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Breake Farm: 1936
Nash County, North Carolina, 1936. "Breake Farm, Taylor's Crossroads." 8x10 inch acetate negative ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 4:45pm -

Nash County, North Carolina, 1936. "Breake Farm, Taylor's Crossroads." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
Home ImprovementHope they don't need firewood since the axe is used to shim up the front porch.
I screamThe house may be falling down, but it looks like the occupants at least enjoyed their ice cream! 
Home Sweet HomeI hope that house has been preserved and renovated but I would surely hesitate to use that fireplace with the shape it is in. The chimney looks like it is ready to collapse. Did anyone else notice the diamond shaped decoration built into it by the bricklayers? Nice touch. The weed growing on the chimney just below the upstairs window is a nice touch too.
Dream HouseBroken window on the top floor, large porch, nice big fireplace and a happy old dog dozing in the dust.
Am I the only person that would LOVE living here? It looks like heaven to me.
Me like:doggie.
Love this farmhouse but --I don't think I would feel safe on the porch, steps or anywhere in the house. Be a fun challenge to try to refurbish it to a safety standard.  Love old farmhouses!
The very definition of"Dilapidated" and "Ramshackle"
Absolutely Love It!I too would love to live in this house.  I wonder if it's still standing?  It would be neat to see a current pic of it, if it is.  
If I were FidoI would move! It looks like that chimney could go at any moment.  On second thought, maybe the dog is leaning against that pole to hold the whole thing up!
Poverty"Mama, what do *poor* folks do who haven't got any nice cardboard to put in their windows?"
Still Standing!This house is still standing, although quite dilapidated. But it is still standing though. Or at least as of 2011 it was. Although it has gotten alot greener over the years!
(The Gallery, Dogs, F.B. Johnston, Rural America)

Four Doffers: 1908
... mill workers at Daniel Manufacturing Co. in Lincolnton, North Carolina. Four doffers. Boy on left end (knee pants) said he had worked in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 9:45am -

November 1908. Cotton mill workers at Daniel Manufacturing Co. in Lincolnton, North Carolina. Four doffers. Boy on left end (knee pants) said he had worked in the mills for seven years and some nights. At nights they work 12 hours, without any hour off for lunch. Eat when they can. Some of them "eat a-workin'." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
So..... what does a "doffer" do then?
[The doffer doffs (removes) the bobbins from a carding machine once they are full, having been wound with wool yarn or cotton thread. - Dave]
Doffers at Lincolnton.Doffers were called to remove finished work [bobbins wound with thread or yarn] by alarm bells serving their machines. It was irregular work in that they were doffing about 15 to 20 minutes out of each hour. Commonly they could be seen around the back doors and on staircases around them, where they played around. The Lincolnton mill owners (or at least some of them) were somewhat backward from evidence discussing Mill Schools that you can find in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC Chapel Hill. These kids would have gotten six months of schooling for a minimum of five hours a day at mill expense. 
Children under 6 received day care in nursery schools so their parents could work. Cannon and Irwin among the more enlightened mill owners provided eight months of six hour schooling.  In any case boys working all night would have been a spring-summer phenomenon (i.e. when schools were
not in session).
The state of North Carolina providing public schooling for non-mill kids was a sometime thing. In 1910 the state provided 11 cents per annum per schoolchild. Under these conditions rural farm children were commonly offered two months of schooling on a traditional 9 a.m.-4 p.m. day. If seasonal farm work interfered with this so be it. Teachers operated upon a circuit for the most part moving from all-in-one grade schools on two monthly cycles.
By the time of the Great War the school year in market towns was three months, and in most cases the teacher stayed in a location while the classes moved through their three month year, and grades 1-3 always came in at fall harvest time so that field harvesters would be available from the older children.
Thus the doffers had an educational advantage not available to their working-class white contemporaries. The middle class children in the mass of N.C. towns would attend privately operated schools. In cities like Greensboro, Winston and Raleigh there were full-season public schools, where clothing and supply costs precluded the poor from attending. In other words like the state university they were set up with inherent barriers to exclude the poor, while using tax funds to allow the middle and upper class to obtain favored services from the state. It was what an oligarchy is all about. 
However, the mill schools provided the foreman and clergymen to their community. The brightest graduates obtained scholarships provided by various Episcopalian and Methodist missionary boards, mill company benefit societies and veterans organizations that allowed them to provide the doctors, lawyers, CPAs and professional and management classes that held this society together.
Good luck, and remember the doffers were the lucky ones in the mass of Southern working class people.
-- Peter Boylan
English industrial folk song  "Doffing Mistress"Oh do you know her or do you not
This new doffing mistress we have got?
Elsie Thompson it is her name
And she helps her doffers at every frame.
Chorus (after each verse):
    Fol de ri fol ra
    Fol de ri fol ray
And Monday morning when she comes in
She hangs her coat on the highest pin.
Turns around just to greet her friends,
Crying, “Hi, doffers, tie up your ends!”
Some times the boss he looks in the door,
“Tie your ends up, doffers,” he will roar.
Tie our ends up we surely do,
For Elsie Thompson but not for you.
(Anne Briggs version)
(The Gallery, Factories, Kids, Lewis Hine)

Cranbury-Bound: 1940
July 1940. "Near Shawboro, North Carolina. Group of Florida migrants on their way to Cranberry [i.e., Cranbury], ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/30/2021 - 8:30pm -

July 1940. "Near Shawboro, North Carolina. Group of Florida migrants on their way to Cranberry [i.e., Cranbury], New Jersey, to pick potatoes." Some of the folks last seen here -- 12 years ago! Photo by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Original caption writer nodsI believe the original caption was intended to refer to Cranbury, a nice little town a few miles east of Princeton.
That Tie!This young man is barefoot, but still rocking a tie! Looks ready for a fight to protect everything they have strapped to that car. Amazing photo. 
Tag10 = Broward County 
Boxer PoseThe young man is giving his all to his inner Joe Lewis.
Rough RoadsThe collision damage may have helped get it started, but that crack on the front fender is a stress crack from the constant shaking and bouncing of the rough ride.
Car ID1935 Studebaker Dictator.
[1934, not 1935. - Dave]
Solution to a knotty problemMy son's solution:  "If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot." (He resisted my instruction in this matter.)
American BeautyI highly recommend to everybody to follow Dave’s “last seen here” link to see one of the all-star Shorpy photos of all time.  If there are any more with that amazing woman in them, I would love to see them, please.
Unfortunate NameThe rise of Adolf Hitler prompted Studebaker to abruptly discontinue the name "Dictator" in 1937, resurrecting the Commander name, which had been dropped in 1935. 
For that reason, maybe you could get these newish cars cheap. Still, asking 1,300 hard miles from it was a risky proposition.   
The Pep Boys lost their case In 1938 The Pep Boys—Manny, Moe & Jack tried to prevent Pure Oil from using the term "Pep" in their advertisements, unfortunately for them they lost their case.
The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office reports:
THE PEP BOYS - MANNY, MOE AND JACK v. AMERICAN OIL COMPANY, Cancellation No. 2870. In a decision rendered April 21, 1938 ( 163 Ms. Dec. 24 ), Assistant Commissioner Frazer held that American Oil Company, of Peoria, Ill., was entitled to register the term “ Pep ” as a trade - mark for gasoline and fuel oil for combustion motors, and that the registration which it had obtained should not be cancelled. The ground of the decision is that the petitioner for cancellation has not shown itself to be damaged with the registration and that the word is not descriptive of the goods.
(The Gallery, Agriculture, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano, Kids)

Young Family, Penniless: 1936
... father, 24, and the mother, 17, came from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Early in 1935 their baby was born in the Imperial Valley, California, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/20/2013 - 8:56am -

November 1936. "Young family, penniless, hitchhiking on U.S. Highway 99 in California. The father, 24, and the mother, 17, came from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Early in 1935 their baby was born in the Imperial Valley, California, where they were working as field laborers." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Ties That BindThe one main thread that I see in all these Depression Era photographs is: no matter how poor the family, no matter how dire the circumstances - there is a bond, a closeness, a sense of loving togetherness that overwhelms me.
All these folks know a heart-wrenching poverty that I can only imagine; yet.. there is always a sense of family, of staying together no matter what life brings.
How strong these people were! I admire them far more than my poor words can convey. I hope this family somehow, someway found a better life - they deserved it!
I guessthings aren't too bad with me.
We need some Joe Manning magic.Oh, how I would love to learn about this baby's life.  Such a powerfully stark and simple photo.
Futile, and Yet --Photos like this make me want to entertain sappy thoughts about time travel, retroactive charity, and other impossibilities.  An obviously cherished baby, parents -- turned out as presentably as they could be under the circumstances -- vainly seeking a chance at subsistence along the relentless desolation of old Route 99 .... If this scene doesn't personify the concept of the "deserving poor," then the viewer has neither heart nor mind.
One of ManyCannot help but wonder what happened to this couple and child. Probably many more out there in the same boat during the great depression. We will never know but lets hope they did OK.
One wonders what happened to themI find this a very touching photo, a vignette of the seemingly hopeless situation of many people during those years. The nation survived, but did they? How did they fare, I wonder? And where are their descendants today? Do they even know what it took to bring them to this point in time, with all our relative prosperity and advances?
We're the peopleMa Joad summed it up best in The Grapes of Wrath:  "Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people." 
Still DignifiedDespite all their trials and tribulations, this couple still maintain their dignity and dress themselves, and their small child, in a fine manner. This shows their unshakeable optimism and their strength as a family. Better times are ahead!
We might have been related...but I don't know of any relatives in Winston-Salem.  (The "y" in "michaeljy" stands for Young.)
My family was pretty lucky in that most had stable jobs during the Depression in the Carolinas.  Grandfather with the Post Office, great-grandfather with Coca-Cola. My father turned 17 just in time for World War II. 
My maternal grandfather, a farmer, did work temporarily with the WPA as a road paving crew foreman, after the price of cotton collapsed.  He told the story of a cousin who was sitting next to a railroad track watching a freight train pull slowly by, and, despondent over not being able to support his family, decided to commit suicide by placing his head over the rail, allowing a wheel to decapitate him.  Another cousin was conductor of the train.  It was a small town.
(The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Great Depression, Kids)

