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Porch Pouters: 1940
... Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. (The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/12/2017 - 7:10pm -

August 1940. "Women in Upper Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. (The Gallery, Jack Delano)
The Experiment: 1941
... the Christiansted high school." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. St. Croix Central High School St. Croix ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/11/2019 - 1:44pm -

December 1941. "Saint Croix, Virgin Islands. Science class at the Christiansted high school." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. St. Croix Central High SchoolSt. Croix Central High School opened in 1967 as a successor to Christiansted High School which was established in 1935. (The Gallery, Education, Schools, Jack Delano)
Modern Family: 1941
... near Orwell, New York." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Where's the Mini-Bar? If they installed ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2019 - 10:40am -

October 1941. "Mrs. Melvin Rivers, some of her children and her father-in-law in their new relocation corporation farm to which they have moved just recently, near Orwell, New York." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Where's the Mini-Bar?If they installed one at the Rivers abode, liquor would have been hard to come by. The Women's Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1874, but by then Orwell itself had been officially "dry" for 31 years. It remains so to this day, one of only ten such towns with no alcohol for sale of any kind in the Empire State. The closest vote to repeal was held in 1971. It failed by one vote. So buttermilk it had to be for Mrs. Rivers and her farming brood. Unless they fancied a bit of travelling. No (fashion) victimsI'm always impressed about the self-consciousness kids of that era show in these photos. Imagine a modern kid posing barefoot, in an empty room and with torn bibs? Distinctly unfashionable bibs, and unfashionably torn? How embarrassing! Bare!Room, Feet, Walls, but not the lonely flowerpot and cup. Minus OneIt looks like Grandpa is missing the middle finger on his right hand. Maybe Baby got hungry and gummed it down a bit. Grandpa does look like he's lived a very hard-working life, teething babies aside. Modern TimesWhere rural electrification came by cooperatives in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, many times the only electric fixture in the room was the overhead light. You had a socket you could screw into the bulb socket that allowed you to have either light, and electric plug, or sometimes both. For a long time, baseboard sockets were a rarity in the country. because people were used to doing without electric items but they needed light at night. It was also difficult to rewire an existing house. In this case I think I see a baseboard socket behind the boy at right. That could be the only one in the whole room. Many old farmhouses are still like that today. Looks like there is a plumbing, heating pipe, or wiring run back in the left corner of the room. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Jack Delano, Kids)
Route 1: 1940
... No. 1. Baltimore, Maryland." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Ward Warehouse The nine-story ivory building ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2019 - 7:09pm -

June 1940. "Baltimore-Washington Boulevard. U.S. Highway No. 1. Baltimore, Maryland." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Ward WarehouseThe nine-story ivory building in the distance is the Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store, built in 1925. The warehouse served a large part of the East Coast. It's been converted into Montgomery Park, an office complex, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. Always an adventureThis website, coupled with a bit of curiosity, can take the visitor on many adventures. At first glance, I felt this photo offered little content, but it was Baltimore -- my childhood home 6 years before I was born. So a little detective work. The key clue: the Lord Calvert theater on the left. The building still exists (as a church) and is located at 2444 Washington Blvd -- in the Morrell Park neighborhood of Baltimore. This theater operated from 1935 until 1954. The owner would sue the city for its failure to widen the street and preventing a newer building from obscuring the view of the theater. The owner won, years after it closed. The two-story house with attic on the left still exists with new siding. You can still see the older shingles in the attic areas. The brick row houses on the right still stand, but are worse for wear. My father worked in the Morrell Park area in the 1950s and we lived several miles away near the "North Bend". Shorpy plus curiosity equals adventure. Approx view todayAssisted greatly by captivated's comment. Marble StepsWhen