MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME
Home

Search Shorpy

SEARCH TIP: Click the tags above a photo to find more of same:
Mandatory field.

Search results -- 30 results per page

428 San Francisco Portland 275
... before opening season. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. What city is this? [Answer: Grants Pass ] SFO-PDX I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 8:14pm -

U.S. 99 in Josephine County, Oregon. August 1939. Sign in service station window advertising for hop pickers three weeks before opening season. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. What city is this? [Answer: Grants Pass] SFO-PDXI believe in the Full-Size I can make out the words "City of Grants Pass" on the base of the street lamp. This would make sense as 99 (not a US highway anymore) passes through the city and the mileage makes sense. Grants PassBingo. It says BUILT BY GRANTS PASS IRON AND STEEL. Good work! I agree with the commenterI agree with the commenter below. I can't read the lightpost base, but it's about 70 miles to Roseburg and 30 miles to Medford from Grants Pass, and I-5 was built along the old Highway 99 in that part of the state. The Portland distance is probably less right, since I-5 and 99 split north of Eugene. The San Francisco route probably took the old HIghway 101 down the coast rather than 99, which would explain the extra mileage I didn't expect. The inland route ought to be 375-385 miles, not the 435 miles the sign says. Highway 135, which connects Grants Pass to Crescent City, would've been pretty new then. Chet EideFor what it's worth, a death records search shows a Charles Eide born in 1920 and died 2001 in Lebanon, Oregon. Which is not far from the old Route 99. Up near Corvallis. Maybe the son of Chet? Definitely Grants PassThe movie poster says "Rogue" and a quick Google search shows the Rogue Theatre is still a going concern in Grants Pass. Another clue... would be the sign that says GRANTS PASS BAKERY. Doy. (Not legible in the full size jpeg but I should have looked a little closer at the hi-res tiff.) Grants PassI should have read through the other comments before I started digging for info. :) Grants PassOur son just emailed this link to me. The City Market in the picture was owned by my Grandfather. My Uncle that worked there is still living. He is an active 97 year old that refuses to grow old. If someone goes to the Wayside Inn at Alamo Lake, Arizona, he has many stories of the Grants Pass area, life in general, and a "few" biased opinions. I can still recall playing in the building during the early 1950's, while my Dad worked there. Lebanon and CorvallisLebanon is well east of old hwy 99E, almost to the foothills of the Cascades. Corvallis is on the west side of the Willamette valley on old hwy 99W HighwaysIt is Hwy 199 the connects Grants Pass with Crescent City California. I've driven it many times. The mileage is probably as near correct as any of the mileage signs in those days. The freeways shortened travel considerably. During WWII the highway over Mt. Sexton, just north of Grants Pass was rebuilt, almost to today's freeway standards because the army convoys couldn't handle the hairpin curves. I think the same thing happened to the Siskiyou pass. Prior to the freeway the highway passed through 32 towns between Portland and Medford using old 99E, a few less if you went 99W. Prior to construction of 505 in California you had to go clear into Sacramento to get to San Francisco. I've driven all of these highways many times. Tarzan Movie Poster in WindowFor those interested in such things: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032007/ Grants PassThis is Sixth Street looking down G Street. All the shops still have businesses in them. The structure on the right is not there anymore. That corner has a small building for the Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, On the Road)
Drugstore Farmboy: 1939
... quite Lana Turner at Schwab's, even if the photographer is Dorothea Lange. Hey kid, your 15 minutes starts right ... now. View full size. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/03/2015 - 8:21pm -

August 1939. "Medford, Oregon. Half-grown farm boy on main drugstore corner in town." Not quite Lana Turner at Schwab's, even if the photographer is Dorothea Lange. Hey kid, your 15 minutes starts right ... now. View full size. Oregon VersionOf the Texas drugstore cowboy. Crying out for colorization.Here's another picture crying out for colorization. Hope to see it happen. She was a "Bad Woman"Because the radio announcer was "That Way." Screen GuideWith Joan Bennett on the cover, 29 years old at the time. Her big role that year was in The Man in the Iron Mask as Princess Maria Theresa. Her two great roles were yet to come, in Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945), starring in both with Edward G. Robinson. Glow in the DarkThe alarm clocks with the black outer rim and white numbers are probably glow in the dark radium-painted numbers. Use them to test your geiger counter. Corner of Main & CentralYoung's Cut Rate Drugs, building is still there but redone. .89 cents for a thermos.Where did we go wrong? [89 cents, not .89 cents, which would be less than a penny. - Dave] Like the Old Folks Used to Say ...His socks ought to throw party and invite his pants down Give me Velvet1939 advert Strange as It SeemsA syndicated cartoon strip from 1928 to 1970, at its peak in 1,300 newspapers. Other incarnations included books, radio shows and film shorts. Created by John Hix (1907-1944) who considered Strange as It Seems to be a library of “the curious, in nature and humankind, set adrift on the vast sea of public opinion with the hope that it will fulfill its mission to entertain and acquaint its viewers with some of the marvels of the world in which we live.” Popular MechanicsSeptember 1939 issue. Photoplay, September 1939With Shirley Temple on the cover. Young's DrugsYoung's was one of a succession of drug stores in Medford's Palmer-Medynski Building, which was built by neither Palmer nor Medynski, but by Byers & Jacobs in 1884. It's among Medford's three oldest buildings--one of three known 1884 buildings to survive. Dorothea Lange took several pictures in Jackson County, Oregon in August 1939, including two of this young man. Should you want to go to the files of the Library of Congress to find out more about them, don't bother--they have the prints, but no notes. The Farm Services Agency only retained notes and other supporting documentation when their photographers were on assignment, and Lange apparently took her Medford and other Jackson County photos "for fun," on her route in 1939 between the hop fields of Josephine County and the potato fields of Klamath County. It's possible notes or memoirs about her Jackson County sojourn survive in her personal papers, at the Oakland Museum of California. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Stores & Markets)
Ola Baby: 1939
... Scanned from a 4x5 inch nitrate negative photographed by Dorothea Lange. Paring Knife Is that a paring knife on the step leading into the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:42pm -

October 1939. Wife and baby of of the Ola self-help sawmill co-op president in the doorway of their home. Gem County, Idaho. View full size. Scanned from a 4x5 inch nitrate negative photographed by Dorothea Lange. Paring KnifeIs that a paring knife on the step leading into the door? Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska Re: Paring KnifeOr maybe an ice pick. I love her sweet expression.She's a pretty lady (in a GREAT dress, I might add), with a slender figure and a fair-haired baby she obviously adores. Life was tough, but I'll bet it was happy! Wow. You are right!Moving furniture in and out of here was probably a pain...and if hard times didn't keep you skinny, having an entranceway like this certainly would. :-) The DoorThere could have been more than one. Maybe this is the back door. How wide is that front door?Apparently a slender figure would be needed to go in and out of this house...the baby's highchair barely fits through the door portal. Time Marches OnThat baby is now 68 years old. her smileI could look at the smile on her face all day long.....such an incredible mixture of love joy and awe........wow dss Ola Baby is my motherThat's the front door. The baby is my mother. My grandmother was 18 at the time. When the photographer came around to take photos, Grandma wouldn't let them in, because she was baking a cake and the place was a mess. Hence, the doorway photo. The window is where the kitchen was. Ola BabyThis is Joe Manning. I am an author and historian who is conducting a research project to interview descendants of the Depression-era photos, like this one. I would love to talk with you, and find out more about your grandmother and mother. If you are interested, see my website at www.morningsonmaplestreet.com, and you will find my contact information. Does this house still exist?I'm writing a research paper on this photograph and the other one taken of this house and baby and was wondering if anyone successfully got in touch with the "Ola Baby"'s daughter. If Lange's other captions led me to the right conclusion, the family's name is "Kanady." Please feel free to e-mail me with any contact information. Thank you. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
Seven Loaves: 1939
... which would be only "erdy" without it. Photo by Dorothea Lange, Resettlement Administration. View full size. A pleasant scene ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/12/2017 - 1:44pm -