Porch Light: 1964
... turkeys. Those were the days I grew up in eastern North Carolina and those boys could have been some of my 'down the road' neighbors. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2012 - 4:35pm -

Leatherwood, Kentucky, 1964. "Cornett boys sitting on porch lighting cigarette." From a series of photos made in 1964 and 1972 by William Gedney documenting the lives of Willie and Vivian Cornett, their 12 children and grandchildren. Gedney Photographs Collection, Duke University.  View full size.
Anyone rememberwhat the expression was for lighting one cigarette with another, my age has let it escape me.
I agree with WillcI had heard a rather vile expression for the lighting of one cigarette from another and to paraphrase someone else discussing the topic here it was how little monkeys are made not little turkeys.
Those were the daysI grew up in eastern North Carolina and those boys could have been some of my 'down the road' neighbors. And yes, smoking cigarettes was like a rite of passage into young adulthood.
Expletive DeletedThe only expression I ever heard, and I heard it quite often thirty to forty years ago, is probably better left unstated in this far more genteel assembly. 
Re: Anyone rememberAll I can come up with for this is "chain smoking". Been 50 years ago since I did that and 25 years ago since I smoked at all. 
Simpler timesFrom the old Chevy, to the front porch, those Cornett kids lived in the same setting as my cousins back in Boone County MO. You reckon the glass cover on that watt meter has turned purple from the sun yet?
Ice Gang-I'll try and answer your question in the wholesome, family hour kind of way-It's how little turkeys are made.
ElectricityAmazing that they had electricity! I know the area. My Aunt lived in McRoberts and many of her neighbors did not have electricity or indoor facilities. My Aunt was fortunate in that her and the rest of the family had both. Thanks for the photo.
I Was Cool TooI started smoking Winstons when I was 13.  A friend and I would meet after school near a hollow tree in the woods behind my house and light up and be cool. I changed brands a few times and then graduated to menthols to help suppress any coughing.  In time I had a 3+ pack a day habit which lasted about 40 years. One day I figured that enough was enough and I quit, cold turkey.  It was difficult but still a good idea.
I'm still pretty cool though! 
Lighting UpThe one cigarette to another method worked best when it was windy. Another couple of reminisces:
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Field strip 'em when you're done.
Do I meet them?I was drawn to that area around 1975 by an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal describing a pristine forest which one could tour with the land's owner. Lilly Cornett Woods, according to google maps, lies about eight miles from Leatherwood. We arrived without notice, as the article's author said was the custom, and Ms Cornett, a woman probably in her seventies at that time, agreed to lead my wife and I through her forest. The land had never been lumbered and besides the old growth trees contained many rare plants. The hike was a real treat.
Then we received another treat when she invited us to follow her over to where her younger relatives were holding a coed softball game. My wife opted to watch from beyond center field while I played the game. Ms Cornett and her family could not have been more welcoming, and I treasure that day even now.
Seeing that photo, and the family name, and now knowing that they lived near her Woods; I wonder if these were some of the folks I played with in that pickup game of softball.
(Cornett Family, William Gedney)

Oscar Weston: 1911
... 1910: 12 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1898 Birthplace: North Carolina Relation to Head of House: Son Father's Name: Robert J ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/24/2011 - 1:24pm -

June 1911. "Oscar Weston, 1320 Berkley Avenue, South Norfolk. Has been doing 'toting work' off and on for a year at the Chesapeake Knitting Mills in Berkley, Virginia."  Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Jeez......the depth of field in this photograph is astounding to me. He practically  leaps off the page. Staring at this picture, I get the feeling that for a nickel, he'd give me directions to the local druggist. 
Oscar Weston 1898-1966I did an archive search for any Oscar Westons in Virginia and got just one result. I bet it's him:
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION DEATH MASTER FILE
WESTON, OSCAR
Birthdate: 1/10/1898
Date of Death: 12/1966
RESIDENCE: VA 23506 (Norfolk)
Oscar Weston1910 United States Federal Census
about Oscar Weston
Name: 	Oscar Weston
Age in 1910: 	12
Estimated Birth Year: 	abt 1898
Birthplace: 	North Carolina
Relation to Head of House: 	Son
Father's Name: 	Robert J
Father's Birth Place: 	North Carolina
Mother's Name: 	Fannie
Mother's Birth Place: 	North Carolina
Home in 1910: 	Norfolk Ward 8, Norfolk (Independent City), Virginia
Marital Status: 	Single
Race: 	White
Gender: 	Male
Household Members:
Name 	Age
Robert J Weston 	48
Fannie Weston 	38
John Weston 	19
Gussie Weston 	15
Oscar Weston 	12
Oscar WestonThis is my grandfather.  That is unbelievable that this picture existed so long without our family's knowledge.
(The Gallery, Kids, Lewis Hine, Norfolk)

The Pop Shop: 1941
... the movie. Nehi Grape Spent 3rd thru 8th grades in North Carolina in the mid-50s, and Nehi Grape was simply IT: the best flavor this kid ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/28/2012 - 2:15pm -

October 1941. New Baltimore on the Hudson, New York. "Store on the Hudson." Held together by pop signs. My favorite is the one for Nehi -- nothing goes with grape soda like a sexy pair of gams! Photo by John Collier. View full size.
It's still standingMinus all the signs but still there. The electrical conduit is still attached to its neighbor after all these years but no longer connected.
[It's definitely in the same place. - Dave]
The enclosed front area seems to have been added since the picture was taken, the original structure was a straight drop from the roof to the ground, this would also explain where the windows went.
[It's a different structure. The old one abutted the building next door; as mentioned in the comment above, you can see the ghost of its roof line - which is different than that of the present building - on the brick wall. - tterrace]
You're right! I hadn't noticed that detail.
It must have been done a long time ago since the new structure looks rather old itself.
Perhaps the original fell down when they pulled out the nails to remove the signs.

ThirstyNow I am craving a grape Nehi!  Best cold drink in the world to me as a little girl.  Orange. Ame in second.  Good memories.  
NehiI finally "got" the sign. Who can explain it?
Dem bonesYou can see in the modern photo a ghost of the old roofline. Not much more than the bones left of the original structure, if that.
Nehi againOrange was the flavor to kill for.
Pop PunNehi is knee-high, obviously, though it never would have occurred to me, the logo having disappeared as far as I can remember. There would be so many other choices, but it was a modest time.
Knee HighI'm impressed with you folks! I could have puzzled over that sign for months without catching onto that visual pun. I guess the Hire's "It Tastes So Good" slogan is more my speed!
Let's go to the tapeCoke 5, Pepsi 1.
Only in a Wide Open TownI have monitored the Shorpy photos of "mom and pop corner stores" for years hoping to see a Nehi sign with "THE LEG". Leave it to New York to permit such a racy sign.  Most of the southern state Nehi distributors probably chose to offer a toned down sign with just Nehi or Nehi and a bottle.  The movie "A Christmas Story" was based upon several short stories by Jean Shepard which included the one where Ralphie's dad won a major prize (the Leg Lamp) in a drawn out puzzle contest.  My wife and I are the proud owners of an antique Nehi store cooler with THE LEG which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Leg Lamp in the movie. 
Nehi GrapeSpent 3rd thru 8th grades in North Carolina in the mid-50s, and Nehi Grape was simply IT: the best flavor this kid can remember.
BeautifulEven in its deplorable 1941 condition this building has its own appeal, especially in the bay windows and very handsome roof gable design, both obviously made long ago with a sensitive eye for details. Though functional, its replacement lacks a soul.
Grape NehiGrape Nehi was of course the favourite beverage of Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly on the TV series M*A*S*H. For those of us who grew up in Canada or other areas where the product wasn't sold and indeed was not virtually but totally unknown, this beverage sounded extremely exotic, perhaps something from an obscure company in rural Kansas or something. The truth it seems is far more prosaic.
So much soda, so many debatesIn Montana in the 1950s, it was Nesbitt's orange, Hires root beer, and definitely grape NEHI. Probably a regional thing. I think NEHI also had a killer cream soda and a strawberry soda as well.
(The Gallery, John Collier, Stores & Markets)

