1911. My email is caroleh1@hotmail.com
Mining disaster infoI would recommend contacting the following for starters:
http://www.pioneertunnel.com/home.shtml
After that, try the Pennsylvania Archives at:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=2887&&leve...
One other area is the Luzerne County website.
http://www.luzernecounty.org/living/history_of_luzerne_county
These people are an excellent resource at the Osterhout Library:
http://www.osterhout.lib.pa.us/
Last but not least. Go here first:
http://www.luzernecounty.com/links2.htm
I do not think you will be too successful in your quest. I hope I have been somewhat helpful to you and not caused too much confusion.
Good luck.
Williams Coal MinerMy great-grandfather and great-uncle both died in a coal mining explosion near Scranton. I am not sure where though. My dad says it was before he was born, prior to 1928. He thinks it was in Taylor, PA. Anyone have any info on Williams? rcanfield4@yahoo.com
Davis miners of Schuylkill Co. PAMy David ancestors were all coal miners from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. John Davis, my great-great-great grandfather, came from Wales as a small child. He married Ann Hanna and died in 1902. One of their sons, David David Davis [??] (my great-great grandfather), and Charles Garfield Davis (great grandfather) were miners. I don't know if at any point they spelled or changed their name from Davies to Davis. But there were so many Davis and Davies miners during that time. This was such a huge family with so many children from each generation and I know there were other John Davis'/Davies in the family. Do you have any further info about the family I could research and maybe help? Please email me, froggy3538@msn.com
Lithuanians in the PA minesMy great grandfather and great-grandmother worked in the Scranton mines during the early 1990s [1890s? - Dave]. My grandmother was born in Scranton in 1915.I am interested in finding more info especially documentation of their existence. Their names were August and Anna Palukis. Have you found any similar info?
My email address in barthra@utrc.utc.com
Thanks
Bob Barth from CT.
Taylor Borough Mine Disaster 1907I now have more information regarding when and where my Great GF and Great Uncle were killed. It was the Holden Mine in Taylor Borough, PA. Any information would be great!
rcanfield4@yahoo.com
dot2lee@yahoo.com
Hazelton MinesMy mother's father, Conrad Sandrock, worked the mines around Hazelton most of his life. They lived in a small town just out side of Hazelton called Hollywood. There were strip mines across the road when I was young (1950s and '60s). I always love looking at the pictures on this site and wondering if my grandfather worked with any of these men. I know I have never worked a day in my life that would compare to one day in these mines. I take my hat off to all the men who fed their families do this kind of work. Would love to see the average kid nowadays try that.
G-Grandfather Lithuanian coal miner in Hazleton.Apparently my Lithuanian G-Grandfather was a coal miner in Hazleton, PA around 1900-1915. Haven't been able to find out much more information than that. Anyone know where I can find census records, by chance?
Information pleaseMy great-grandfather immigrated from Hungary to work the coal mines at Derringer and Tomhicken circa 1887. I welcome any information you may have about how they were recruited, how they were transported from the port of entry to Tomhicken.
The Pennsylvania Historical society record of Lucerne County said miners paid for a plot of land to bury their loved ones. My great-grandparents lost three of their children and I would like to locate where they are buried. Also I am interested in knowing if their deaths were recorded by the State of Pennsylvania or some other agency (Town, County) that existed at the time.
Finally, I want to know of any stories that were written about the life that they and their families endured during this time.
Please contact me at mtkotsay@gmail.com
Thank you very much.
[Your great-grandparents -- what were their names? - Dave]
Taylor, PA, Coal Miner RelativesMy mother's family is from Taylor where her father, George Zigmont was a coal miner. They lived in a neighborhood called "The Patch." The houses were built on top of the mineshafts while they were digging the coal out underneath. Years later the abandoned shafts started caving in and the houses became unstable. The entire community was condemned and the homeowners forced to move.