August 1939. "A corner of the T.P. Schrock kitchen in their new home. Yakima Valley, Wash." Putting the yeast in yesterday, which would be only "erdy" without it. Photo by Dorothea Lange, Resettlement Administration. View full size. A pleasant scene for a changeI do not usually associate this type of image with Dorothea Lange. Although the kitchen is old and in need of remodeling, it is clean and there is fair amount of food in it, which is not someone one could take for granted during the Depression. It certainly beats living in broken-down shack, a tent, or a car as many of Lange's subjects did. The plant in the window is a nice touch. This place feels like home. DetailThis photo is an absolute symphony of detail. The bread, the dappled sunlight on the counter, the bead board, the cabinetry and hardware, and so many other small details all contribute beautifully to the visual score. Dorothea certainly knew what she was doing. Swivel CatchThe swivel catch above the cabinet door is typical of the era. Doors don't quite stay closed until you screw one in to fix it. But still...The picture is beautifully composed, but if you look closely it is still in Dorothea's bailiwick. The window appears to be cracked and repaired with some sort of putty or tape; the counter edge molding is broken and partially missing; the greenery is in an old tin can and not a planter or even clay pot. And the jar which seems to contain either coffee or brown sugar is without a lid. It's beauty amidst the squalor. Todaythis kitchen is referred to as shabby chic and people spend thousands to get this look. They made this house a home. Cracked WindowI don't see a cracked window. I see an open window with a screen in the bottom. GrandmotherThis is a picture of my grandmother's kitchen in Wapato, Washington, near Yakima. I have other photos that Dorothea took of my family. My grandmother always had homemade bread and I loved to play and visit their farm. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Kitchens etc.)
Slum Kids: 1940
... His pictures lack the sometimes self-conscious drama of Dorothea Lange. They are plain, less artful, and often concentrate on the landscapes of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/01/2010 - 3:04am -

April 1940. Dubuque, Iowa. "Children who live in the slums." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. DumbstruckI made the dumb mistake of looking at it full view. What a haunting photo. Learn something new every dayI didn't know that little Sandy Duncan grew up in Dubuque. What are they doing now?They do look a bit sad ... I wonder what they did of their lives, and what they are up to now. They must be about 65 years old now. [They'd be at least 75. - Dave] Haunting meFor some reason their face expressions haunt me after studying them for about 20 or more minutes. I am approaching 70 years on this planet now and even after all those years my heart can and does go out to them. My hope is that first comment "Entitlement- - " came true for them. They look like they deserve it. Poor kidsNice patch job on the boy's pants. Even though they are quite young they understand the meaning of poverty. It is etched upon their faces. Tugs at the HeartSomething about this photo makes me want to grab and hug them, and tell them everything is going to be alright. HeartbreakingI don't have any other words. This picture really affected me. There is no excuse for the suffering of children. The clothes, the girl's eye, the dirt. I wonder what became of these kids. What life did they lead. EyesThe girl has "lazy eye"? Easily corrected in the young, but not in adults, according to the Net. Doh!I love Shorpy and view it every day in the hope and anticipation that I'll get to see some old school photos of my lovely home town. Maybe of the tragically destroyed Union Park, or our historic and recently renovated Shot Tower, or even the downtown bustling with shoppers and beautiful architecture. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make due with a couple of sad slum kids. :D Growing up poorWhen you grow up poor, there is nothing anyone can do to you that life itself hasn't already done. Trust me. HeartacheAren't they precious? I want to scoop them up and hug them. Oh, how I hope they went on to have long, happy, bountiful lives. Inspiration They look like the inspiration for those "Sad-Eyed Kids" paintings. The thing about kidsis that unless someone TELLS them they are deprived and that their lives are terrible, they often don't live their lives that way. I'm not trying to romanticize the life of the poor but as long as they are loved and can play and enjoy their friends, they are usually perfectly happy. The minute they are treated as "different," that other people should look down on them, that they aren't equal to their friends, that's when they learn to hate themselves. No entitlement mentality here!They were born in the mid-30's and are poor here, but they will be part of the small generation of young adults in the mid-1950's and enjoy America's great Postwar economic boom. They'll get a good education in the schools of the day, most likely better than those of today, and be able to get employment for life. Life after World War II will just get better and better for them and compensate for their poverty as children. They're in their 70's now and I hope comfortably retired with lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who love them. John VachonI had never known about Vachon's photographs until seeing them on Shorpy, but I am starting to believe he's one of the great photographers of his generation. It's incredible that he had no art, design or photography training before starting with the FSA as a filing clerk and messenger. It's easy to see why Roy Stryker said Vachon was the FSA's "congenital photographer." He had amazing and innate talent and artistic insight, as this image clearly shows. [He also took a bazillion pictures. Quite a few of this pair, shown below in happier times. Like 30 seconds later. - Dave] What happened to them? Victrolajazz is right about the opportunities these kids had as they got older. For better or worse, however, their early upbringing was probably never forgotten. My aunt, slightly older than these two, carried the memories of poverty in the Depression all of her life. Even as a well-to-do senior citizen she would always buy the winter coat that cost less, no matter what she preferred. I sometimes think that that feeling of "the wolf at the door" was a better one for our country. Depression BabiesA friend and I were born in 1930. He thinks the 1930s were the best time for this country. As I recall the decade, life was good for those who had jobs. The father of a boyhood friend was a handyman at the streetcar hq. Over time he made enough to buy a new house and a new car. He took the family every summer on a long trip. His wife did not work. They were frugal. They went to church about three times per week. The church actually was just a basement, the rest unfinished. The 1930s featured a lot of unfinished buildings. Scientific studies show that church is good for people in many ways. Geez, what's wrong with a little dirt?They've already proven that letting kids get dirty gives them a little resistance to things like polio and asthma. Except for the lazy eye, I could have sat right next to those kids at that age and fit into the pictures. Those kids ran and jumped and played all day. They did not sit in a room holding a little box staring at it all day. They caught bugs, made swords and knives with sticks and the little boy probably dropped a frog down his sister's back a time or two. I feel sorrier for kids today than I do for these beautifully shaped kids. It's not that her left eye is lazy,It's that her right eye is an overachiever! John VachonJohn Vachon was, in my opinion, the best of all the FSA photographers. His pictures lack the sometimes self-conscious drama of Dorothea Lange. They are plain, less artful, and often concentrate on the landscapes of towns and cities, instead of people. For that reason, his work is perhaps the most valuable collection we have of what the uncelebrated and unnoticed parts of America looked like during this era. OK, Dave, now you've done itAfter looking at hundreds of Depression era photos here and elsewhere, I thought I had seen the most poignant, precious faces there could be. But when you posted the smiling photo below, these little beauties took on a dimension far beyond what two photos should be able to create. Despite their obvious poverty, they radiate in their innocence a joy that I desperately hope they were able to find again for keeps, as they went through life. BeautifulSuch a beauty in such a cruel world. A thank you to the person who posted the second picture. That smile is so familiar. Timeless. (The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids)
The Wayfarers: 1937
... hope to pick cotton." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. I wanna ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2011 - 4:43pm -