Crush vs. Crown: 1940
... grade years ('56 thru '60) were spent in Alamance County, North Carolina. Signage, in my memory, was ubiquitous and split between RC Cola and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/01/2016 - 12:29pm -

August 1940. "Natchez, Mississippi, grocery window." Illustrating the gradual accretion of soft-drink signage on retail stores like barnacles on the hull of a ship. Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size.
76 years later, you can still buy both sodas.Have some Orange Crush in the refrigerator and see RC Cola at the store every time I go shopping for food.  
Happy New Year!
RC WorldwideI was kind of stunned when I saw RC Cola in a filling station in rural Iceland. I thought it was mainly a southern US thing! Sadly, they did not have the usual adjunct, a Moon Pie.
Good HousekeepingIs that a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval bug on the RC sign? 
Nice thru screen eye hook for security, crime must have been low. I know those shutters have a half circle removed at the top for a reason. Or just repurposed lumber?
Window screenHole in screen perfect for passing an RC out to a buddy waiting for it...
RC was always better than Coke. Orange Crush better than Nehi. So I thought.
And also better in glass bottles! I miss saving them for trade-in.
Good HousekeepingWhat did RC Cola do to achieve the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval -- or, what did Orange Crush fail to do?
[Step 1: Advertise in Good Housekeeping magazine. -tterrace]
An artists subject for sureI would like to know what the sign is that is casting that great shadow,  and to note the reason for the half circles at the top of the window shutters, to allow light in when closed?
SodaSignsMy 3rd thru 8th grade years ('56 thru '60) were spent in Alamance County, North Carolina. Signage, in my memory, was ubiquitous and split between RC Cola and Pepsi.
RC Cola and Moon PieAnyone else remember the old-timey song: "Give me an RC Cola and a Moon Pie, and sing me Maple On the Hill"?
Let there be lightCould the semicircular cutouts at the top of the shutters be to let in a small amount of light?
Anyone remember these two sodas?Whenever I ask old timers like myself if they remember two certain brands of soda, nobody I know can remember them.  Growing up in Connecticut, two big sellers in the forties and fifties were (1) Pal Ade, a delicious non-carbonated flavorful orange drink sold only in glass bottles and (2) Frosh, a carbonated, very purple, robust  concord grape soda, also sold only in glass bottles.  Both of them were favorites of mine and I have not seen or heard of them in decades.  Did I just imagine these two beverages?
The Hidden SignAny guesses about that sign thet's end on to us? From the shadow it and its rather elegant Moderne hanger cast, some Shorpyite should be able to identify it.
Coke? Nope. Pepsi? Nope.  RC?  YES!To this day I still believe RC is the best tasting cola.  I really don't understand how Coke and Pepsi dominate the market.  Coke has too much carbonation and Pepsi is too sweet and syrupy.  RC is just right.
Door handleThe half moon is the "handle".
Double ColaPuts both of the pictured beverages to shame.
Exposed brickThere are people who go out of their way to get that "vintage" look today. Usually Shops, Restaurants or the "Historic" district of many cities.
(The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Stores & Markets)

All-American: 1939
... "A Fourth of July celebration. St. Helena Island, South Carolina." 35mm color transparency by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security ... south of the world’s longest land border from someone north of that line. What a Great Picture! I just love the color ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/06/2020 - 10:11am -

        UPDATE: As noted by our astute commenters, the store shown here is now the home of Bill Green's restaurant, Gullah Grub.
July 4, 1939. "A Fourth of July celebration. St. Helena Island, South Carolina." 35mm color transparency by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
God has blessed AmericaWith countless fine and brave patriotic citizens who, together, regardless of personal cost, have made her a great nation. Long may Old Glory wave.
USAThere's little doubt that many pictured here had grandparents and great-grandparents who were forced into the unconscionable and obscene act of slavery. Yet they're all dressed up in their finest duds to pay their respects to that same country's (their country's) important holiday.  Pure class.  Here's hoping the Good Lord blessed them all!
Thin and trimA similar photo taken today would show that among other things, Americans have put on a lot of weight in the last 80 years.
Hear hear!One of the best pictures I’ve ever seen on Shorpy.  Thank you
The buildingThis pic was taken at Frogmore.  The building is at the intersection of  the Sea Island Parkway (Highway 21) and State Road S-7-45 (Land's End Road). I lived on Ladys Island a few miles from here and passed this spot many times on my way to the beach at Hunting Island State Park. The family that owned it for many years operated a general store on the ground level and lived upstairs.  I went to school with the kids who lived there and visited them several times in their living quarters.  At that time, late 1950s-early '60s, there was an outside stairway to the upper level on the left side of the building, which is now a restaurant. 
Marvels of AmericaThere are so many things I don’t know about the USA.  For instance, if someone showed me this photo, without the flag, and asked me where I thought it was, I might guess Trinidad.  An island in South Carolina?  Okay, and add that to my long list of unknown items about America.  Great choice for a photo, Dave, and happy national day to all of you south of the world’s longest land border from someone north of that line.
What a Great Picture!I just love the color transparencies from the 1930s and '40s!
This is Frogmore... at U.S. 21 on St. Helena Island.  The building is now a restaurant: Gullah Grub.

Table for two, please!This is Bill Green's restaurant, Gullah Grub, as noted below. Check his cooking shows on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgBm3akYTRQ
The Gullah culture was well-represented on Amelia Island, where I'm from, and I loved to listen to the folks talk. And their food was AMAZING!
July 4th, 1939This photo is a masterpiece. 
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Gas Stations, July 4, M.P. Wolcott, Patriotic)

All Tucked In: 1941
March 1941. "Mother and children from North Carolina farm. They came to Norfolk, Virginia, so husband and older sons could ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/12/2021 - 11:50am -

March 1941. "Mother and children from North Carolina farm. They came to Norfolk, Virginia, so husband and older sons could get employment in defense industries." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
All I Can Hear Is,"Good night, John-Boy", "Good night, Mary Ellen", "Good night, Jim-Bob!"
Those are some close quarters.  I've had to share a room with a sibling, but never a bed! 
Three to a BedWasn't always bad but my two little brothers -- four and five years younger -- had a bad habit of wetting the bed. So except for wintry nights when it was cozy, I often slept on the floor, rolled in my blanket. 
No sheet!Poor little pooters in the right bed do not even have a bottom sheet, just sleeping on the bare mattress.
I have slept many nights with several of my siblings in the same bed. Sometimes, if we had company, we’d have to sleep half with our heads one way and half the other way, at the foot of the bed. One advantage is plenty of warmth! 
Once on a bonechilling night we had so many quilts we could not turn over; had to get out of bed to turn over. On those cold nights, you hope you would not have to go to the outdoor toilet. No matter which way the outhouse was oriented, the wind always seemed to blow in the back and up through the openings. 
Pleasantly SatisfiedMom’s very pleased with her bugs in a rug.
A very precarious perch for those canning jars.I just wonder how long they survived those five kids. One looks a little wobbly as we speak.
Crowded quarters!So, when come winter, 6 dogs??
When you have no space to giveToo bad John Vachon did not identify his subjects by name.  Some of these five kids, plus at least two older sons mentioned, might show up in an Internet search.
The mother's pride as she looks at her children is heartwarming.  The walls are in much better shape than Piano Man's.  But small children sleeping directly on a mattress does not usually work out well.
Class clownLooks like Mama is chuckling over the young'un who's pretending to be asleep. There's always that one.
Sharing a bedI'm the youngest of 9, and for the first 3-4 years of my life, I shared a bed with my youngest sister, and my brother. There were 3 bedrooms other than my parents room, so the three of us not only shared a bed, there were 6 of us total in that bedroom.  Some would call this tough times, but it made the family bonds all that much stronger. The funniest part of this was that two of my sisters used to talk in their sleep. As each one would speak, the other would hear it and respond, even though the conversations were unrelated.
Problem solvedIf my siblings and I had had to sleep like that, we'd have killed each other. That would reduce the overcrowding.
Looks FamiliarTwo of my brothers and I shared a bed for a number of years.  We would hold singing contests and vote for the winner.  Being the middle brother, I got the middle and was always warm enough in Minnesota winters with surplus army wool blankets.
We would do back scratches like the Three Stooges.  We would laugh and make noise until our grandmother would threaten us with her shoe.  And she knew how to use her shoe having raised 15 children herself.  Great memories.  
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids, Norfolk)

Guns Guitars Groceries: 1939
... November 1939. "General store. Zebulon, Wake County, North Carolina." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/12/2021 - 9:46am -