My grandfather, his daughter, my great-aunt (who owned Rudy's Bar at the top of 4th Street) and her daughter were among those who had to give up their homes and got virtually nothing for their property or houses. I believe this was in the 1960s or possibly early '70s.
George's father, Anthony Zigmont, immigrated from Austria/Poland in 1893 and settled in Taylor. How did these immigrants wind up in Taylor from Ellis Island? Did someone direct them there? Did they already have relatives in the area? Was there a group who immigrated from the motherland and settled together in Taylor? If so, does anyone know where in Austria/Poland they came from?
Slovakia, miners fromOne looks like my grandfather. Second row down on left in white shirt and tie. Mikula is last name. He came to PA mines after death of his father in mine accident. Also Mikula. GF left mines to work in auto plant in Detroit.
Greenwood Colliery & drifts behind Birney Plaza, Pa.Information received.
Immigrant coal minersMy grandfather immigrated from Slovakia and worked the coal mines in Coaldale, Pennsylvania. Does anyone know what year this might have been?
My great-grandfatherMy great-grandfather was also a coal miner for Moffat Mines. His place of employment was near Taylor in Lackawanna County. I recently retraced his steps and wrote about it here. What a challenging life they led.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Mining)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/miners.thumbnail.jpg "Great-Grandpa was a PA coal miner")
- Carboniferous: 1900
- Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boys at Woodward coal breaker." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. ... Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 4:26pm -
![Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boys at Woodward coal breaker." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Look out for that 14th step, boysIf they only had OSHA back then.
How did this happen?. . . without Lewis Hine there to tell them not to smile?
Hat RackApologies if you've covered this on an earlier mining photo, but what are the tools attached to their hats? Kind of an interesting place to put them, though I guess it might get in the way less than a hip holster or something.
[Those are lamps. - Dave]
Love the kid in about the middle of the picture with the dramatic, magazine cover model, hand-on-hip pose!
Paper routes would be betterBreaker boys sometimes had their fingers amputated by the rapidly moving conveyor belts. Others lost feet, hands, arms, and legs as they moved among the machinery and became caught under conveyor belts or in gears. Many were crushed to death, their bodies retrieved from the gears of the machinery by supervisors only at the end of the working day. Others were caught in the rush of coal, and crushed to death or smothered.
All those impish looking boysand not one set of rabbit ears rising behind someone's head. I'm amazed.
Seriously, that had to be a hard life for these kids.
Boys they were!How did the grizzled old-timer (middle of fourth row from the front) feel about being a "breaker boy," surrounded by youths who weren't even shaving yet?
It's difficult to tell what age this grown man is. Did the boys think of him as just an old, played-out loser, or as a man of experience and wisdom? Or did they see their own future in his face?
DreadI dreaded walking into school every morning of my youth. Imagine having to walk up that narrow flight of stairs into that coal breaker every morning. Scary.
A Seaof faces, some hard some soft, some friendly some fearsome, all dirty.
A Different Take on the Old Guy From Wikipedia: "Although breaker boys were primarily children, elderly coal miners who could no longer work in the mines because of age, disease, or accident were also sometimes employed as breaker boys."
His face is pretty clean, so perhaps he was a supervisor. There are a few other older "breaker boys" in the photo, such as the mustachioed gent next to the old guy. Wonder if they were injured miners, or just desperate for work.
The Old GuyI suspect the old guy was not a breaker boy but a supervisor. Judging by his demeanor I bet he didn't take any guff from any of the boys.
Re Hat Rack Cap lamps are almost probably carbide lamps. Carbide chunks are put in a tight container, a little spit is added, gas forms, a lit match is touched to a small hole and POUF, you can see well enough to dig coal down where the sun never shines. My father, who became a miner at age 12 in 1915, said in the winter months he never saw the sun six days out of seven, going to work when it was dark and coming home in the dark. Years later we used carbide lamps during raccoon hunts. Carbide gas also made a nice explosion if you were to, let's say, add some wet carbide to a paper bag full of cotton waste in, oh, say, the alley behind your grandmother's house in Chicago. drop a match or sparkler on it and run like the wind while you got your pre-teen face to look innocent again. I'm just saying.
