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.
July 1942. "Dunklin County, Missouri. Daughters of a U.S. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) cooperative member using electric appliances in their farm kitchen." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size.
One of them hasn't been introduced to the electric razor, let alone the manual kind --
Not surprisingly, in recent decades there have been essays, polemics, academic studies, etc., critiquing the 'happy homemaker' notion, particularly as it solidified in the 1950s. The Museum of Food and Culture puts the ideology this way: "Women shouldn't work. Women should be happy and fulfilled raising kids and tending to their husbands. Women should keep a clean house. Women should cook well-balanced meals."
Nevertheless, today "Mrs. Happy Housewife" is a prominent blogger as well as a recipe-and-merchandise website "where old fashioned and modern day collide."
Rothstein captures a good view of the girls' shoes and of the ceiling trim, but my wife regularly reminds me to hold a camera high enough to flatter jawlines.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5