May 1937. "Mother and child of Arkansas flood refugee family near Memphis, Texas. These people, with all their earthly belongings, are bound for the lower Rio Grande Valley, where they hope to pick cotton." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. I wanna know...who the wiseguy is who planted that solitary tree! Cotton-pickin'The generation that had to pick cotton is getting old and leaving us. My "Texas bride" was taken out of high school in Kaufman to pick cotton along with her sisters. To this day she resents not the picking of cotton but the fact her father drove home past the high school, where her friends could see them and know how they had spent the day. Been there, done thatI am now in my seventies and was a child of that lonely, desperate time. My family had pictures of family members that looked almost as gaunt as the lady in the picture. My father worked for a dollar a day and felt blessed to have a cow loaned to him by a neighbor if he would feed the animal. Before my parents died they told us many stories of that timek and by doing this it has kept me grateful for our many blessings. Family PhotoAnother picture of these folks. The AttireThe sadness of the mother's outfit including the sun bonnet is heart wrenching.The style of her clothes, homemade, haven't changed for a hundred years.. She and her family's lives probably wouldn't improve until the 1940s war economy provided jobs. I hope the baby grew up in better circumstances and that fate treated them all better. Holy Smokes!That is an incredible image for all the obvious reasons. The caption says that the "people" are bound for the lower Rio Grande Valley to pick cotton. Looking at the fields in the photo, which are southeast of Lubbock, it appears to be many months before cotton could be picked even in the further south region of the Rio Grande. So, one supposes that they will be out of work for a long, long time in the heat and summer of southern Texas. Catastrophic luckThat poor woman is so down that even her socks won't stay up. I'm at a lossThis is the most powerful image I have ever seen seen on Shorpy.Where do you start.I hope some other Shorpsters with superior commentary skills than I can do this picture justice. HauntingI find it rather haunting that we can't really see the woman's face under that hood. Puts me in mind of that cemetery statue published on Shorpy not so long ago. SymbolismThe way this woman's sun bonnet obscures her face in shadow gives her the eerie appearance of being the Grim Reaper. Hope it was not a sign of things to come for this family. Ups & DownsI suppose we can't really say what their lives were like later. But in my personal experience, more than a few of these Depression kids grew into fortune (or at least comfortable middle-class stability) beyond their wildest dreams. It was the fate of a generation. I'm afraid it didn't go as well for the adults. Many were simply destroyed, body and soul, eaten up by a decade of toil & poverty. Recall the old folks of fifty years ago who died at 54. About that tree . . . I grew up in Tennessee, where there were fields adjoining our fairly new subdivision. I wondered at the solitary trees left standing in those fields as well, and was told it was to give the farmers and animals a break from the hot sun as they plowed the fields. Cotton FieldsI grew up in Alabama during this era and had to work in the fields every day after school and during the Summer. My Dad would plant an acre of cotton just for my brother and me. We had to do all the work and then when it was ready, we had to pick it. Daddy took it off to the cotton gin and we got the money. Yes, we got the money, and it was designated by our Dad to purchase our school clothes! It usually made close to a bale of cotton and sold for about 50.00. So we had around 25.00 each for school clothes. However, besides "our" cotton patch, we had to help tend all our Dad's cotton fields and help pick it when it was ready. Picking cotton is very damaging to the fingers. The pod has a sharp point on each segment of it. Those all open like a flower and the white cotton is exposed. When reaching to pick the cotton, the points of the pod can stick into the cuticles and after a day of reaching for hand after hand of cotton, the fingers and cuticles are very sore and bleeding. It was a long, hard, life for children. But in those days, the families had to work together and the children were needed to help where they could. It never seemed like abuse, we understood. But like most kids, we wanted to play, not work! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
End of the Road: 1935
... View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. Perspective When I look at ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/28/2008 - 9:30am -

June 1935. "Children of Oklahoma drought refugees on highway near Bakersfield, California. Family of six; no shelter, no food, no money and almost no gasoline. The child has bone tuberculosis." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. PerspectiveWhen I look at this photo as a history buff, it's so sad and poignant and so succinctly conveys the hard times of The Dust Bowl...and I say a silent word of thanks for photographers like Lange. But when I look it as a mother, I am shaken at how desperately *afraid* these parents must have been--seriously, sickeningly, scared of how they would feed these children and what the future held for this precarious little family during this nation's Hard Times. (And I always wonder if Ms. Lange parted with some hard candy for the urchins in the picture or slipped a few dollars to the father when no one was looking...) The 1930sI lived through the Depression. I thought I had it rough because my new Sears mail order shoes would come a week after school started and would be asked why I did not wear new shoes the first day of school. Seeing this family I now know what rough is. I do pray they got to California and their life improved. Another "Okie"As a resident of Oklahoma now and lived here in my youth, I am amazed how ANY down-and-out person was from "Oklahoma" in all pitiful migrant photos from the 1930's. I have always wondered how 5 million "Okies" moved from Oklahoma which had barely over one million residents. Fascinating--maybe they subdivided on the way west... [The population of Oklahoma in 1930 was 2.405 million; 10 years later it was 2.336 million, a loss of 69,000 people. Nobody is claiming that 5 million Oklahomans moved to California. - Dave] AnklesThe smaller little girl appears to have some joint issues as well, alas, given the appearance of her ankles. I guess this is one story's end we will probably never know. But whatever happened, at least they are not lost to history. (Dorothea Lange, Kids, On the Road)
Skid Row: 1937
... Modesto, California." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. The Bowery ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/29/2009 - 9:59am -