Here is my grandfather's (name misspelled; I doubt if he spoke much English so I guess that was close enough) coal mining license from 1899, size greatly reduced, issued, as you see, in Plymouth, Pa., about three miles from Kingston. I've cropped the sides into the text in order to maintain some readability within the 490 pix allowance. My dad's brother Joe was killed at age 20 in a mine by falling rock, a very common accident. I wonder if they knew Shorpy?
MeaningPuts a whole different spin on the phrase "wasted youth," doesn't it. These lads had no youth to speak of.
The Good Old DaysYes, the socio-political conditions which allowed employment like this to happen are exactly the type of conditions America needs today, yes sir.
CaplampsThe caps on these young men have oil wick lamps on them. Carbide lights were just coming on the market and did not become popular with miners, even minor miners, for a few years. I still use carbide for caving and collect the caplamps. A little history of mining lights here.
(The Gallery, DPC, Mining)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a07284a.thumbnail.jpg "Carboniferous: 1900")
- Company Men: 1911
- January 1911. Pittston, Pennsylvania. "Four Breaker Boys working in #9 Breaker, Hughestown Borough, Pennsylvania Coal Company. Boy ... Posted by Dave - 07/19/2017 - 3:49pm -
- Working Lunch: 1900
- Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boy, Woodward coal mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... spragger or some other job inside the mine.
[Breaker boys worked in the breaker . -Dave]
Shiny things again Ah, ... Posted by Dave - 08/20/2012 - 3:19pm -
![Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900. "Breaker boy, Woodward coal mines." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Generous lunch breakTen minutes and all you can eat.
Cold RealityThere's nothing like this photo to give me a much-needed slap in the face when I start to complain about things. We all need to stop complaining, and be grateful that we Shorpsters aren't living this sort of life nowadays.
BuddiesDid this kid know Shorpy?
Lunch pailsHave you seen any on Ebay? Bet they would go for a pretty good price.
Lone wolfA previous Shorpy pic was shot at the same location and probably the same lunch break.
Illuminate meNot sure why a breaker boy would have an oil lamp on his hat. Didn't they work outside the mine in daylight? I'd guess he was a nipper or spragger or some other job inside the mine.
[Breaker boys worked in the breaker. -Dave]
Shiny things againAh, here we have a close view of the shiny things that had flummoxed me earlier. Now the question is, what's the round structure on the top? Other examples of early lunch pails I've located online have cups with handles attached like that, but these here are all much shallower.
Shiny thingsSince tterrace was flummoxed (I love that word!) I decided to see if I could google around and find anything similar. I say thats a miners lunch pail, even if the "cup" is quite shallow. Just like this one:
Poster BoyThank you for this great photograph! It made me think how much these kids suffered to make our day. They're actually our great-grandparents, who built our civilization on their backbones. So, I decided to honor them, most still unknown heroes, with this motivational poster:
(The Gallery, DPC, Mining)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/4a16386a.thumbnail.jpg "Working Lunch: 1900")
- Candy Factory Kids: 1913
- ... full size.
The Chocolate Factory How many of the boys here were named Charlie?
"Robbed of their childhood?" ...
Like a kid in a... If I had to pick between being a breaker boy in a coal mine, and running a "chocolate machine" - I'm pretty sure ... Posted by Dave - 11/03/2009 - 5:45pm -
![October 1913. Dallas, Texas. "A few of the young workers in Hughes Brothers Candy Factory, South Ervay Street. I counted five going and coming at night and at noon, that appeared to be from 12 to 15 years old. One girl told me that she is 13 years old, 'but we have to tell them we're 15. I run a chocolate machine.' " Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
The Chocolate FactoryHow many of the boys here were named Charlie?
