Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
September 1941. "First evening in the new home. FSA defense housing project in Hartford, Conn. Living in a defense boom town is expensive, so both work -- husband at Pratt & Whitney and wife in a restaurant." Photo by John Collier, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
But he made sure that his hand is touching hers.
I like the dueling polka-dots, but I'm pretty sure it's a fashion fault.
Am I the only one who sees the glass of milk in his hand??
I imagine is what most of us use on our Fig Bars
Kids in those days !!
Who had time to curl her hair for a seemingly disinterested husband.
The U.S. went suddenly from financial depression to war preparation. I'm sure this young couple was excited about his good paying job. They were willing to relocate and sacrifice to save for the future. Children of the Depression thought that way. And this abode in which they're spending their first night is, no doubt a step up from where they had been living. I remember the Rogan family in Pennsylvania moved from a remodeled attic to a travel trailer before finally getting their newly constructed defense home at Franklin Terrace.
I found a February 1942 issue of Victory newspaper, printed five months after this photo was taken. Housing was scarce wherever war work was being done. You can read that Hartford was slated for an additional 490 permanent homes and 175 demountable units. I was interested to read the article in the next column, 'Free services to property owners', or how to turn your vacant house or vacant space in your house into rental property. In 1942 my mother followed my father as he went through Air Force training. That winter they rented a converted sleeping porch in Denver. I was told it was not warm.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5