March 1937. "Men on 'Skid Row.' Modesto, California." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. The BoweryThe NYC Skid Row was the Bowery, essentially the southern (downtown) end of Third Avenue. To this day it attracts guys and some women that are down on their luck. It is however, like many parts of the big cities, being gentrified. Expensive condo apartment houses were built, a few are being built and others planned. The ailing economy slowed it down but it still manages to survive. The Modesto inhabitants look much cleaner and better groomed than the Bowery flophouse denizens -- mainly drunks, junkies and mentally ill people. Ms. Lange's 1937 subjects look like university faculty members compared to the Bowery people of the 1940s and '50s that I remember. ContrastsI can't help but notice the men may be on Skid Row, but are still neatly dressed as possible. The couple in the car passing at right seems to be studiously ignoring them. Finally, I presume the sign across the street says Turner Hardware and -- but can't conclude what the last word might be. ["Hardware & Implement Co." - Dave] Turner Hardware and Implement Co.The building is still there, and has been renovated into a rather attractive office complex. Not skid row any more! And today ...Same building, I believe: View Larger Map I always get double enjoyment ...from pictures from 1937 since I was born in August that year. I picture my mother as a pregnant young woman living in those times. Turner Hardware todayhttp://reedproperties.net/index.php?album=the-turner-building-located-at... (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
Currin Grocery: 1939
... combustibles and comestibles. Medium format negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. The empties sleep outside The empty bottle ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2014 - 8:55am -

July 1939. Granville County, N.C. "Country filling station owned and operated by tobacco farmer." Our second look at this establishment offering combustibles and comestibles. Medium format negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. The empties sleep outsideThe empty bottle returns are stacked outside in front of the building, a practice that still goes on at the small general store at the village near my summer cottage in the middle of nowhere. Some things truly never change! QuestionThese buildings were simply built on piles of bricks and not really anchored into the ground? Were they connected to the bricks somehow? [Yes. By gravity. - Dave] Bonnie & ClydeLooks like the place they picked up C.W. Moss in the 1967 film. Cola WarsLooks like Coca Cola was the leading cola force in N.C. with this past series of photos, but RC Cola was definitely coming on strong. Pepsi is nonexistent. I suppose it was still more of a Northern thing at the time. BricksI live in the deep South (rural upstate South Carolina). putting buildings on bricks is still a very common practice. These days it's usually a pre-fab storage building or an old double-wide, but bricks are still the order of the day. Found the shopkeeperLucius Aaron Currin, born 1879, died 1958, husband of Lelia Bobbitt, and father of at least three sons (all of who appear in the WWII draft records). They were buried in Creedmoor, NC. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21348686 The original C-storesI grew up in rural South Carolina. These stores were quite common, and as a kid you were lucky if you lived within walking distance of one. You could spend your meager allowance there, visit with friends and check out the travelers that stopped for a cold drink and a fill up. I left SC for good in 1963, and up until then all of the houses that I lived in were built on brick pillars. The H C on the Sinclair Oil pump stands for High Compression or high octane. Cola Wars responseActually, Pepsi is a North Carolina creation. Invented in 1898 in New Bern, NC. Looks like homeI was born in 1939 (same year of this photo) in a store that looked like this; Except it was in WVa. My dad worked in an orchard. My mother worked in the store/post office,pumped gas,etc. in exchange for a room in the rear for us to live. We used the neighbor's outhouse across the road. We left there when WWII started and my dad got a job in an aircraft factory. The swingThis is an upgrade from the usual bench or old sofa. I'm surprised it isn't occupied. Missing: bucket o' sticks for whittlin'. Re: Cola WarsNo Pepsi advertisements as mentioned by skylark68. Pretty ironic, considering North Carolina is the birthplace of Pepsi. Sinclair gasolineThe H-C on the Sinclair pump stands for Houston Concentrate. The H-C was Sinclair's "regular" gas grade at the time. 1920s-1930sHi, I have some strange questions related to the picture. Is anyone aware of other areas in the country where gas stations where built off the ground like this and on dirt roads like this? Are homes in the area from this time period also off the ground like this? Were these homes 1 story with only one small bedroom? Would an African American woman been able to work in the evening at a place like this? My questions are super strange but any insite is greatly appreciated. You can email me at Randi0411@yahoo.com or just reply on here. Thank you!! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Gas Stations, Stores & Markets)
Person County: 1939
... County, North Carolina. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Very serious worker. I dig Very serious worker. I dig his toes. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/05/2012 - 2:56pm -

July 1939. Farm boy in the doorway of a tobacco barn. Person County, North Carolina. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Very serious worker. I digVery serious worker. I dig his toes. My grandfather grew upMy grandfather grew up share-cropping on tobacco farms in Person County, NC during the Great Depression. He was finally able to purchase a farm of his own with help from the GI Bill after serving in Europe during WW2. Though we are all aware of the sins of tobacco, the relatively high dollar value of tobacco allowed small farm holders to eek out a living for their families. I spent several summers of my youth working in his fields in Caswell County, as well as for other farmers in Person, Orange and Vance counties. I'm glad for the experience, but would never choose to do it again. A fixer-upperMight want to put a little weatherstripping on that foot-wide hole in the wall Not a home to weather stripMy father is the same age as the boy in the photo. Wish Lange had backed up and put more of the barn in the photo. That one is a fairly nice model! The hole is for smoke more than likely, as many of these barns were heated with chopped wood. The farmer would split wood all winter and spring to have enough wood to cure the tobacco in the summer. While this child may look poor, farm children fared better than city folk during the Great Depression. I helped harvest tobacco from age 8 to 18. It's hot sticky work. Sin?Tobacco is not a sin, nice story anyway Hole in the wallThat hole is probably part of the "curing" system. They used wood fire to cure the tobacco. I saw some tobacco curing structures in Kentucky which are different from North Carolina, but had the same objective. I like the photo and the young man in the door. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Rural America)
Dust Bowl Farm: 1938
... here have been abandoned. View full size. Photo by Dorothea Lange. Dust Bowl farmhouse I find it strange that I find this a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:39pm -

Coldwater District north of Dalhart, Texas. This house is occupied; most of the houses here have been abandoned. View full size. Photo by Dorothea Lange. Dust Bowl farmhouseI find it strange that I find this a wonderful picture when I am sure the owners of this house would not agree splendidsplendid photography! no work -- but there is something that works by the wind. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Dust Bowl, Great Depression)
Bosque Farms Baby: 1935
... shows temporary dwelling." Medium-format negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Holy Mother ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2012 - 10:33am -

December 1935. "Resettled at Bosque Farms project in New Mexico. Family of four from Taos Junction shows temporary dwelling." Medium-format negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Holy Mother of PearlThat is one beautiful mother and wife. Lucky guy-- I guess. Wistful and GorgeousDorothea Lange's exposures never fail to gratify, so beautiful and such a sweet hopeful scene. Justifiably proudIt is very hard to believe in this day and age that anyone could be proud to call a place like this home. It looks like nothing more than a shack. The look on this beautiful woman's face tells the real story. Her family has a roof over their heads and the future holds hope for an even better life. I often wonder what happened to these brave people in the years to follow. Dorothea Lange had a way of showing the plight of the rural family without stripping them of their dignity. We all need to remember what a very different place this country was in 1935. Better or worse, I am not sure. BeautyShe is a beautiful mother, but I would feel the same about this photo if she were ugly. I ask in total ignorance: what was the history of these 'Dorothea Lange' people? Were they once respectable farmers? ScreensWhen asked which invention was the most important in her long lifetime, a friend's great-grandmother (who had lived in the mountains of Kentucky most of her 90+ years) said, without hesitation, "Window screens." It seems pretty luxurious even for a shack like this to have a screen door and, it looks like, screens on the windows. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Kids)
Shacktown Kids: 1939
... wages, $44 per month. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. An interesting comparison That figure of $44 per month, according ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2011 - 9:56pm -