I was a boy, the National Geographic Magazine had an article on Baltimore. Many row houses had marble steps, and in one picture some neighbors were scrubbing theirs. I remember thinking, "That's too much work!" Old Montgomery Ward'sI thought that was the old Montgomery Ward's in the background. We used to drive all the way from Southern Md. to go there. Aunt Jimmie From West-by-God-Virginia and PigtownThis photo was taken at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Harman Avenue, known as the Morrell Park area. My Uncle Walter, who started to brew beer during Prohibition and my Scots-Irish Aunt Jimmie from West Virginia lived on Harman Avenue. Uncle Walt's brewing went on for many years to mixed reviews but it was always an adventure when visiting because he never got the bottle capping procedure down right, and once in a while you would hear a cap pop in the basement. My Aunt Jimmie introduced me to the pleasures of bluegrass music and festivals where they actually do pickin' and grinnin' in the audience. On a historical note just beyond Montgomery Wards towards Baltimore is Mount Clare, the 18th-century plantation of Charles Carroll, an original signer of the Declaration of Independence plus the first RR station in the US. Farther east of Mount Clare is an section of Baltimore called Pigtown. Supposedly the denizens of Pigtown would rustle pigs though the coal chute windows into their basements. (The Gallery, Baltimore, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, Jack Delano)
Unread Messages: 1943
... a message is to be picked up by the train crew." Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Multitasking ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2016 - 12:21pm -

March 1943. "Isleta, New Mexico. The Santa Fe depot. Horizontal arms on pole indicate a 'red beard,' that is a message is to be picked up by the train crew." Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. MultitaskingThe indication also required (I think) the engineer to step into the office and sign for the orders. It was also used in a not-by-the-book way by the station operator to slow down a train moving at high speed. Setting the indication would change the preceding track signal(s), telling the engineer to essentially approach at medium speed. This would give the operator extra time to transcribe or prepare train orders being given over telegraph or phone. Hopefully, the operator could reset the signal(s) before the train reached the station and pass the written orders to the trainmen on the fly as usual. Beard??I think that should be "red board", not "red beard". Signals were known as "boards"; the origin is pretty clear in this example. Interesting that both arms are horizontal (red boards), indicating that the operator has train orders (the "message") for trains in both directions, eastbound and westbound. Bad handwriting?Red board, he probably meant to write. He's next to the line to El Paso, looking north; the line west to California curves away. Sure not what it used to beIn 1986 an agreement was reached between the nation’s railroads and the Transportation Communication Employees Union which voided the exclusive right of operators to handle train orders. Operators had for a long time arranged for the written orders train crews were obliged to follow. Radios, computers and fax machines essentially rendered train orders moot, and hence the need for operators. Operators handling train orders today are very few and far between. Yours truly was one of them up until 1990, and I’m quite certain the control operator at the station I worked still handles them occasionally. After 1986 train dispatchers generally supervised train movements directly, issuing instructions to train crews by radio, often using track warrant and/or DTC operating authority. Regarding steamghost’s remarks, a “31” order had to be signed for, a “19” order did not. Order BoardsThe "messages" were Train Orders transmitted by the Train Dispatcher located usually in the division offices. Rules often specified that the signal remain at stop both ways until the engineer blew four short toots to "call for the board" . . . . if no orders, the operator would clear the signal in his direction, then reset to stop after the train had passed. This practice varied by company, but was a "fail-safe" to make sure the train received any orders. Most Western railroads abandoned the practice later, leaving the signals clear most of the time. If there were orders some orders would be delivered on "the fly" but certain orders required signatures. Again, it varied by railroad. E. W. Luke Retired Train Dispatcher. All StopIn some locations, order boards were to be left in stop position. When a train approached, if there were no orders, the signal was cleared. Form 19 vs. Form 31 Train OrdersThere were two commonplace forms used for Train Orders; Form 19 and Form 31. A Form 19 order can be "hooped up" to a passing train, meaning that the