"Robbed of their childhood?""Robbed of their childhood"? Spare me. Childhood today consists of a pampered, entitled existence, devoid of imagination, cluttered with electronic entertainment devices and other brain-deadening paraphernalia, their days filled with pre-planned, adult-supervised "activities" (youth sports, play dates, etc.), their parents reduced to holding their breaths for 21 years or so, hoping their kids come out the other end without being completely screwed up or over-diagnosed with some sort of "syndrome", and at least reasonably capable of actually living on their own without Mommy and Daddy sending them a check every other week. The youngsters depicted in many of these photographs grew up with notions of responsibility, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency that seem almost quaint in today's world. God bless them!
Like a kid in a...If I had to pick between being a breaker boy in a coal mine, and running a "chocolate machine" - I'm pretty sure which one I'd pick.
Some conditions for child labor were admittedly awful. I think its a bit of a stretch to melodramatically delare that all their childhoods were entirely robbed, though. Kids have always worked, until very recently. Why do you think farm families had 6+ kids? And farm work is consistently one of the most dangerous working environments there is.
If this is really Deep Ellum, there will be a tattoo parlor just out of frame.
Workin' kidsWhen I was a kid, I had a paper route, worked in fields and any other job I could find. Still had time to be a kid too. I would wonder how many hours a day the kids worked and whether they were afforded time for school work. I sure agree that today's kids are pampered too much. I try to keep my 11 year old daughter busy with daily jobs around the house, but she still has lots of time to do kid things too.
Oh Wow!A kid, working in a candy factory. How lucky can you get? When I was a kid I worked in a chicken house shoveling you know what.
Another timeLife was hard for our working class ancestors. Mom kept house with little money and cared for the small children. Often she took in other people's laundry and mending to make some money. Dad worked six days a week for low pay as a farm worker or factory laborer. Those families needed the income from their children's labor on the farm or in the factories to survive.
Historic buildingThe Hughes Brothers building is south of downtown Dallas in the Cedars, which was a Jewish neighborhood around 100 years ago, next to Old City Park, where several historic buildings have been relocated, including the Millermore mansion. The factory is said to have produced "the first African-American soda pop."
Today"Robbed of their childhood" would be letting them sit in front of a game console, television or computer.
Working KidI spent my first 27 years of life working on a dairy farm. At 5, I had daily chores. At 11 years old, I was tall enough to reach the clutch on the Case tractor and was put to work in the fields operating heavy machinery. At 14 I drove the farm truck to and from the fields (what a great non emissioned 350 V8 that truck had!). I ended up just fine even though I worked most of my childhood. Work at an early age teaches responsibility and a good work ethic.
How sadAll these photos showing child workers makes me think how terribly sad on how all these children were thoroughly robbed of their entire childhood.
Where were all the adults? Taking a perpetual siesta? I know it was a totally different era and different culture, but still!
["Robbed of their childhood"? Oh brother. - Dave]
Hasn't Changed MuchThe Hughes building is still standing in Dallas and the loading dock at the back of the building looks much the same.
View Larger Map
Spare Me.Right, all of us worked, and are just fine. None of us were alive in 1913. I suspect most of us are baby-boomers. So none of us can speak with much authority of how things were at the time this photo was taken.
We're not talking about working for your dad on the farm, or picking up an early paper route before school. I know that gives us the warm fuzzies.
We're talking about six days a week, backbreaking labor, which these children were forced by economic circumstances to undertake. Apples and oranges, people, apples and oranges.
[Work in a fabric mill (and, I would imagine, the candy factory) was not exactly "backbreaking." - Dave]
Not exactly "backbreaking"?I'm curious, Dave. What are you thoughts on child labor laws? It appears from your frequent comments on the matter that you feel that children should be allowed to work from the time they can walk, and not only should we be able to force them to work, but we should be able to force them to work around dangerous machinery, and, Yes, be robbed of their childhoods (oh, the horror!, says Dave). What an unbelievably deranged point of view you have. Do you actually believe that these children had a marvelous existence? If so, you're deluding yourself.