November 1939. "General store. Zebulon, Wake County, North Carolina." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
bck in the dayyou could leave your doors unlocked and your merchandise out beside the building
Guns in 1939They were a lot more of a necessity than they are nowadays. 
I've Often Said:"Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be a Convenience Store, not a Gummint Agency".
They started small.Selling books from the garage.
Guns and GuitarsOddly, my little town of Mesquite, Nevada, had a store called Guns and Guitars until recently. It sold, not surprisingly, guns and guitars.
I can't play guitarSo I would trade the guitar section for a wine and spirits section. I would then be good to go. All my needs met. My go-to store.
A Gentle Morning LightThe store of Avon Green Kemp (1874-1945) stood at the SW corner of Vance Street and Arendell Avenue, one block south of Runt's Pool Parlor.
Zebulon's first post office was established within this store.  Milton S. Chamblee served as the town's first postmaster.  In the early years, he would push a cart from this store to the train station to retrieve the mail.
If you look at the truck at the far left of this picture, you can detect the name 'Chamblee' on the side paneling.
Here's the 2019 perspective:

Dylan LyricsI think you could make the 1st few bars of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" fit this sign. 
Everything has its purposeJust like this sign from Hussey's General Store in Windsor, Maine.
MerchandiseRolls of fence are obvious and what appear to be 20 or so rolls of barbed wire. I think there are at least three horse-drawn farm implements. Two appear to be disks (disk-harrows?). I do not know what the machine with the large wheels does. I would guess that these were probably rental implements.
Lifetime supplyIf they also sell cradles and caskets then you wouldn't need anyplace else.
(The Gallery, M.P. Wolcott, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)

No Loafing: 1903
... State. Now eastern Tennessee, it came from land ceded by North Carolina. There was even a battle of Franklin between people supporting the new ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2013 - 5:59pm -

The Knoxville, Tennessee, courthouse circa 1903. With signage advising "Keep Off the Grass," "No Loafing," "Drink Hickman's Coffee" and "Chew Ram's Horn Tobacco." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
PruningSome workers obviously got rather carried away with their tree PRUNING assignment - I wonder if there was some type of blight that necessitated this extreme and what type of trees were the victim ?
Maybe they should have fertilized them with the plentitude of road apples !!
No this, no that.Of what use is a chaw and a cup of joe without a good loaf in the bargain?
Monumental questionI'm wondering if that monument was for John Sevier (1745 - 1815). He led quite an interesting life as a politician and soldier. More interesting than being Governor of Tennessee, he was the only Governor of "Franklin" which was to be our 14th State.  Now eastern Tennessee, it came from land ceded by North Carolina. There was even a battle of Franklin between people supporting the new state and those opposing.
Still thereThe courthouse, Sevier monument, stone wall and iron fence are all still there and and appear to be in great shape.
Telephone WiresIt's amazing the number of telephone wires in these photos. Looks like room for 70 on that pole.  Imagine the maintenance, especially with ice storms like we have had the past week. 
The conveyances of the dayshould have been subject to pollution "emission tests" .
Another Sign NeededOne that would warn folks about the danger of tripping and falling on a two foot spiked fence. 
So much to doNot to mention MR Cigars.  (Marsh Rose?  It's too hard to decipher.)  One who follows the advice (expressed as imperatives) to drink, chew and smoke while staying off the grass could hardly be guilty of loafing.
Chop ChopThe trees on the courthouse lawn have been pollarded (more strictly, "polled") to limit their size. The practice is more common in Europe, but can be observed in the U.S. in urban settings and on the lawns of dipsomaniacs.
Tarlton's Quarter!Further on John Sevier - he was the commander at the Battle of King's Mountain in North Carolina, if I'm not mistaken.
I was just a lad at the time, meself.
(The Gallery, DPC, Knoxville)

Stem, N.C.: 1940
... of general store and poolroom at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Ye ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2019 - 2:52pm -

May 1940. "Interior of general store and poolroom at Stem, Granville County, North Carolina." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
Ye Old "Chicken Wire"is still in use. It is sold under the identity of "Hardware Cloth". It is not chicken wire though, as chicken wire has smaller wire and much larger holes. This would have been known as rabbit wire. Just big enough to allow rabbit droppings through, but small enough for them to walk on.
GamesThey're playing an early form of Pong.
When in doubt,Apostrophe abuse is near the top of my peeve list. 
People around the world who are uncertain about using an apostrophe will see this sign and assume the apostrophe belongs there.  That perpetuates the error. 
I worked for a man was terrible about putting an apostrophe in any word that ended with an s.  
I had a man-to-man talk with him about this and told him in our profession of repairing vehicles, an apostrophe is rarely used.  I even went so far as to say if the word has an s at the end, leave the apostrophe off. He didn't reply to my lesson on punctuation and continued to push that button. 
His last name ended with an s. Yep, it got an apostrophe also.
Yes, Friends --Right here in River City
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
Suspended lightThe light over the pool table is a repurposed "trouble light" that originally would have had a metal cage over the bulb for protection. My dad had one just like it. Made of hard rubber, with a built-in switch.
The pool table's ...What? The pool table's rails or top, maybe? The pesky affliction has existed for many decades, evidently. 
Many Stories HereMy maternal grandmother, the only grandparent I ever knew, would have termed these men "layabouts," though they seem perfectly respectable to me. Two are too young for fedoras, though they're of an appropriate age to be hanging tobacco up in the curing shed instead of lounging about as shown.
The OCD part of me will always wonder what message the removed broadside conveyed.  From the lighter shade of the wall, that poster had hung through the combustion of many cartons of Sweet Caporals, Fatimas, and Herbert Tareytons.
Finally, the window screening is almost of a chicken wire gauge, fine for stopping flying cockroaches -- excuse me, "little old June bugs -- but useless against flies and mosquitoes.
If looks could slayThe intense gaze of the pool player reminds me forcefully of the expression on the face of Bernini's statue of David with the slingshot. Wait for it, wait for it --
Make Mine Royal CrownThe rest of those legs.
ScreenIs the screen there to keep bugs out, or to keep the window from being broken by a pool ball?
Fly ballThe chicken wire screen is not there to stop bugs but rather to prevent a flying billiard ball from taking out the window.
Where were the brooms?My viewing of so many photos here has led me to the conclusion that we didn't sweep much back in the day.
Looks like a scratchThat cue ball seems to be headed to that corner pocket no matter how much eye English he puts on it.
Through the windowI believe Betsy's Consignment Shop is the building seen through the window. 
https://goo.gl/maps/TteNhf6X2NZvgb4V8
(The Gallery, Jack Delano, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)

Knee Baby: 1939
July 1939, Person County, North Carolina. Wife and child of tobacco sharecropper. The littlest girl comes in ... 
 
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.)

Caroline's Kitchen: 1939
... in the kitchen door of her log house. Orange County, North Carolina. View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange ... 
 
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)

Siler City: 1939
July 1939. "Siler City, North Carolina." Resting place of Aunt Bee. Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm ... she was a New York City goil who had fallen in love with North Carolina's natural grandeur during her working years. The "real" Aunt Bee ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2014 - 3:36pm -

July 1939. "Siler City, North Carolina." Resting place of Aunt Bee. Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Then and NowLove the Then and Now comparison.  Nice to see not much has changed.  And how many times do we ever see more awnings in the Now picture than in the Then picture?!!
How it looks todayThe intersection of Raleigh Street and Chatham Avenue.
View Larger Map
Nothing has changedOK, so they installed new traffic lights and the citizens have bought new cars, but otherwise ...
Frances Bavier 1902-1989A sad later life was Aunt Bee's.  Though never regarded as a warm and engaging person by castmates on the Andy Griffith Show, she became positively reclusive after retiring to Siler City, where her cat-filled home decayed around her.
Interestingly, she was a New York City goil who had fallen in love with North Carolina's natural grandeur during her working years. The "real" Aunt Bee would of course have been a sixth-generation Tar Heel.
[Especially interesting, considering that her working years were spent in New York and Los Angeles. - Dave]
Tag TypeI like the typeface on the license plates -- maybe they can bring that back. 
Lots of Coca-Cola SignsI remember even up until the 1980s we'd see lots of signs like that in small towns. What's the story with those signs? I've seen Royal Crown versions, Dr. Pepper (especially here in Texas), Coca-Cola, and to a limited extent, Pepsi. Did a sign company have a deal with certain soft drinks and then they put the actual store name on the sign?
[The deal was between the soft drink company and the store owner. These were called privilege signs. Also, see this. -tterrace]
See "where the neons turn to wood"?To borrow the phrase from John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, look there, down the road to see just how quickly you leave town proper, and are back in countryside, driving past mailboxes and farmsteads, without a hint of the bright lights of town that you drove through just moments ago. Follow the village speed limit of 25 mph, and you've still covered those 6 blocks in a flash, and you're following that thread of asphalt, dipping through hollows crowded with the dark blue-green woods, and fields covered with tobacco and soybeans.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Dorothea Lange)