order was fastened to a wooden hoop on a lightweight pole handle, and the crew of a passing train would catch the hoop on their arm, pull off the orders, and drop the hoop for re-use. Two hoops would be prepared, one to pass up to the locomotive and one to pass up to the caboose. A Form 31 order must be "signed for", so the train must stop to receive it. The operator would keep a signed copy. Train Orders are nicknamed "flimsies" because the pre-printed forms were on a translucent "onion skin" paper so that they could be read by holding them up to the glow of a kerosene lantern or a steam locomotive firebox, just slightly opened to let out some light. (The full glare of a hot firebox is dazzling - it would take away one's night vision for a while.) (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Hyattsville: 1940
... Route 1 at Hyattsville, Maryland." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Old ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/26/2019 - 7:34pm -

June 1940. "Railroad tracks along U.S. Route 1 at Hyattsville, Maryland." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Old stomping groundsI piloted more than a few trains through here, both freight and commuter. Right to left we have U.S. Route 1 (Rhode Island Avenue), the main drag here, even today. The first two tracks to the right are the double track streetcar from Washington. They just came off of Rhode Island Avenue and are now on private right of way to Beltsville and Branchville. At one time they ran to Laurel. The line was cut back to Beltsville, but lasted to the end of DC trolley service (1961, I think). The next two tracks to the left are the Baltimore & Ohio Washington Branch, opened in the 1830s. Note the fence between the tracks in the distance and the passenger platform for Hyattsville station, visible behind that clump of trees. The station here was a beautiful brick structure designed by E. Francis Baldwin; I don't know what happened to it, but in my time it had been replaced by an ugly utilitarian structure. Hyattsville is passed by numerous commuter trains each day, but none have stopped here in many years. I suspect the total lack of parking has something to do with it. Another main track, not visible here, swung behind the depot and turned south, connecting with a track from Baltimore to lead to the Alexandria Branch to Virginia. That branch today is a vital part of CSX's operations to the south. The fifth track from the right is a station track. There are two more tracks to the left that appear to be freight sidings that were gone in my day. I should mention that we are looking south (RR west) toward D.C. 5100 Block of Baltimore AvenueThe view is looking south down Baltimore Avenue / Route 1 - the intersection on the right is Gallatin Street. The building on the corner still stands. US 1 and Farragut StreetAgree that we are looking south down Route 1, but believe that this is showing the intersection with Farragut Street, a block south of Gallatin Street. It would appear that many of these buildings have been demolished, leaving park space behind, but note the cupola and roof line of the current County Services Building in the background. Note also the stepped roof line of the building on the NW corner of the Farragut intersection, as that building still stands. I Stand Correctedeugenegant - it appears you are correct. In my haste to ID the location, I failed to note the comparison of windows in the building I noted - they are different. The location of the road bend appears to correspond with your location as well. Custard’s Past StandI lived no more three miles from Hyattsville in the 1940s and 1950s. It was famous for the Polar Bear frozen custard stand, which was a small chain in the DC area. It was the coolest looking stucco building with a statue of a polar bear out front. You can find it on Google Images. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Sky Chief: 1941
... Municipal airport, Washington, D.C." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Finally Lots of searching, results here. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2019 - 2:56pm -

July 1941. "Working on an engine of one of the airliners. Municipal airport, Washington, D.C." