WW2, ShorpyArt

Washington circa 1942. "Potomac Electric Power Co. Building. Air raid equipment and personnel." View full size. 8x10 safety negative by Theodor Horydczak.

February 1942. Akron, Ohio. Another esoteric industrial process involving scary-looking thingamabobs essential to the war effort. Executive summary: Performing a painstakingly choreographed ballet of complicated tasks at precisely timed intervals, Joe Warworker here is doing his part to Speed Victory! View full size. 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

February 1942. Firestone Rubber plant in Akron, Ohio. "Conversion. Beverage containers to aviation oxygen cylinders. Before completion of the fourth and final welding operation in the manufacture of shatterproof oxygen cylinders for high altitude flying, all straps are subjected to physical tests to determine the strength of the weld. Occasional radiographic inspections are made to insure the quality of workmanship after the two halves of the cylinder are brought together in this atomic welding machine and made one unit. Here, the operator has just completed the union and is about to remove the whole cylinder." 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

February 1944. Pete Seeger singing at a Valentine's Day party to mark the opening of the United Federal Labor Canteen in Washington. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Joseph Horne for the Office of War Information.

Pittsburgh, August 1942. "The comforts of home looked pretty good to Navy Radioman John Marshall Evans and Sergeant French L. Vineyard, who spent Sunday with the family of their poster colleague George Woolslayer." Medium format negative negative by Alfred Palmer for the OWI. View full size.