Crime Scene: 1920
... the woman traveled in several cities in Virginia and North Carolina. $1,900 Found on Body. It is practically certain, police ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 7:33am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "809 Ninth Street." A good location if you need some printing done. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
UPDATE: This is the scene of the "Greek murder" whose victims were shown here two years ago. Thanks to Cnik70 and Stanton Square for their detective work.
SpookytownAnother Parallel Universe shot. Obviously those children have seen us and startled as we see them and startle. The watchful eye of the Matron dares us to make a move, even a false move. And this before I saw it's the Murder House. Cool.
Another lady in the windowShe's trying to be unobtrusive, but we see you ... Stood still long enough to register clearly, unlike the children and the passing man.
Gallaudet PennantDoes the pennant hanging approximately beneath the "D" in the Word Art Press sign read "Gallaudet"? Sure looks that way to me. If so it would be fitting that the college be recognized alongside Georgetown and other area institutions, though odd because at the time it was called "Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind" and would not be named Gallaudet College until 1954. Edward Miner Gallaudet was the school's first superintendent and his father was the founder of the first school for the deaf in the U.S., but would that rate a pennant?
Can someone with better eyes and/or a better computer screen confirm that the pennant does indeed say "Gallaudet"? If so, may the mob-source wisdom of Shorpydom provide an answer to the question of the anachronistic pennant.
[Hardly an anachronism -- the name Gallaudet College has been around since 1894. - Dave]
W.B. Dawson: Radio Enthusiast

Washington Post, May 7, 1924 


Listening In

Radio Editor:
Kindly Tell me through your paper if there is such a station as CHYC, Montreal, Canada, and what is the mileage?  At 9:55 last night (Sunday) I heard music broadcast by a Mr. Root, Montreal, Canada, I am quite sure.  Thanking you for any information. W.B. Dawson, 807 Ninth street northwest. 
ANSWER — CHYC as listed on The Post radio map is a broadcasting station of 2,000 watts power operating in Montreal, Quebec, on 410 meters. The station is owned by the Northern Electric Company and broadcasts in English.  The station is approximately 495 miles distant from Washington.

Check OutThat superb masonry work on 809.  Hard to duplicate today. And the stained glass glazing above the ebtry doors and the first floor double window. A lost art.
Look out belowThe birthplace of the old flowerpot-on-the-head gag. A true comedy classic.
Scene of the CrimeThe account of this grisly murder reads like the back-story of a George Pelecanos novel.  The subplot: a crime of deception and betrayal goes tragically wrong.    The characters: Greek immigrants working in the restaurant trade. The location: inner neighborhood of Washington D.C.



Washington Post, Jul 26, 1920 


2 Slain, Third Dying
Man and Woman Lose Lives in
Affray in Ninth Street.
Police Believe Tragedy Followed an Attempt at Robbery.

A man and a woman are dead, and another man is mortally wounded as the result of a shooting and cutting affray in a rooming house at 809 Ninth street northwest, early yesterday evening.
The dead are Katherine Odiscus and Theodore Apostalos Koukos.  Jean Odiscus, believed to be the husband of the woman, is in Emergency Hospital in a critical condition.
A roomer at the house, hearing four shots about 6 o'clock, summoned Patrolmen Page and Murray of the First precinct, who removed the victims to Emergency Hospital in the patrol wagon.
Physicians at that institution said that the wife died before she reached the hospital as the result of two bullet wounds to the head.  Koukos died as the result of several hatchet wounds about the head, believe to have been inflicted by the husband.  Odiscus is suffering from two bullet wounds in the head.

Clew in a Post Card.

A .32-caliber revolver with four bullets discharged and a blood-stained hatchet were found lying on the floor near the bodies.  Koukos was found lying face downward at the foot of a small flight of stairs where he had fallen.  He was partially clad when picked up by Patrolman Davis, of the First precinct, who took the victims to the hospital.
The woman was lying on the floor of a hall a short distance from her bedroom door.  The husband was discovered lying across the threshold of his room with two bullet bounds in his head.
A postcard addressed "Dear Phillip," and signed by a woman stating that she was leaving for Wilmington, S.C., was on the bureau.  Four new suitcases hurriedly packed, were standing on the floor of the room and appeared as though they had been dropped by some on in flight.  A razor, which had just been used, was found lying on a dressing table.
Mrs. Minnie King, proprietress of the boarding house, said that Koukos and Odiscus applied at the house late Saturday night for a room.  They say that the sister of Odiscus would arrive later in the night and engaged a room for her.  Odiscus said that his sister was French and spoke no English.  He said that he had formerly roomed with Mrs. King, although the woman has no recollection of him.

Story Told by Mrs. King.

Shortly after the two men entered the dwelling the girl is believed to have arrived, taking the room which had been engaged for her.  Mrs. King told Lieut. Sanford and Detective O'Reilly that she had no knowledge as to the exact time that any of the trio entered the house for the night.
No other roomers in the house saw either of the three persons at any time yesterday, although it is known that they left the dwelling sometime in the forenoon and returned shortly before the tragedy.  The theory advanced by the police for the killing is that the husband and wife lured Koukos from his home in Norfolk, Va., representing the woman to be single, for the purpose of robbing him.

Theories of the Police.

Reconstructing the tragedy Lieutenant Sanford said that probably the husband and wife entered Koukos' room when the latter was asleep and attempted to slay him by beating him over the head with a hatchet, which the husband is known to have incurred before engaging the room. 
It is thought that Koukos managed to gain his feet long enough to procure a revolver and then retreating toward the starts shot and killed the woman and fired two shots which may prove fatal to the husband.  The murdered man is thought to have made an attempt to raise some one in the dwelling but succumbed to his wounds when at the head of the stairs.
Police last night declared that Odiscus formerly worked in a restaurant in Washington.  Letters found in the room indicate that the husband and wife were separated several times and that the man in his effort to locate the woman traveled in several cities in Virginia and North Carolina.

$1,900 Found on Body.

It is practically certain, police say, that the man and woman going under the name of Odiscus were in collusion to rob Koukos and got him to come to Washington to marry the girl who was posing as his sister.  Greeks consulted in this city who allege to have known Odiscus last night definitely identified him as a husband of the woman. 
A money belt containing $1,900 in bills of large denominations was found on the body of Koukos when on the operating table at Emergency Hospital.
Police are endeavoring to locate any relatives of the three.  Passports out of Greece were found in the baggage owned by the man and his wife.  It was by this means that their names were procured.  An inquest will be held over the bodies of the man and woman at the morgue this afternoon.

[And there's more here. - Dave]
"Shining" prequelNo wonder all that mayhem and murder occurred here. The two sisters from  the Overlook Hotel are standing there checking everything out. 
Greek MurderI thought this sounded familiar. This is directly related to this previous post.
[Brilliant! I saw the two photos side by side yesterday when I was posting this but did not make the connection. - Dave]


Local colorJust posted a colorized version on my blog. Sorry, it's a bad habit.  I can't stop myself.
MintyThis site's now the location of the US Mint and the new Cuba Libre restaurant.
(The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Stores & Markets)

Smokes-N-Cokes: 1939
... on steps of building between classes. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Orange County." Medium format negative by Marion Post ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/18/2019 - 11:56pm -

September 1939. "Students on steps of building between classes. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Orange County." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Injury UpdateTwo of our seated smokers appear to have injuries: one to the right hand, and the other to the left foot.
Battered and bruisedLooks like Chester's foot is messed up (and he's got crutches), and Skippy's finger is in a splint!  Okay, time to come up with a good story; after all, there's a girl here to impress!
A snazzier time.It's interesting to see students at college dressed a lot nicer than they dress nowadays. When I was in college in the early 00s, it was nothing to see someone roll into class, still in their pajamas. I never did that, but I'm guilty of having worn sweatpants/lounge pants more than jeans or something dressier. I certainly never saw any male student in a suit and tie. You were lucky to find a guy in a t-shirt that didn't have a food stain on it!
Accident Prone?One guy has a broken finger and another has his foot in a cast.  Also, everyone has a cigarette in their hand except for the guy sitting on the steps, but that is only because we can't see if he has one too.
Walking WoundedThis is a tuff school. One guy is on crutches with a cast on his left foot. The guy to his right has a broken finger. I wonder what's wrong with the rest of them?
Most of the guys I knewwould dress in jeans, a sport coat or cardigan sweater and a thin tie, popular then in the early '60s. We always dressed that way and no one that I can remember came to our Junior College looking like a slob or so casual that it bordered on disrespect for the college and classmates. If I were in college today I would still dress that way to show that I appreciate where I am and the education I was receiving. But that's just me.
[If you were in college today, you'd do what you did 55 years ago -- dress the way your friends do. - Dave]
Hope they quit that terrible addiction of smokingA friend of mine used to say the exact same thing. "Coke and a Smoke."
Had a massive coronary at 67. Smokes are finished. Still has a Coke now and then.
Tough classes in college Careful on those steps. Crutches, foot in cast, and finger in splint. Jeez!
The lost art of conversationToday, they'd all be texting.
I'm 40 years younger than these students and 40 years older than the students of today. I suspect that I would have more in common with the students of 1939. 
I'll be buried in 'emFlorsheim Kenmoor wingtips. You can still buy them and they last a lifetime. 
Classic CokeAhhh!!  Ice cold Coca-Cola in a glass bottle right out of the machine.  5 cents for 6 ounces at the gas station next to my house in the '50s and '60s.  Made with cane sugar, not corn syrup.  I can get still the "Real Thing" with sugar, made in Mexico, at my local supermarket.  Takes me back!
Banged UpI notice a broken finger on one guy and a cast on the left foot of the other. I wonder if we're looking at a couple of members of their football team, which was pretty good (8-1-1) that year.
My dad vividly remembers the old days of university attire, especially a guy who washed his dark gray slacks with his towels.  He joked that he had all semester to clean the lint off.  (Moms, teach your sons to do laundry!)
Jocks and Bobby SocksI also believe the injured guys are school athletes.  My father was of this generation and said back then boxing was the only sport in which smoking was discouraged.
Fast forward to the early 1970s when I played high school football: the coach issued a list of possible infractions for team members and the corresponding punishments (if caught).  I found the list a couple of years ago as I purged things I no longer need.  What stood out to me in these modern times is that the punishment for smoking was far less severe than the punishment for swearing.
Let the games begin.Big stairs with ledges beside them, smooth columns... the steps don't quite match Morehead Planetarium or Manning Hall, Gardner is missing the columns, Wilson Library has fluted columns, and Carroll wasn't built until 1955. 
I am thinking it's a building that no longer exists.
[It's the UNC South Building. Still very much there.  - Dave]