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. FinallyLots of searching, results here. Aircraft is a Douglas DC-3 with Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines, operated by Pennsylvania Central. https://flyawaysimulation.com/images/downloadshots/18842-pca3zip-2-pcaa.... Penn Central AirlinesThe DC-3 being serviced belongs to Penn Central Airlines, which became Capital Airlines in 1947. In 1960 Capital Airlines Merged with United Airlines. Familiar termsMy father is a WWII USAAF veteran who continued in the aviation field after the war. He was a mechanic and later inspector for United, and by the time of his retirement he was certified for Airframe & Powerplant on every United airliner from the DC-3 through the 767. When he was laid off for a year or so during a late 1940s slump, he worked for Capital and hated it. He was glad to be back with the big boys by 1950. ZeusThe cowl is secured by DZUS fasteners, which must have been new. Quarter-turn screws encouraged not to unscrew by a ramp and a spring. It always seems too flimsy but seems to work. I was a DC-3 StewardessDuring early 1965-l967, I flew as a stewardess for Northeast Airlines out of Boston. At the time, Northeast was owned by Howard Hughes of Hughes Aircraft; he also owned TWA at the time. The airline was sold to Storer Broadcasting in late l965. My favorite piece of equipment was not their new 727-200, nor the wonderful Convair 880, nor their Vintage DC-6, but it was the DC-3, or C-47 during WWII. Our pilot instructors told us it was the safest plane in the world. I bid schedules that always included WWII pilot and co-pilot. These men were excellent at the job. I was the only stew in the 24-passenger cabin. We flew all over New England including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island, Maine, N.H., Massachusetts, Vermont in the DC-3. Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, the longest serving woman in the Senate, was very instrumental in keeping New England routes served by Northeast. Today, my husband and I live on a ranch in Texas. Whenever Raytheon Technology flies their DC-3 over our ranch, we run outside to enjoy the sound. Nothing in the air space sounds a wonderful as a DC-3, with their big Pratt & Whitney engines. (Technology, The Gallery, Aviation, D.C., Jack Delano)
Socks Partners: 1941
... mill, Greene County, Georgia." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/12/2019 - 9:27pm -

November 1941. "In the Union Point Manufacturing Company hosiery mill, Greene County, Georgia." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano)
Harbor Belt: 1943
... them for any special messages." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Wooden Dodo ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/23/2014 - 6:52pm -

January 1943. "Freight operations on the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad between Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. The train passes many interlocking towers on the way and the conductor watches them for any special messages." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Wooden DodoVirtually every track crossing of any importance had an interlocking tower guarding it; some were single story shantys, and some were massive brick or block structures. But most were very much like this one. As busy as this tower looks capable of, it likely was manned 24/7. The rods visible left of the track physically align switches, derails and even semaphore signals. More modern interlockings had electric motors to move these things, although I worked around such a plant as this well into the 1980's. Towers such as this are Dodo birds, or very nearly so. The function of protecting a level crossing,interlocking or a junction is today controlled from many miles away, and the towers have been falling all over the country for decades; if any are still in use for intended purpose, they are few in number. InterestingI don't know why, but I love the wintry-scene railway photographs. I am curious what the lines running along the track are, on the left. Are they signal lines? They seem too far away from the tracks to be an electric engine power source, and the supports would interfere with power engine power shoes. >>>>>>> Thanks to Olde Buck! They are control rods for signals and turnouts, which makes much more sense. I've read that those controls took some muscle to use, and no wonder! An Armstrong OperationWhen I was about 14 a tower man in Cumberland, MD let me try my hand at an interlocking lever. It wouldn't budge. The name is apt. That tower also had a timer which had to be set before any levers could be thrown, then each lever was locked in its new position until the timer expired after the next train passed. It was to make the operator think out his moves carefully, and prevent last minute changes. I H B R RSeems the name went from Indiana Harbor Belt Rail Road to Indiana Harbor Belt R R, to Indiana Harbor Belt, then to Harbor Belt finally on its later diesel engines it was just Harbor. Location on "The Harbor."Looking to the northwest at McCook, the Santa Fe crossing. I recognize the jog in the mainline on the other side of the diamond. Manual interlockings The Harbor (IHB) had about a dozen or so interlocking towers back in the day, each one a busy place. I’m going to hazard a guess and suggest, for several reasons, the featured picture is the old IHB Ivanhoe tower, controlling movements of IHB and EJE traffic across the diamond about a mile east of Gibson at 160th Street. To the best of my knowledge: 1) Dolton Tower, controlling movements across the UP (north/south) and IHB (east/west) is still manned by an interlocking operator, 2) the GTW