August 1939. Yakima Valley, Washington. Shacktown community, mostly families from Kansas and Missouri. This family has five children, oldest in third grade. Rent $7 per month, no plumbing. Husband earns Work Projects Administration wages, $44 per month. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. An interesting comparisonThat figure of $44 per month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation calculator ... converts to just over $152 per week in 2007 dollars. This calculator is a nifty little tool http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Dale (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)
The Good Earth: 1937
... managerial capacity." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Field ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:45pm -

June 1937. "Wife of Texas tenant farmer. The wide lands of the Texas Panhandle are typically operated by white tenant farmers, i.e., those who possess teams and tools and some managerial capacity." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Field FashionI believe a scythe would be the more appropriate accessory for this outfit. I guess I'll have to wait for October. No RelationIs there a Mrs. Grim Reaper? Plains JaneThis is a remarkable image. A solitary figure (Dad and team notwithstanding) in a forbidding landscape, with an agricultural implement only slightly more sophisticated than a stick. It helps illumine the enormity of the task which literally thousands of our forebears faced and leaves one wondering, "How did they do it?" Up at dawnLooks like she has a long day ahead of her. Bonnet and HoeReminds me of my grandparents. Gramma would make up a dozen or more bonnets each winter for her and my aunts to wear while working outside. She used flour sacks for the fabric. Notice the hoe handle is extra long. Grandpa would always whittle out hoe handles that would be at least 6 feet long. Much easier on the back. Fond memories now, but hard sweaty work back in the '60s. Now I knowWhat they mean by the phrase "dirt farmer" SodbusterI see what looks like a mule team near the horizon. I guess the woman is finishing the job that they started. Sometimes when I see a mule I wonder how the first guy decided to try mating a horse with a donkey to get that result. Or was it just an accidental discovery. Since mules cannot reproduce, horses and donkeys had to get together a lot in the old days. Help pleaseThere is a famous painting that is very similar to this, I had a poster of it in my room as a child. Can anyone help me with the name of that painting or artist? Spas, gyms and tanning parlorsThis hard-working industrious woman would need a very convincing argument to pay a membership fee to any of those establishments. re: Help PleaseIs this it? Woman with a Rake Jean-François Millet c. 1856-7 The bee's kneesThank you so much Dave. I can not tell you how important that painting was for me. Now I know where to find a print. Again Thank you! [Thank tterrace! - Dave] (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange)
Crossroads: 1939
... View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. Box numbers Interesting that the mailboxes have box numbers ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:06pm -

October 1939. "Crossroads off the highway in a cut-over area. Boundary County, Idaho." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. Box numbersInteresting that the mailboxes have box numbers rather than addresses. I guess they're the equivalent of post office boxes, except they're not in a post office. [Rural delivery addresses were usually box numbers combined with a route number. The farm I grew up on in Florida in the 1970s was Route 1, Box 66. - Dave] Rural RoutesMy parents still have a Rural Route x, Box y address just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Apparently the Post Office is doing away with it, though. RR & BoxWe had a Rural Route prior to purchasing our new house. Still don't have home delivery and have to drive to the Post Office to retrieve our mail here in PA. The scene above reminds me of the 'highlands' of Colorado just outside of Pubelo. Rural Routes going awayIt is becoming more and more unusual to see Rural Route addresses in most places; when 911 became more common all addresses had to be changed to something physical. Typically the Post Office and some sort of regional planning council made the address changes. [Our "Route 1, Box 66" got changed to "4397 154th Terrace." Bleh. - Dave] Rural RoutesStill have rural delivery here in Missouri. But the weekend vandals enjoy bashing our mailboxes so it may not last much longer. KFOGDave - You're the morning guy on KFOG, right? I think so.... [Um, no. - Dave] CountiesI live in Kootenai, about thirty minutes away from Boundary. It's so very interesting to see a local picture, especially one taken by the talented Dorothea Lange! Thank you very much for posting it! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Rural America)
Knee Baby: 1939
... the "knee baby." View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Clean Poor but clean. I was looking in the pic for I was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/16/2012 - 7:11pm -

July 1939, Person County, North Carolina. Wife and child of tobacco sharecropper. The littlest girl comes in from outside for something to eat while Mother is doing her housework. The child next to the baby is called in this country the "knee baby." View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. CleanPoor but clean. I was looking in the pic forI was looking in the pic for a baby next to the child! Now I get it. Okay, I'll admit to beingOkay, I'll admit to being thick here. Are we talking about a doll the child is holding as the knee baby? Knee babyBoy is that a confusing sentence if you're not already familiar with the term. I had to think about it for a while before it sank in. Let's see if I can offer a clearer alternative: "In this area, the second youngest child in the family is called the 'knee baby.'" A quick Google search brings up this page. Knee baby"Knee Baby" comes from the common occurrence that when the (infant) baby was being fed the older toddler would hang onto Mother's knee. This was usually in a bid for the attention lost when the infant kicked the toddler out of the 'baby' position and, in poor families, often actually away from the breast. FWIW, a "hip baby" was an older infant who firmly gripped with his legs while riding Mother's hip when being carried. This made it easier for the mother to do whatever as opposed to the baby who just hung there with legs dangling. A "good hip baby" was a compliment and carried a connotation of an alert, intelligent child. (Northern rural Florida & Southern Georgia) (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kitchens etc.)
Multimillionaire: 1936
... Valley, California." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the FSA. View full size. Algodón Excelente. Vaya con ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/13/2008 - 6:20pm -

November 1936. "Cotton picker. Southern San Joaquin Valley, California." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the FSA. View full size. AlgodónExcelente. Vaya con Dios, vaya con Dios. LifeKind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? My new granite countertop has a scratch in it and I was all set to complain. Then I saw this. PresenceA great Lange photo with presence and insight. Cotton FieldsI've seen some here in Virginia and in North Carolina and that is one ugly crop. Scrap CottonThat's what you call "scrap cotton," what's left after a few pickings. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange)
Desert Guns: 1937
... Desert Guns and The Singing Vagabond . Photo by Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Decisions, ... get any better than this. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Dorothea Lange, Movies, OKC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/04/2018 - 11:30am -

June 1937. "Oklahoma City. Idle men attend the morning movies. There are three such movies in one block." Now playing: Desert Guns and The Singing Vagabond. Photo by Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration. View full size. Decisions, decisionsShall we see the Singing Vagabond today, or wait until Wednesday for Desert Guns? Aw heck, let's spend that dime right now on a cold beer! Rooms for RentMan in window reminiscent of a Hopper painting. Idle?No idle women seeing the morning movie! Their work was never done. ChillyAir cooled with "washed air"... NICE! Anti-theftThis is the first time I recall seeing bicycles locked up while parked curbside. It breaks my heartWhen I go to the IMDb, and I read the words, "This film is presumed lost. Please check your attic." Darn those idle men!Why aren't they standing in a bread line like everybody else? (I realize that "idle" was an economist's term of art for describing the unemployed, but it sounds pejorative to our more sensitive ears). And I'll wager a theater was the coolest place to be on an Oklahoma June day. Not lost anymoreThe IMDB must be out of date because you can buy the DVD for $3 on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Desert-Guns-DVD-/400504220688?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_B... Isis TheatreThis was the Isis Theatre at 124 W. Reno Avenue in OKC. It was demolished in the late 40's/early 50's. It's now the Chesapeake Energy Arena. See this page. Get back to workThe idle men are one thing, but shouldn't the Western Union boy be off delivering telegrams instead of bathing in the washed air of the theater? Pay no attention to the man in the window.He's likely just an idle roomer. Billiards, Beerlunch and a movie. It don't get any better than this. (The Gallery, Bicycles, Dorothea Lange, Movies, OKC)
Caroline's Kitchen: 1939
... View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. sleep Don't forget to go to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 2:42pm -