Edit: I figured it was one of the older ones, but couldn't make it downtown to confirm on a weekend. Thanks!
(The Gallery, Education, Schools, M.P. Wolcott)

Favorite Daughters: 1916
... Boy" mascot! Miss Margaret Fahnestock Born 1894 in North Carolina, she would marry an Army officer, live a full life, and die at the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/18/2014 - 10:20pm -


Fair Exponents of Dance and Song in "Gypsy Prince"
CHORUS OF "FAVORITE DAUGHTERS"

       March 7, 1916 -- In "The Gypsy Prince," presented last night at Rauscher's for the benefit of the Junior League, one of the most striking features was the chorus of "Favorite Daughters," represented above. Reading from left to right, they are Miss Mildred Anderson, Miss Margaret Howard, Miss Katherine Burdette, Miss Margaret Fahnestock, Miss Marie Sims, Miss Pocahontas Butler, Miss Dorothy Deeble and Miss Grace Overman.
Washington, D.C., 1916. "Gypsy Prince, group." Eight Misses whose act was a hit. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Come up and see me sometime!Miss Margaret Fahnestock struck a flirtatious pose.  Scandalous!
Obviously an OlioBecause everyone knows that gypsies are more into florals than geometrics.
Life Was Uglier Back ThenThank God for the brassiere!
A Name To RememberWas Pocahontas Butler named after Chief Powhatan's daughter or perhaps she was a descendent of John Rolfe? Or was it a gag?
What About BobThey're all dressed like sisters of the "Big Boy" mascot!
Miss Margaret Fahnestock Born 1894 in North Carolina, she would marry an Army officer, live a full life, and die at the tender age of 102.
OverdoneYou have to be so careful with plaids.
"Pocahontas"Really?
Miss MatchMiss Deeble did not get the memo to wear white shoes.
The puzzling demographics of namesPeople named Dorothy and Mildred are 80-100 years old. People named Grace, Marie, Katherine and Margaret are everywhere. People named Pocahontas are . . . what?
The name gameThen as now, some people give their children names of personal interest rather than of any particular practicality. One of the secretaries when I attended high school in the 1960s, a lady likely a contemporary of these in age, was named Aloha. When I began teaching in the 1970s a coworker had a student named T9C, pronounced Te-nine-cy.
Pocahontas Butler WoodsonPocahontas Butler Woodson was interviewed by the author of a book about her father, Sen. Marion Butler, in 1986.  Three months before this photo was taken, she was mentioned in The Washington Post.
No one will notice!I suspect they had the girls sew their own costumes.  That was common, even when I was performing in high school and college groups, in the early 70s. At any rate, I assume they at least had everyone hem their own skirts.  Most are blind stitched by hand, but a few were done by machine. I'm sure those choosing to do the latter thought "Oh, no one will ever notice!" 
I also find it interesting that a few bought their white shoes from the nurse's supply store.
(The Gallery, Harris + Ewing, Pretty Girls)

Election Year: 1940
May 1940. "Young Negro farm laborer. Stem, North Carolina." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/01/2008 - 1:51am -

May 1940. "Young Negro farm laborer. Stem, North Carolina." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration.
J. Melville BroughtonThe campaign poster is for Democrat J. Melville Broughton, who won the election and served as governor of North Carolina for a single term, 1941-45. His major issue was education, increasing funding and the length of the school year.
Campaign PostersUsed to work in the town of Oxford, which is 10-12 miles from Stem, about 30 miles North of Raleigh.
I can well remember seeing those same style of campaign posters in North Carolina well into the 1970's.
One termBroughton was a one-term governor because NC governors weren't allowed sucessive terms. (That didn't change until about 1980.) He was elected US senator in 1948 but died a few months later. The 1948 election was the first one my dad (a WWII vet) was old enough to vote in, and he probably voted for Broughton. I don't know if that young fellow would've been able to vote; shamefully, some counties in NC had literacy requirements to prevent blacks from voting. 
(The Gallery, Jack Delano, Rural America)

Eight Till Noon: 1865
1865. "Charleston, South Carolina. Meeting Street, near Broad; St. Michael's Church in middle distance. ... a fire in 1861. - Dave] +145 The view is looking north from just below Broad. The beautiful house on the right remains as does ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 9:28pm -

1865. "Charleston, South Carolina. Meeting Street, near Broad; St. Michael's Church in middle distance. Photograph of the Federal Navy, and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy." View full size. Left half of a wet-collodion glass-plate stereograph. Juniper Gallery fine-art print.
Tower in the distanceThe next tower down the street (with scaffolding): is that another church bell tower? Do any of these beautiful buildings still stand?
Interesting.Interesting. The trees lining the street might have served as convenient ties as well as shade for the horses.
Shorpy is one of my favorite sites: a wonderful window into the past.
The treesI'm used to urban trees being planted in gaps in the sidewalk. Interesting that in this shot the sidewalk is paved but the road isn't, and the trees are in the road.
Still Standing?Yes indeed, St. Michael's Episcopal still stands. Unlike Atlanta and Columbia and hundreds of other towns and villages along the way of Sherman's march to the sea, Charleston was largely bypassed by the general's hordes. The battery area of Charleston dates to well before the War between the States -- quite a bit is pre-Revolutionary. Well worth a visit if you enjoy old architecture, great food and friendly, welcoming people.
CharlestonThis looks like it the opposite end of the street of "After the Bombardment."
Blurred man on sidewalkNotice the guy walking along the sidewalk on the left. He is blurred from his movement. He takes about four steps. There's also someone exiting the dark space between the columns on the right -- also blurred. And of course there's the people seen off in the distance.
[On the right, I think that's a lady with a hat going into the building. - Dave]
Street TreesThat's interesting that trees are planted right in the street, not enclosed like trees would be today.
Re: Tower in the distanceI think the tower in the distance is the Circular Church, which was restored. It and the bigger church in this picture are still standing today. Charleston still looks quite like this picture... just with cars on the streets, and no trees planted in the road.
[Yes, the tower with the scaffold is the Circular Congregational Church, which was being rebuilt after a fire in 1861. - Dave]
+145The view is looking north from just below Broad.  The beautiful house on the right remains as does one on the left.  Below is the same view from May of 2010.
(The Gallery, Charleston, Civil War)

Bath House: 1936
1936. Beaufort County, North Carolina. "Rectory of St. Thomas' Church at Bath." 8x10 inch acetate negative ... Bath never grew past a small village and while the rest of North Carolina thrived and prospered, much of Bath remains the same today as it ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/22/2019 - 7:11pm -

1936. Beaufort County, North Carolina. "Rectory of St. Thomas' Church at Bath." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
Whitfield's CurseEvangelist George Whitfield was so frustrated by the people of Bath refusing to come under the conviction of God that he went to the edge of town, took off his shoes and knocked the dust from his feet.  He then cursed the town, saying that it would never grow past the small village that it was and would be forgotten by men and nations alike.
Bath never grew past a small village and while the rest of North Carolina thrived and prospered, much of Bath remains the same today as it was 250 years ago.
LathQuite the pile stored under the extension, behind the chimney.
Still there!Bath historic district:

Still thereThis house is at 200 South Main Street in Bath.  The front porch has been downsized, probably to conform with original construction.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church was built in 1734 and is the oldest remaining church building in North Carolina.  The current rector doesn't live in the old rectory, but it is apparently still owned by the church.
Paint?  What's that?I can never get over how many Depression era pictures show buildings that haven't seen paint in a long, long time.  It's all the more striking because mixing linseed oil and white lead wasn't as expensive as today's paints.  We might say that's what "Depression" means.
Crawling around old housesI drove up from New Bern with a friend of mine a few years ago, and they let us look around the old rectory.  It's still in fine shape, like many of the other buildings in Bath.  Just a great little town.
(The Gallery, F.B. Johnston)

Railyard Rollers: 1905
... Big Deal in the longleaf pine belt that stretched from North Carolina to the Gulf coast of Texas. Sadly, most of the longleaf pines are ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 2:50pm -