tower at Blue Island is still a manual interlocking, as is 3) Gibson Yard west end tower. At one point most, if not all, of these towers were "strongarm" plants. Remote controlled switches and signals have replaced the Stone Age technology, but the operator headaches can still be intense. He/she has to balance the interests and wishes of a yardmaster, a dispatcher, and a trainmaster, among others, each of which has their own priorities. Anyone who has ever worked a Chicago tower will know well what I speak of. Attached is a picture of a strongarm operator lining a switch, one perhaps several hundred feet from the tower. McCook: Home of EMDJust on the other side of that aggregate pile in the background is General Motor's Electro-Motive Division, at 55th St. and old U.S. 66. All new EMD diesel locomotives delivered from this plant were handled by the IHB first. Manual interlockings photokreriver, what tower is shown in the photo you posted? It doesn't look like an IHB tower to me. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Ice Baby: 1941
... Company in Midland, Pennsylvania." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Brrrrrrrrr Having grown up in Philadelphia, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2018 - 12:00pm -

January 1941. "Workers' houses near Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Company in Midland, Pennsylvania." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. BrrrrrrrrrHaving grown up in Philadelphia, I can say the smart people are INSIDE! Red is grey and yellow whiteBut we decide which is right And which is an Illusion. So, the traffic signal is on red or green? The Non-Romantic Look of Cold and SnowGrey, cold, bleak. Delano is awfully good at bringing out that look. (And this is a great picture, right down to Mother and child at the window). Wikipedia notes that, after the War, Delano settled in Puerto Rico. The antithesis of the cold, snow, bleak we see in these pictures. Hmm. Stamped sheetmetal sled runners and uprightsCommon until well into the '60s, the runner sliding surfaces were just one edge of an L, often not well-made enough to be actually straight upright. And they were bendy. Not very good unless everything was frozen completely solid. The L flange needed to be much wider for snow. Kind of useless actually. As kids we were so envious of the kids from next door. They had two sturdy sleds built by their father - the sliding surface runner was inch-wide metal strap firmly screwed to solid wood uprights - no bending. They made our store-bought sleds seem second rate and slid far further. Re traffic lights: everywhere in the world, red is the top light! [Incorrect. Back in the day, green was the top light on many a stoplight. - Dave] Incorrect? Hardly, from my and any reasonable point-of-view. Saw your other post after I sent mine, so I'll just ask you - back in what day, exactly? You need to provide some real evidence, like a street photo, of these rarely-occurring anomalies. tterrace's example is of a one-off design that never made it commercially. Hardly proof of widespread green light on top traffic signals even "back in the day". After spending several hours last night looking for some evidence myself of your bald assertion, following my reading of an earlier Shorpy post which I actually read after the one I responded to, I was unable to find anything that sways me to it. Not a thing. There is of course the Wikipedia entry about the Irish green light in Syracuse NY, and the debacle over that one light was in the 1920s! That had to be done as a special case because it did not meet the New York State Dept of Transportation guidelines in 1925. Maybe there's an anorak website with every combination of everything that ever happened in traffic light design somewhere - I couldn't find it. It would hardly matter if I had in the greater scheme of things. So it seems no more than somewhat likely that green light on top might have been used by a mere few municipalities in the US, and probably before 1920. Nobody else worldwide bothered to get it wrong! Due to local financial concerns, sure, some anomalies may have not been replaced for years, confusing the color-blind and those folk who never can quite remember their left from right or east from west. Those who "remember" green on top are in that category, I'd suggest. Having conducted many safety hearings following accidents in my career, one thing I do know is that most people are quite unobservant, because their recounting of incidents never matches exactly, and some are fantasy. There is all sorts of history as to why red is placed on top, both for longer visibility in fog due to color sensitivity and earlier detection by the motorist cresting a hill before an intersection, and so on. Not to mention catering to the 20% of males with red/green color-blindness by standardization of position. A traffic light in Philadelphia in 1941, though? Get away with you. I'd bet money it was standard