July 1939. Caroline Atwater standing in the kitchen door of her log house. Orange County, North Carolina. View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. sleepDon't forget to go to bed every now and then! Thanks for the great job you do at Shorpy (day & night), and your nice comments! How is it possible that all your pictures have such a great resolution? If I Google around and come at several places about American history I will find (quite often) the same picture as you deliver us, but never at such a resolution. Pure magic! Could you reveal the secret behind that? [The original photographs don't lack for resolution. In fact the large-format cameras of 100 years ago generated higher resolution photographs than 35mm film and today's digital SLRs. The secret is taking the time to work with the high-resolution scans in Photoshop to pull out the details - Ken] Caroline's KitchenThis photograph is just plain exquisite. Shorpy has an embarrassment of pictorial riches, but even in such estimable company, this is a standout. I am veering far too close to obsequious gushing, so let me just say once again, "Great job, guys!" Aunt CarolineI want to go inside and have a cuppa cawfee with Aunt Caroline. And listen to her reminisce about when she was a girl. digitalI think you have to consider that Lange was almost invariably using a view camera. Most digital cameras are 35mm or less. Large format can be had for many thousands of dollars. Digital images are every bit as sharp as those of Lange's time - if you know how to develop them. It almost makes me cryLooking at the detail in her dress, the wood - everything makes it so clear how much we are losing right now in this stage of digital photography. I look at the photos here daily and I sometimes feel sad that although digital has brought us an explosion of photographs - it lacks the richness of a photo like this. Photo qualityThanks Ken, I read the whole story about your way to improve the quality at the "Jailhouse Rock: 1941" photograph https://www.shorpy.com/jailhouse-rock#comments great work from you guys (at least I found a name new to me: Ken, most of the time I see Dave!). [I notice that Ken hes changed his name to "Lexybeast", is that correct? - Alex, March 27, 2020 (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Rural America)
Union Man: 1938
... Union headquarters." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Handsome ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/12/2009 - 4:21am -

June 1938. Memphis, Tennessee. "H.L. Mitchell, Secretary of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Union headquarters." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Handsome GuyWow! At first glance, I thought that was a young John Kennedy. Love the socks. Initial reactionThat can't be a really good negotiation opener, to say "I'm Harry Leland Mitchell from the STFU." Especially if you're addressing the Wyoming Teamsters Fund. Sharecroppers vs moviesMitchell is indeed photogenic, and he knows it a bit too well. I'll bet his movie-star looks weren't appreciated by the dirt-poor sharecroppers and ex-slaves he was supposed to organize. Work with me, HarryOK, now, look noble. No, that's more confused than noble. Try again. Well, now you look kind of quizzical. look upwards toward this corner of the ceiling. Now give me a little bit of a worried look. No, not that worried -- we're not getting shot at dawn. Just a little concerned and pensive. No, keep looking toward that corner. OK, well, I guess that's the best we can do. Thanks. Handsome and MisunderstoodIf I had known this guy, I would have fallen head over heels in love with him, I just know it. Probably was "hard on the outside and soft on the inside" and who could resist that combination, plus that Kennedy hair and visage? His eyes show intelligence and pain. Kicking back, on a break...Yep, he's a union man alright. Harry Leland Mitchell 1906–1989Quite an interesting fellow with a long career in labor organizing -- lived until 1989. His entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Very HandsomeThis was one handsome, well put together man. Striking, even. Probably appreciatedI don't know how many ex-slaves he met 90 years after the Civil War, but I imagine it took some courage ride into a town and try to organize sharecroppers in that time. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Portraits, The Office)
Dazey Boy: 1939
... Malheur County, Oregon." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Styles come ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/05/2012 - 7:10pm -

October 1939. "Dazey farm. Seventeen year old boy going to feed the pigs. Homedale district, Malheur County, Oregon." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Styles come and goIt took about 30 years for that wide belt with the buckle worn to the side to come back in style, but it most certainly did. You just knowThat WW2 is right around the corner, and insert tediously predictable comment here. Okay Shorpy GalsIt's your turn to comment. That must have hurtAlready lost half a thumbnail. Carrying PostureI'm not sure why, but when I was a 17 year old farm boy, I too carried heavy buckets the way this young man did. The bucket would rest against the back of my left leg and my right arm would be extended as a counterbalance. Unfortunately, I was not as photogenic as this fellow. Twenty years later:Kookie, Kookie (Lend me your comb) This would be Eugene Richard DazeyHe was my second cousin once removed. Born Feb. 21, 1922. It looks like he joined the Navy during WW2. He probably has living children. I wonder what they have to say about this picture. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange)
Fix-a-Flat: 1937
... tire repairs along California highway U.S. 99." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Chevy? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/27/2015 - 8:49pm -

March 1937. "Migratory agricultural worker family making tire repairs along California highway U.S. 99." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Chevy?1928-ish Chevrolet? Wheel wearyI have a friend who is a photographer in So. California. When he finds one of these Depression era cars abandoned in the desert, he captures artful photos from it. I can't help but think of the family, often with children, stranded with very limited funds and a vehicle that just won't budge another inch. What became of them? The woman looks worried and worn to me, putting on a brave face for the camera. SmilingWell, at least someone is happy. Seeing the U.S.A.in their Chevrolet. Rubber CementTires were easy to patch until about the 70s when real rubber cement was withdrawn and replaced with something that didn't work. This causes bike riders today to carry a spare tube instead of a patch kit. Deja vuNow this is where Ralphie says a really bad word. Uh, Dad?We forgot to pack the pump. Hard LifeI look at my own car, that is now 10 years old, with barely a scratch on it. The poor old '27 Chevy has been battered to within an inch of its life. Found all kinds of Patch Kits on GoogleBut not this one. Monkey Grip was a popular brand when I was a kid in the 60's. If you were really hip you had the "Hot Patch" kit where you clamped it on the tube and set fire to the backing. Failure to patch was an option, in fact it seemed more like the default outcome. Good Tread AnywayHe must have punched a hole in it. That's a pretty good looking tire compared to most you see on cars at that time. But the wear on their faces tells a story that we can only imagine and hope we never experience ourselves. Car ID1928 Chevrolet 4 cylinder. Last year of the 4 cylinder for many years; first year of 4 wheel brakes. The emblem surrounded by a fancy gold colored with wings etc. oval is a 1928 unique feature; never repeated. The good old daysIt's not the cement that changed, it was inner tubes themselves. They were real rubber, now they are basically plastic in which rubber cement has no affect. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, On the Road)
Elm Grove: 1936
... known as Hoovervilles. Medium-format negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. This land is your land But this land is now ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/22/2012 - 2:20pm -