Gulfport, Mississippi, circa 1905. "New Orleans supply yard, Union Naval Stores. Shipment of rosin and turpentine." 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.
Can't get enough turpentine photos!The gum naval stores industry as practiced before WWII is now mostly forgotten, but was once a Really Big Deal in the longleaf pine belt that stretched from North Carolina to the Gulf coast of Texas.  Sadly, most of the longleaf pines are gone now, and several species dependent on the pine forests-- for instance, the ivory-billed woodpecker-- are gone for good.
Those barrels would have been made and filled with turpentine and rosin distilled in small batches at camps located way out in the piney woods, by men working under absolutely medieval conditions.  The ones working to pay the company store were lucky compared to the ones who were convicts leased from local law enforcement.
I've seen most of the more widely available turpentining images, but this is a new one on me-- thanks for running it, Dave.
LunchtimeThere appears to be a lovely young lady bringing some lucky gentleman his lunch bucket, and much prestige from his comrades.
Hard labourfor those guys. It looks hot after maybe some recent rain, the barrels sure look heavy and there's a few hours left yet. Looks like there's refreshments being bought over by the youngster on the right.
Thanks for the info Thad, I never knew about turpentine's origin such as shown above.
Even the Lionel Lines1950s model barrel loader was more mechanized than this.
WWWaaa - ter boo-ooyyyBring the buck-buck-bucket here!
I remember that song so well, I could hear it in my mind when I saw this detail.
Never thought abut how rail cars wereloaded by hand before. The sunken rails, two men on a barrel, wooden rails to roll them on, all fascinating!
Safety firstThe bridges over the rail trench are noticeably lacking proper railings.  1 safety demerit!
Good, I'm starved.Here comes lunch!
As far as the eye can seeJust how many hundreds of thousands of barrels of rosin and turpentine could possibly be needed? And for what purpose, painting?
[Used in the manufacture of soap, paper, paint and varnish. More on the "naval stores" industry, and the origin of the term. - Dave]
Turpentine Forests


Washington Post, Sep 15, 1902.


Turpentine Forests.
Their Rapid Destruction Threatens the Ruin of a Great Industry.

From the New York Commercial.
The first organization of turpentine men, known as the Turpentine Operators and Factors' Association, which recently held its first annual convention in Jacksonville, Fla., was confronted by the question of complete annihilation of their business, due to the ruthless tapping of young trees and the rapid depletion of the pine forests. Ten years ago Norfolk, Va., was the great naval stores port of the United States, five years ago Charleston was the center of the industry, two years ago Savannah, and now Jacksonville, and next Tampa and then — what? Prof. Herty, of the United States Department of Forestry, has been called upon and was present at the convention.
Newspapers in the South have presented able articles on this same subject for years, but the writer has seen young trees no thicker in diameter than eight inches boxed; once, twice, yes three times, so that a step ladder was used for the top boxing and the strip of bark left was insufficient to gather the sap to feed the tree.  The life of a turpentine tree after the first boxing is about two years. That means that after the sap has been taken the third time the tree must either be cut for timber or it dies. A trip through the pine forests of Georgia and Florida will demonstrate the reckless manner in which the boxing has been done, and, worse still, where clearings have been made, no effort has been made to check the growth of scrub oak and saw palmetto which effectually choke the young pine rearing its head where its parent stood.  Gradually the operators have been driven south, and to-day it is estimated that at least one hundred camps are located in Florida alone, and about fifty camps in Georgia.
Nine hundred operators were at the convention. Each man has either bought or covered with options more or less pine forest, and in spite of his knowledge of what the future will bring is rapidly killing the goose with the golden egg. The end is near in the turpentine and rosin industry. A few more years will see a tremendous rise in these commodities, and no effort has yet been made to restore the depleted forests of Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, North Caroline, or Northwestern Florida. The "fat pine" is indigenous to these States, it grows rapidly, but is easily exterminated by the more sturdy plants which spring up in the forest clearings.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)

Civil War Veterans: 1913
... must have shared. My wife's 3rd GGF Was from North Carolina and would have been at Gettysburg except he deserted the week before. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/11/2014 - 1:07pm -

July 1913. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "Gettysburg reunion: G.A.R. & U.C.V. veterans at the encampment." Some of the 53,000 Civil War veterans, members of either the Grand Army of the Republic (Union troops) or the United Confederate Veterans, who reunited at Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the battle there. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
My GGG GrandfatherMy GGG Grandfather, Samuel Frye, 18th Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, 163rd PA Vols. 
He was at the battle of Gettysburg, I would like to think he made it to this reunion.
Tearful ReunionI have read that veterans from both sides embraced each other in tears at this reunion.  What stories they must have shared.
My wife's 3rd GGFWas from North Carolina and would have been at Gettysburg except he deserted the week before. Had he not evaded that particular battle, my wife might never have been...
Well worth visiting.If you ever get the chance highly recommend visiting Gettysburg.  When we went there, years ago, there was an impressive model of the battle on display.  You also have Hersheypark, the Hershey Hotel, and the Amish in the Lancaster area.  Great place to visit.
50 years for meIn just 3 years it will be 50 years since I went to Vietnam. I don't look anything like these old Veterans. Well, other than sporting a gray goatee, but I think I'm 27.
Young countryI am a high school history and government teacher.  I'm a vet and my father was a WW II vet.  I often have students come up to me and say "My grandpa was in the war, --he was in Viet Nam."  To illustrate how young our country is I point out that when I was a kid EVERYONE'S father was a WW II vet and the old guys were WW I vets.  I remember my dad saying that when he was a kid; EVERYONE'S father was in WW I & the old-guy vets were from the Civil War.
If we read into contemporary Civil War anecdotes they often refer to their fathers and grandfathers fighting the Revolution.
The last Civil War vet died the year that I was born.  There have been 44 presidents and I've lived during ELEVEN of them. I'm "only" 58 years old. Sheesh---
Battle of GettysburgThese are my great-grandparents Israel H. and Phebe Angline Smith.  They had a farm near York, PA that was raided by the Confederates 2 days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.  They lost horses, mules, grain and feed.  Israel fought in the battle.  I too, hope that he was at the reunion.  He passed away in 1915.
Hard to BelieveTwenty years later, enough of these stalwarts still drew breath to hold a 70th reunion!
(The Gallery, Civil War, Harris + Ewing)

Many of These There: 1908
November 1908. Lincolnton, North Carolina. "Daniel Mfg. Co. Girl beginning to spin. Many of these there." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 9:54am -

November 1908. Lincolnton, North Carolina. "Daniel Mfg. Co. Girl beginning to spin. Many of these there." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Spinning MaidenThis picture makes me feel somewhat melancholy.  The young lady could easily be a relative of mine, as my family hails from the Gaston-Lincoln County area (where this photo was made) and was heavily involved in textiles.  Her visage suggests a child that has experienced things far beyond her years.  She should be involved in the activities preferred by girls of her age, but undoubtedly, her wages were necessary for her family to make ends meets.
I often look at the pictures on Shorpy and wonder what it would have been like to grow up in the life of privilege that seems to have been enjoyed by many featured in photographs, as well as some who post their own photos and commentary on this site. I was the son of textile employees with limited income, so college seemed to truly be only a dream.  But to my surprise, my father’s company covered a large portion of the costs for my first degree, which then opened the door to my earning a master’s.  The cycle of the cotton mill was broken and my children didn’t have to live the life I had lived in cadence with previous generations.
"Lint heads" are often seen as a sub-cast caste, and yes, many lack in formal education.  And yet, in the heat of the textile plant, among the din of the machinery, one can easily find good, hardworking people with dreams, hopes, and aspirations – at least for their children, if not for themselves.
She's LuckyUnlike most others we've seen in the mills, she has what appears to be a good pair of boots.  
ProgressThese days this girl would be at home watching Jersey Shore and other televised dreck instead of working.  I don't know what's worse.
Beauty in toilThis might be one of the best pieces of art published on Shorpy. Breathtaking contrasts. And her fate, and that of many other mill people of the time, was likely to a hard life with few rewards. Like everyone else of the era and area, but different.
No sittingThose window sills don't encourage sitting down on the job, even if the kids had a quick chance for a moment's respite.
A similar pictureAlso in 1908, Hines photographed child workers in a different mill in Lincolnton.  He took one that is similar to this one.  Unfortunately, I can't find it on Shorpy.  But yesterday the Raleigh News & Observer ran a story that the girl in that photo has been identified.  It's a pretty cool story.
[Joe Manning also frequently contributes his findings in comments to Shorpy photos. -tterrace]
(The Gallery, Factories, Lewis Hine)

The Colored Fountain: 1938
... fountain on the county courthouse lawn." Halifax, North Carolina. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2011 - 2:59pm -