configuration. An extremely minor use of green on top may have occurred, sometime, somewhere, a hundred years ago. I'll agree to that. But as a useful reaction to my and others' comments, to call universal use of red on top "incorrect" is pedantry. I know it when I read it, because I tend to be a pedant myself. Comes from being a professional engineer for 42 years and a manager of them for half that. So who cares about the .01% of lights that might have been upside down long ago? Not even me. You own the site - you can claim right by might. However, if you insist on calling me incorrect, using the reason that very occasional anomalies once existed, remove my entire post forthwith, please. There are civil ways of mentioning occasional occurrences of something as points of interest. To make a bald impolite assertion of "incorrect" I cannot accept and won't be associated with in this case, thanks all the same. [Green-on-top stoplights were (literal) fixtures of my childhood. On cross-country family trips in 1965 and 1971, I'd announce them to the rest of the car whenever I saw one, mostly in small towns of the American West. It took less than a minute of googling to find the ads below -- from the 1930 trade publication "Municipal Index," both showing green-on-top signals. Which I suspect comprised a substantial percentage of early 12-lamp fixtures. - Dave] Click to enlarge. On every cornerThe mom and baby are likely watching the kid on the sled, who's eyeballing the photographer right back. Fun family scene. Then there's that guy who's on every corner in these shots, the needs-a-drink guy. My seasonal best wishes go out to him this year. In Defense of the Flexible FlyerThe sled which looks like to me as my old friend, Flexible Flyer, and panned as kind of useless actually by conundrum was not useless but loads of fun for my family. Bought originally around 1940 for my older sister and used into the late 50's by my younger brother was a platform for daring do down the hills of Clifton Park. Through the years there were many combinations of family and friends who rode the sled downhill towards Belair Road off a green adjacent to Clifton Park Terrace. The best snows were on weekends when Dad would be off and he would come along. My father had taught my sister then my sister taught me and I in turn taught my brother. When we were nearing the freezing point Dad took us to a store at Mareco and Belair that sold hot chocolate where he would order up us kids a round while he took Mom a few doors up to a local tavern for a shot of rye and a Gunther beer for himself and for Mom an Arrow draft beer. Someday I'll have to get into the discussions my parents and my aunts and uncles on my father's side had about Gunther and Arrow beer when they came to our house for a Sunday afternoon visit. Aunt Ana was neat since after drinking a beer she could blow up a balloon and it floated to the ceiling. Uncle Donald was cool too since he always had a few risque jokes to tell so he would give the kids a dime each to go buy some candy at the confectionary store up the street. At the time that bought a lot of candy since they were all penny candies and some were even 2 for a penny. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Kids)
The Phantom Stroller: 1910
... booth. The Third Level This makes me think of Jack Finney's " The Third Level. " The corridor I was in began ... fleetingly visible. A monochrome, indoor version of Jack Delano's nocturnal light trails. Why light? My question is what is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 5:43pm -

New York circa 1910. "Suburban concourse, Grand Central Terminal, New York Central Railroad." Note the light trail left by a lantern-carrying phantom stroller in this time exposure. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Only one lanternTo me it looks like he was only holding one lantern, and the light ribbons just happened to line up towards the spittoon (that he kicked closer to the column). Near the second column from the left, you can see the two ribbons diverge as he moved closer towards the information booth. The Third LevelThis makes me think of Jack Finney's "The Third Level." The corridor I was in began angling left and slanting downward and I thought that was wrong, but I kept on walking. All I could hear was the empty sound of my own footsteps and I didn't pass a soul. Then I heard that sort of hollow roar ahead that means open space and people talking. The tunnel turned sharp left; I went down a short flight of stairs and came out on the third level at Grand Central Station. For just a moment I thought I was back on the second level, but I saw the room was smaller, there were fewer ticket windows and train gates, and the information booth in the center was wood and old-looking. And the man in the booth wore a green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors. The lights were dim and sort of flickering. Then I saw why; they were open-flame