Did you ever wonder why so many of these photographs of this era showed nothing but grinding poverty? It wasn't because the photographers were trying to earn their keep by finding sensational subjects. It was because it was so damn easy to find. Use your head: these kids weren't having fun working in candy factory. You can sugar coat it all you want (ha ha), but child labor was nothing but a disgrace. And child labor laws were a godsend to generations of children.
I'm not expecting this comment to be published, but I sure as hell hope that you read it. One has to wonder, what do you have against kids? Kid loses his arm in a thresher? Apparently, you wouldn't have a problem with that: kids gotta work, and that's what happens. Your attitude is nothing short of sickening.
[Evidently the pills aren't working. - Dave]
Child labor my a--My fondest memories as a "child" are not of hanging around the neighborhood with nothing to do, bored out of my face, but of the summers spent working on a farm. Hard work? Yes. Rewarding? Very. Great pay? Back then, I was able to stretch it out the entire year until harvest started up again. Oh, and at 12 I was able to reach the clutch.
Nuff SaidGranted that in many families during the era it was imperative for children to work in order for the families to survive, since no government handouts were available. Child labor laws came into being because of the long working hours and, in many places, horrid and unsafe working conditions. The long hours prevented many children from obtaining anything close to literacy and doomed them to a lifetime of poverty and manual labor. Fortunately, and as many posters have already said, the grueling labor suffered by these children resulted in them becoming resilient, responsible, and able to persevere in the face of future hardships....but at what cost.
(The Gallery, Factories, Lewis Hine)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/04903u.thumbnail.jpg "Candy Factory Kids: 1913")
- Slice of Life: 1912
- ... photos with my 3rd grade students (Lowell Mill girls, breaker boys, doffers etc.), I can't tell you how over-whelmed I was to see that my ... Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 6:32pm -
![August 1912. Another picture of little Annie Fedele, 22 Horace Street, Somerville, Massachusetts, doing piecework, which usually entailed putting the finishing touches (buttons, or collar and waistband trim) on a mostly completed article of clothing. The garment manufacturers paid a few cents for each piece that was done. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
CleanlinessI'm just curious as to why the home is not clean. In a previous picture, it shows her in the kitchen which needed to be cleaned. My grandparents came from Europe, were extremely poor, but did keep their home and children clean. I'm sure water was available to this family. Any thoughts?
[Why do you say the kitchen needs to be cleaned? It is clean. It's a wood plank floor. - Dave]
Wow, A Real Optical Illusion!I had to stare at this photo for about two minutes before I was finally able to make out the head of a girl looking downwards. With the help of the cracks in the print, you've got to admit that at a cursory glance, there is a resemblance to the head of a giant schnauzer, looking directly into the camera, especially when not blown to its full size. This really gets one thinking about all the different variables that famous picture of the Loch Ness monster might possibly be.
I have seen plenty ofI have seen plenty of pictures of that time and what is the norm then is not the norm now. I have seen whole towns in Ohio where there seem to be no grass, trash everywhere in the city's pictures, but 100 years later, it's lush, green and no trash. I think that this house is the norm. And anyone can tell that is a woman in the window.
That Doggie In The Window.If this image had ever been used as the cover of a rock album in the 70s, there would've been endless debate as to the symbolism of the giant schnauzer in the window that appears to be wearing a straitjacket. Is that to prevent it from chasing the cat? The fact that it's the only blurry object in the photo would indicate that it was attempting to jump out of the window or something.
It's a girl leaning out the window. ("Giant schnauzer in a straitjacket"?? Hmm.) - Dave
dirty kitchen?The caption says she is crocheting underwear in a dirty kitchen.