April 1938. "Drinking fountain on the county courthouse lawn." Halifax, North Carolina. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA.
HalifaxThis has disappeared into history for most people, but I remember it quite vividly. We still had two water fountains and four toilets in North Carolina in the late 1950s.
Strange FruitThis image brought to mind the powerful lyrics of Strange Fruit, sung by Billie Holiday:
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Separate but equal?I wonder if there is a near identical drinking fountain on the opposite side of the lawn for whites.  This fountain is well made and mounted on a cement base.  Was this the former white fountain which has now been downgraded after the installation of a new cooled water fountain indoors?
[If it is, it wouldn't be very equal. - Dave]
RarelySeparate but equal was rarely equal.
Did you know you are a jerk Dave?Dave;
It is a good thing that we as Americans have moved away from the horse and buggy mindset of idiots like you
[Ms. Palin, perhaps you're a bit confused about who is posting what. Either that, or this is a dig at Sarah Palin? I think I get it. - Dave]
I rememberIn 1963 I went on a trip thru the Deep South with a neighborhood family to help watch the children I was 14 years old and had grown up in a segregrated small town in Ohio. I took my little Brownie camera with me.  For the first time I saw scenes like this as we traveled.  I came home a change person. I grew up alot that summer, when school began that fall I remember taking a stand in my history class for civil rights. I was no long the little girl from a small town in Ohio, I had witnessed the unequality of the Deep South. I was no longer a child. 
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Kids, Small Towns)

College Smoke-In: 1956
... We All Smoked I grew up near Winston-Salem, North Carolina (guess what was made there!), in the second half of the 1950s. Smoking ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 04/20/2020 - 9:04pm -

Candid photo in a college classroom at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. 35mm Tri-X negative taken in 1956 by my brother. View full size.
Smoking in classI started university in 1975 and could still smoke cigarettes in class for the first year or two.  If someone actually coughed or shot you a dirty look, you could say, filled with righteous indignation, “What? – I’m at the far end of the table!” or “The window’s open!”  Many non-smokers have no idea how good they’ve got it nowadays.
When you don't know what else to do ...Spark one up!  As a former smoker who came up in the '50s and '60s, I can recall that almost every house had cigarettes, ash trays, and even fancy lighters displayed on the coffee table, even if the occupants themselves did not smoke, and it was routine to enter a stranger's home and light up without even thinking to ask permission.
My own nicotine addiction almost surely stems from a car trip, in winter with windows closed, with my mother (Viceroy) and aunt (Old Gold) in the back seat, and uncle (Pall Mall) and father (Luckies x 5 packs/day) on either side of me in the front.  My eyes were watering for six hours, to say nothing of the sneezing and coughing, but no one thought to curb their joyful consumption of the vile weed.
Now, the merest whiff of tobacco smoke evokes myriad memories for me, a few even pleasant, but none of them healthful.
We All SmokedI grew up near Winston-Salem, North Carolina (guess what was made there!), in the second half of the 1950s. Smoking was part of the culture. We smoked on the school buses going to and from junior high. Winstons were 15 cents a pack, a dollar a carton. I was a pack-a-day smoker when I was 12. There was a little dairyette beside the junior high where the owner would open a pack of Winstons in the morning and sell them to us for a penny each, in case we didn't have 15 cents for a pack. I walked away from cigarettes when I was 32. The hardest thing I ever did.
Seemed to be the cool thing to doIn the late '60s and early '70s I had some professors who would let you smoke in class. It seems so strange now, but you could smoke damn near anywhere. You could smoke in airports, on planes, in some areas of hospitals, in theater balconies and of course in bars and restaurants. The only places I can think of where it was banned was church, most public transportation, elevators, public schools (except for the teacher’s lounge), high school sporting events and some stores. I remember people smoking in the grocery store at times. There were ashtrays all over the place. How bizarre compared to today’s norm. 
No smokingBack in the 70s I worked at a “major federal health care agency”. Everyone who smoked fired up wherever they were except in the operating rooms and ICU, I suppose. When moves were made to limit smoking except in certain designated areas, smokers were slow to adapt, instead grinding their smokes out on the “No Smoking” signs. Amazing!
If you got 'emThis photo reminds me of a female fellow student around 1970, who smoked in class -- but wouldn't light up when class was dispersing because ladies didn't smoke when standing up. Another world.
I can remember people smoking in classrooms into the 1980s, but by that time, I think, only when around a table.
She's a rebel.It's interesting that she's openly ignoring the no smoking sign at the top of the blackboard. I wonder, was it the intent of the photographer to show that? She must have noticed the sign. 
Smoking in classOur high school had designated smoking areas until 1978. In college we could still smoke in class up until 1980. I much prefer it smoke free.
The Times Have A-ChangedBoy she wouldn't try that today. She'd be rugby tackled. 
Attitudes towards smoking were changing while I was growing up in the 80s.  By the time I got my first job on a military base, the building I sat in was designated "non-smoking"... except for 1 room.  
You could definitely see the dividing line between the older generation smokers and the younger generation non-smokers: those who had grown up thinking it was cool and those who were conditioned to believe it was a disgusting habit. No non-smoker would set foot in the smoking room, largely because a permanent haze enveloped it. If you wanted to fetch somebody out of there, you stood at the entry, pointed and gestured. Eventually one of my coworkers convinced management to install a telephone in the room so we wouldn't even stand at the entry after that. Also I remember a certain amount of bitterness among the non-smokers about all the time the smokers spent smoking and not working. Whether it was fair or not, we associated "smoking" with "slacking". 
This lasted until '97 when Clinton banned smoking in federal buildings and a immediately a phalanx of smokers took up permanent residence just outside the main entrance. Rumor had it the colonel in charge of our building didn't like how this looked so he quickly agreed to set up a fenced area there. We dubbed it the "smoker's cage" and while it was being built, one friend said it was the fastest he ever saw the smokers work.  
I'm grateful the smoking rate has dropped 67% since 1965 but in retrospect I think we could have been a little kinder along the way. 
FumingAs a non-smoker, I’ve always rather disliked the phrase non-smoker.  It implies that the default setting is to smoke, and that we people who don’t care to engage in a disgusting and unhealthy pursuit are the freaks.  I recall sitting in restaurants, trying to eat while people at neighboring tables smoked over their coffee or between courses.  I remember the smell in my clothes after going to a restaurant or bar or party.  I remember people sometimes asking if I minded that they smoked then getting upset when I said that I did.  I recall the smell of ashtrays, of lingering smoke in curtains, of orange slime on windows.  And I remember smoking relatives who died in middle age of lung cancer.  Nah, I’m the regular person.  They’re the smokers.
Grain NostalgiaThe Tri-X grain on plain backgrounds looks like all of the thousands of 35mm indoor college pictures I took in the early 60s.
Plus-X had a finer grain but not the required film speed.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, tterrapix)

Real Simple: 1939
... stairway and corner of the new fancy bed. Person County, North Carolina." ( Whitfield home .) Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2009 - 1:26pm -

July 1939. "Corner of tobacco farmer's front room. Shows enclosed stairway and corner of the new fancy bed. Person County, North Carolina." (Whitfield home.) Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. View full size.
CalendarsWhat months are displayed on the calendars?  They appear to be showing two different months.
TK
Assuming 1939......the calendar on the left is showing the month of January; the one on the right is showing March.
Conjecture: the photo was published in July, but taken in February?
[The calendar on the right is June 1939. - Dave]
January & June?Calendars appear to show January and June 1939. 
See link below for how those months would be displayed on this type of calendar:
http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1939 
Cut-out?There appears to be a cut-out in the lower corner of the stairway door. I wonder if this family had a cat?
While cats are usually considered pets these days, on farms they were necessary to keep the vermin population under control.
StairwayI've visited an abandoned mill town here in North Carolina where the company houses look similar. In particular the enclosed stairs are something you don't see much anymore; in the mill town the steps for every single stairway were apparently removable, because they were all missing.
Tiger MapleThe bed appears to have tiger maple veneer -- fancy indeed.
Thomas Jefferson's home has cat doors for the inside rooms--only, being the architect he was, his were single round "portholes" near the bottom and in the center, just the right size for cats.
(The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Rural America)

Fayetteville: 1941
... March 1941. "Traffic on the main street of Fayetteville, North Carolina at about five o'clock, when the workers start coming out at Fort ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/25/2018 - 11:40am -

March 1941. "Traffic on the main street of Fayetteville, North Carolina at about five o'clock, when the workers start coming out at Fort Bragg." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Merry ChristmasChristmas won't be Christmas without another Dickey snap in front of the tree but I guess we'll muddle through somehow.
A very merry Christmas to Shorpy and all the Shorpy-ites! I look forward to another year of excellent pictures and even more excellent comments.
US 15 ASpecial routes of U.S. Route 15:
U.S. Route 15 Alterboro–Creedmoor alternate route
Existed	1936–1957
Established in 1936 as a renumbering of U.S. Route 401, from the South Carolina state line to Creedmoor, going through the cities of Laurinburg, Raeford, Fayetteville, Lillington, and Raleigh. In 1950, South Carolina discontinued the US 15A concurrency with US 15, but was not till 1953 when North Carolina followed and moved US 15A's southern terminus in Laurinburg. In 1957, US 15A was renumbered back to US 401.

(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano, Stores & Markets)

Multimillionaire: 1936
... Cotton Fields I've seen some here in Virginia and in North Carolina and that is one ugly crop. Scrap Cotton That's what you call ... 
 
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)
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