August 1936. "People living in miserable poverty. Elm Grove, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma." A good (or bad) example of the Depression-era shantytowns known as Hoovervilles. Medium-format negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. This land is your landBut this land is now likely under the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. Oklahoma Has Nothing On UsOur Depression story consists of this Hooverville photo, on the Great Lawn in Central Park, during the winter of 1932, with the Skyline of luxurious Central Park West in the background. Family historyAssuming that there are descendents of these families, what did they tell their children, grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren about this period of time in their family's life? Do the great-grandchildren of former Hooverville inhabitants even know about their former residences? Some families would probably never talk about "the bad old days," and their own grandchildren wouldn't even know why their great-grandparents are buried in Oklahoma, while they live in California. Temperature 115 degreesThis past summer was the hottest in Oklahoma's recorded history which made the news because it even exceeded the heat of that summer of 1936. Also this year, as then, it was a summer of severe drought. These people, unlike today, had no a/c, no fans, no showers, no electricity, no bottled water and not a lake in sight. It is a miracle that people could have lived through these conditions, especially combined with the grinding poverty of the dust bowl and I cannot help but marvel at their endurance and perseverance under such a hostile climate. Chez NehiThat Nehi soda sign on the side of the building in today's collector's market would be worth $400 or more. If they only knew. Elm Grove WIMy hometown is a bit more prosperous. Photo flipped?Unless Nehi is spelled IHEN. [The photo isn't backwards; the sign is upside-down. - tterrace] Doh! I see that now, I also see the other writing is correct. Not near Grand Lake, butIt is just over a mile away from downtown Oklahoma City, where you could now see in the background a skyscraper which is just under 800 feet tall, plus a number of other skyscrapers. LaundrySince there is laundry hanging out to dry, and since these people are at least alive, they had some water source. Maybe that house in the distance had a well for livestock which they were allowed to use, or let them haul water from the house's own well. My dadlived in a shanty like this, the youngest of eighteen kids (same mom!). It goes without saying that they had very little. People had very, very little during these times. My dad is STILL a tough old bird! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression)
Americus: 1937
... near Americus, Georgia." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. Brings back memories. That boy looks like ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/25/2012 - 6:52pm -

July 1937. "Thirteen-year old sharecropper boy near Americus, Georgia." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size. Brings back memories.That boy looks like my brother Bill. PlowboyHis clothes are falling off, but he looks so proud. Great picture. A powerful photoSeventeen in 1941, I wonder if this boy would or could have enlisted. It looks like he's been working that plow for quite some years, and would be ready to move on, given any sort of chance; though he was possibly the family breadwinner. There is nothing to sayJust look into that face. My grandfather used a plow like this.He was so young, the handles would smack him in the head if he hit a rock. Think about that. PovertyDave, this comment isn't really meant to be posted, but I want to thank you for not posting every comment that's submitted. As I'm sure you've found by now, just a simple photograph of a young black sharecropper will bring all sorts of racist comments. And who needs that? [No such comments for this photo. - Dave] Thanks for the great blog. It's one of my favorites. By the way, I'm live in New Orleans, so I especially enjoy the pictures of old New Orleans. Is it 100% realCertain aspects of the clothes, appearance of the subject, the pose, all these items together just make me feel this is a fabricated picture. They did do those things even back then. [Click here, take a look at the 5,000 or so photos in this series and judge for yourself. - Dave] Hard workMy grandfather used to tell tales of walking all day behind one of these bottom plows, all day, one row at the time. There are still very many of these one-row plows stored away and forgotten sitting under barns all over Georgia to this day. Today we have air conditioned cabs and 10+ row plows that can do in less than an hour what it would probably take this boy the better part of a week to do. From what I can make out it looks like cotton he's plowing. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Dorothea Lange)
Louisiana: 1937
... size. Medium-format nitrate negative and caption by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. La. Woman I love her hat and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/08/2013 - 11:12am -

July 1937. "Louisiana Negress." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative and caption by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. La. WomanI love her hat and parasol, with her crisp pinner apron! Louisiana: 1937Another wonderful photo Dave. New screensaver... Nice.Una foto preciosa. Louisiana WomanI'd be hard pressed to name a favorite among Lange's work, but this would be near the top. I love the reflected light on the woman's face, the few beads of sweat, the wonderful textures of the hat and the umbrella. I love love love this pictureIt has been posted for several years now, but it stuck in my mind's eye and I had to go back and find it. Maybe a recent comment will attract some new viewers to share my appreciation! (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Pretty Girls, Rural America)
Feeling Low in Toppenish: 1939
... in Washington State. Medium format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the FSA. View full size. Under the Weather Hope it wasn't ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 11:34am -

August 1939. "Sick migrant child. Washington, Yakima Valley, Toppenish." The daughter of migrant laborers harvesting hops in Washington State. Medium format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the FSA. View full size. Under the WeatherHope it wasn't serious. She sure isn't faking! I wonderDo you think she's still around? [Paging Joe Manning ... - Dave] Toppenish TodayToppenish today is still a small town, generally poor, still dependent on migrant workers for much of the harvest. However, the town also boasts a large number of murals painted on buildings depicting pioneer days, a highly-regarded small college, and a casino. She Reminds Meof the little girl in the movie "Paper Moon"! It's Addie Pray!Yes, definitely looks like Tatum O'Neil as Addie Pray in the film Paper Moon. One has to wonder if the films producers somehow saw this photograph. Highly doubtful, but the resemblance is uncanny. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Kids, Rural America)
Wapato Ennui: 1939
... clients." August 1939. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. Wow This is by far the most moving, beautiful photo I've seen in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/05/2009 - 2:43am -

"Washington, Yakima Valley, near Wapato. One of Chris Adolph's younger children. Farm Security Administration Rehabilitation clients." August 1939. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange. WowThis is by far the most moving, beautiful photo I've seen in a long time. Thank you for posting it. [And thank you for commenting it. Please spread the word! You might also like this one. - Dave] I agree. This moving photoI agree. This moving photo is so sad. The girl in the picture looks so resigned to her fate.Likes she's already given in. Yakima ValleyI'm going to ask my father about that settlement. He and my grandparents moved from Wisconsin to Yakima in '31. Wapato girlThis photo appeared on the cover of the first edition of Dorothy Allison's "Bastard Out of Carolina." Look at herThis child is gorgeous, look at her. There was no hair care, or skin care, or air conditioning....or much anything elsee. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)
Good Coffee: 1937
... -- all your basic ines. As well as potted cacti. Photo by Dorothea Lange. View full size. Re: Soft drink dispenser My grandfather's ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/18/2018 - 1:29pm -