[True. But that's Lewis Hine. Always trying spin a little propaganda on the situation. - Dave]
Wow, A Real Optical Illusion 2.0"the head of a giant schnauzer"? You'd better lay off that weed for a while. You're starting to see things.
"Ma Fedele Viola"Thanks, Mike, for sharing the info. about our grandmother, Annie Fedele Viola. When my great-parents emigrated from Italy, they lived @ 22 Horace Street for 2 years, moved to Linden St., Somerville Ave., then in 1918 purchased a large Victorian "family" home that was a temporary, CLEAN haven open to extended family and friends who had also recently emigrated from Italy. In our nuclear family, "Ma and Pa" lived above us on the second floor. My mom,(Annie's daughter)still lives in our family home on Bonner Ave. WHen Annie's grandchildren (I'm he eldest) and her 6 great-grandsons visit "Ma's" house, the memories of our grandmother ares still re-kindled in a way that could not be adequately expressed! So, the "American Dream" was a reality for them and I am proud of those photographs by Lewis Wickes Hine! And...oh.. by the way... if I may reiterate my brother Mike's words... Annie taught me how to crochet in her IMMACULATE, FASTIDIOUSLY, CLEAN kitchen!!!!!
Clean KitchenAnnie Fedele was also my grandmother and like Mike, we were fortunate to have one of our relatives tell us about these pictures. All the memories of her came flooding back and to have pictures of her at this age, as a young child, is a found treasure. Best of all, the pictures were printed out for our mother,(her daughter). She is thrilled and can't believe these pictures existed.
She knew immediately everyone in the pictures and all about where our grandmother lived for a short time before moving. (And yes, as Mike stated, our grandmother, her parents and siblings WERE fastidiously clean!)
Thanks Dave!
Nancy
Clean KitchenAnnie Fedele was my grandmother and I was fortunate enough to have had one of my relatives tell me about the existence of this picture. Fabulous! Thanks to Dave for getting these. (and oh by the way, my grandmother, as well as all her brothers and sisters seen in this picture, were fastidiously clean).
Mike
Annie FedeleThank you, Mike for sharing the info. about our grandmother, Annie Fedele! Having used Lewis Wickes Hine's photos with my 3rd grade students (Lowell Mill girls, breaker boys, doffers etc.), I can't tell you how over-whelmed I was to see that my grandmother was actually one of Mr. Hine's subjects. I plan on using those photos with my students as a vehicle in making history come alive for them as well as a tribute to the most loving, hard-working and dedicated mother and grandmother one could ever be proud to call "Ma." Yes, she was born @ 22 Horace Street and in 1918, moved to Bonner Ave. in Somerville where her daughter(my Mom)still resides in the Fedele-Viola home!It was "Annie" who taught me how to crochet and my pink/ black afghan is a vivid reminder of sitting in Ma's IMMACULATE kitchen!
Mike's grandmotherMike I envy you having a picture of your grandmother at this age. :)
House is still thereThe back of 22 Horace Street today: same three-part layout, but the entrance is enclosed.
Your Somerville pictures and stories wantedI had found the Lewis Hine photos of Horace and Ward Streets a few years back and was thrilled to know some of the Fedele Family. As Preservation Planner for the City, finding this photo with comments by the family is invaluable. We need the stories our immigrant ancestors told and the pictures don't need to be by famous photographers to tell them. Please write and scan as much as you can and share them with us all.
[Link? E-mail address? - Dave]
(The Gallery, Cats, Kids, Lewis Hine)](https://www.shorpy.com/files/images/04259u.thumbnail.jpg "Slice of Life: 1912")
- The Apprentice: 1917
- ... and work overalls. And the difference between Fred and a breaker boy is a massive chasm. I'm sure that Fred's family was proud that he ... the British Army was more than well aware that underage boys were joining up, but desperate for manpower, they closed a blind eye to ... Posted by Dave - 04/15/2020 - 8:52pm -
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