appears to be the same one who mistook her wall lamp (sans shade) for an angel, in an earlier Bubley posting. Also, I couldn't help noticing the earmuffs on the bed lower left. I had those as a kid in the '50's, and that spring frame ALWAYS pinched and pulled out a clump of hair. Ouch.

Thanks jsm, for posting the link to the BYU master's thesis. I love this series of photos. Despite the disorder of their cramped quarters, both young women in this photo have taken care to make sure their hair is beautifully styled. And those 1940s women's hairstyles were very labor-intensive. I notice a leaflet for what are probably night classes at the YMCA. It's January, the men are off at was, so it's no surprise his photo has a more melancholy aspect than others in this series.

So Kleenex used to exit through the side of the box, eh?

Space was at a premium when soldiers and civilians were living in D.C. then, in very tight quarters. It reminds me of the Joel McCrea movie "The More the Merrier".

P.S.I haven't been here for some time. Nice to be back.

Vriean Diether Taggart, the author of a masters' thesis at BYU titled "Documenting the Dissin’s Guest House: Esther Bubley’s Exploration of Jewish American Identity, 1942-43," identifies the woman in the foreground as the photographer's sister Enid. Sisters Enid, Claire and Esther were in Washington together during the war, and one or both of the sisters have appeared in other photos by Esther during that period, including this one, another here and perhaps this one. The boardinghouse was the former mansion of Charles Mather Ffoulke at 2013 Massachusetts Ave. NW, a space now occupied by the Embassy Row Hotel.

[Note floodlamp reflector on the bed. - Dave]