May 1937. "Post office. Finlay, Texas." Magazine, caffeine, nicotine -- all your basic ines. As well as potted cacti. Photo by Dorothea Lange. View full size. Re: Soft drink dispenserMy grandfather's store also had a cooler for soft drinks - no lanes. But I do distinctly remember its unique odor. Not a bad odor just a little "mechanical"? And, of course, there was always a towel by the cooler for wiping off the bottles. Birch Beer. As it should beI always hate it when fine dining venues take pride in serving _bad_ coffee. Nothing LeftChecking the aerial photos, I see that nothing remains today. There is a clearing with a driveway leading to it. I wonder if this is where the building in Lange's photo was? Seventeen miles northwest of Sierra BlancaThere's not a whole lot left of Sierra Blanca today, even though it has two exits off I-10. Not surprising that Finlay was abandoned only a few years after this photo. I think the cactus pot with legs must have been a kerosene parlor stove in a former life. I see they rejected the knob-and-tube wiring method in favor of "twig-and-no-tube". I'm actually surprised this place had electricity at all. I imagine there are a few shards of glass and chunks of rusted metal to mark the site. Archeology of this place would be interesting, having this one photo to stir the imagination. I can still smell the soft drink dispenserStores like this used to have those soft drink machines that chilled the bottles using cold water and you had to maneuver your bottle along lanes and through gates to get it out. Apparently they never changed the water in those tubs because to this day I can still smell the unique odor coming from those machines. Ghost Townhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlay,_Texas More of Finlayhttp://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvf19 Love that foundationI wonder how many tornadoes passed through before that building was deposited elsewhere? My brother lived in a dwelling supported by cut off tree stumps and piles of bricks. Lockhart, TX, 1990s. Buildings on risersWhy are some of these buildings built above ground on such questionable foundations? Soft drink dispenserDad's store had a drink cooler where the bottles sat in chilled water. No lanes and gates, just reach in and grab. But the water was definitely changed on a regular basis, in his store. As a 5-6 y.o. I did this chore many times. Hook up a drain hose and let the water out while removing all the "pop", wipe down the inside, replace all the pop (it held several cases), and refill with water. When I'm done I get a Chocolate Soldier for my efforts. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Stores & Markets)
Broke, Baby Sick: 1937
... the drought area. Broke, baby sick, car trouble." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I hope I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/12/2013 - 9:19pm -

February 1937. "Tracy (vicinity), California. U.S. Highway 99. Missouri family of five, seven months from the drought area. Broke, baby sick, car trouble." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I hopeI hope that the baby got better, the car was fixed and the man found a job. So sad...I hope life got easier for them. Highway 99Seems like everyone got stranded on that Highway. Fancy ropeworkSomeone spent a lot of time making sure eveything on that trailer stays in place, but I expect that a few miles down the road they're going to hit a bump and eveything will blow away, because one of the lengths of rope is frayed. The Quality of MercyI wonder if Dorothea Lange or any of the other photographers of the dispossessed ever shelled out a little spare change to their subjects. You know, to help a brother or sister on the road. HumblingThere are numerous photographs depicting this kind of scene on Shorpy; yet if there were a thousand, each would bring a lump to one's throat. To see people in this predicament; the woman, with her jaunty hat, inappropriate for the situation, with a half smile on her face as she gazes on her child; plunged into the depths of poverty, and almost entitled, given her circumstances, to despair; that so many didn't despair is astonishing, maybe; but we know that so many of you Americans are exemplars of a stout and stubborn breed. That was obvious after the recent tornadoes. I didn't see many people whingeing - just picking themselves up. As we once coined, and you, on so many occasions, have practiced; "Keep Calm, and Carry On". There's a song in there somewhere"Broke, Baby Sick, Car Trouble" Hope everyone made it okay.Whenever you see a picture like this, it puts your problems right back in perspective. IndomitableSick baby, broken down car, no money. It must have been tempting to simply give up in the face of all these obstacles. But I'm sure these folks kept going and somehow overcame the situation. That seems to be the typical story of Depression-era families, including that of my grandparents. "Never give up - better times are ahead" is a guiding principle I was raised to believe, and it's proven to be true in my life. I applaud the sympathetic commentsAs we might hope to expect, this photo elicits much sympathy for the family's plight, which is clearly no fault of their own. Would that the same were true of every Depression-era photo on Shorpy. All too often, there are claims that folks are reaping the wages of their own bad choices; that they should "pull themselves up by their bootstraps". Those comments are curiously absent here. I might advance a theory as to why. Obviously this woman is wearing a fashionable hat, or recently fashionable, anyway. Her collar and cuffs are fur-lined. She has been to a hairdresser sometime in the last six months. Her clothes are as clean as could be reasonably expected for somebody living in an old car. This family clearly had stable employment, and money in the bank, until very recently. I might look at her and think, that could have been me. (Actually, I am thinking that.) And if you are thinking that, you are realizing what my grandparents' generation knew, from bitter firsthand experience: None of this was their fault. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)
The Comforts of Home: 1861
... unknown. This has a lot in common with the pictures Dorothea Lange would be taking 75 years later of Dust Bowl migrants in the agricultural ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/12/2014 - 2:18pm -

From 1861, a second look at these Northern infantry campers -- and our first glimpse of their puppy. "District of Columbia. Tent life of the 31st (later, 82nd) Pennsylvania Infantry at Queen's Farm, vicinity of Fort Slocum." View full size. Wet-plate glass negative, left half of stereo pair, photographer unknown. This has a lot in common with the pictures Dorothea Lange would be taking 75 years later of Dust Bowl migrants in the agricultural tent camps of California. Library of Congress annotation: Princess Agnes Salm-Salm, wife of Prince Felix of Prussia, who served with the Union Army, observed in January 1862 that the winter camp of the Army of the Potomac was "teeming with women." Some wives insisted on staying with their husbands, which may have been the case with this woman, judging by her housewifely pose alongside a soldier, three young children, and a puppy. In addition to taking care of her own family, she may have worked as a camp laundress or nurse. Some women who lacked the marital voucher of respectability were presumed to be prostitutes and were periodically ordered out of camp. Only gradually during the four years of the war, and in the face of unspeakable suffering, were women grudgingly accepted by military officials and the general public in the new public role of nurse. Queen's FarmThe images from Queen's Farm tent camp remind me of photos of American pioneers on the prairie in front of their sod houses. They would bring out all their valuables to be included in the photograph: a sewing machine, a rocking chair, a bird in a gilded cage, even a pump organ. The soldiers here are displaying pottery pitchers, plates and cups that might be unexpected in an Army tent camp. Early DaysIt's early in the war, after the First Battle of Bull Run since Fort Slocum and the rest of the Washington defenses didn't exist until after that battle, which may explain the quantities of stuff they have. It usually took their first real battle or even their long march to reveal just how overequipped they were. After Bull Run the army was incredibly sedentary which meant that they accumulated stuff they didn't need and that families came to join their husbands and fathers. 1861I love how the process of the photograph plus the aging and wear and tear make it look otherworldly, ghostly, as though the spirits of the dead were there--as much as they could be--too. (The Gallery, Camping, Civil War, D.C., Dogs)
« first‹ prev…2 [3]4…next ›last »
Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.