gaslights. There were brass spittoons on the floor, and across the station a glint of light caught my eye. This is great!I probably wouldn't have noticed that for a while if you hadn't pointed it out! The Great Spittoon MysteryThis shot prompts two questions: What was the phantom stroller's direction of travel, and why his attention to the spittoons? My answers: toward the camera, and he was a spittoon attendant. First he stops at the drinking fountain to wet his whistle. The first ones he comes to may be one in two positions; the left one is much lighter, possibly indicating it was in that spot for a briefer period during the exposure. But there seems to be only one light trail, so that part's still a mystery. The next two he approaches from this side of the pillars; they'd be out of sight from his direction of travel. He determined that the nearer one didn't need emptying; the light trail indicates he approached it just enough to eyeball it. The farther one was either the same, or he managed to get it back close to its original spot. The last one, closest to the camera, he emptied, but replaced it in a different spot. One in each hand?The light tracks aren't just parallel, the up-and-down jiggles match, too. UnseenSure the phantom stroller is a great find, but I'm amazed because I don't think I've ever seen a picture of the old Suburban Concourse. It's much different today as restaurants have replaced the ticket windows, and that room in the back was completely replaced with a new staircase during the recent restoration. I've always loved the Lower Level's straight lines, and it looks even better without all the clutter of today. IlluminatingThe night porter is making his rounds here, ghostly legs fleetingly visible. A monochrome, indoor version of Jack Delano's nocturnal light trails. Why light?My question is what is making the light streaks? Flashlight? Candle? Reflection? Why would he/she need a light when the place is already lit up? [Janitors may have carried lanterns for the darker parts of Grand Central, where the tracks were all underground. - Dave] 1910!!Keep in mind that this remarkable scene dates from 100 years ago, when most homes in America had no electricity, indoor plumbing or telephones. The traffic at Park Avenue and 42nd Street would have been mostly horse-drawn. The world beyond the gleaming marble of Grand Central Terminal was largely constructed of wood and brick. There was no radio or TV. I'm not sure "computer" was even a word. If you wanted to go to Europe, you took a boat and spent the next week or so of your life heaving over the side rails. Once you crossed over into the wilds of Yonkers and Westchester County, there were more dirt roads than paved. This building simply took people's breath away. Baby is safeHarder to see in this photo are Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia (poised behind columns and ready to come out shooting). As we know now, the baby in the stroller was unharmed, although mom was terribly frightened. LovelyAs a somewhat serious photographer, I can't help noticing that in 1910, they had wide angle lenses without barrel distortion. Today, after your lens renders the scene shaped like a pillow, you have to straighten it in Photoshop. Baggage, telegraph and womenall kept out of sight. The Great Exposure MysteryThis scene is chock full of light fixtures blazing, reflections and glare off the polished walls and floor, especially at the ticket counter closest to the camera. How could the exposure have lasted long enough for the "stroller" to have covered all that distance without the shot being a complete washout? Just curious. [The light fixtures etc. look as bright as they do because it's a long exposure. - Dave] A thing of beautyHow sad that we seem to have lost our penchant for aesthetic beauty. Junior'sJunior's restaurant is in this space now, in front of the ticket windows. This is one case where I actually think it looks better now. In the photo, the place looks (obviously) empty and a bit scary. (The Gallery, DPC, NYC, Railroads)
In for Overhaul: 1942
... & North Western locomotive repair shops." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Overhaulin' ... was always a mystery to me. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/20/2014 - 10:17am -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. In the Chicago & North Western locomotive repair shops." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size. Overhaulin'How often did these locomotives have to be overhauled or rebuilt? I am thinking in terms of automobiles, which need an engine overhaul at 100,000 to 200,000 miles. (My mind is stuck on the 1960s cars.) But locomotives -- what determined their timeframe? Also I live near the Union Pacific rail yards in Roseville, California, and I can hear when a diesel needs repair. Talk about LOUD. Overhaul CyclesSteam locomotives required a lot of time in the shops. Inspections were made daily and small repairs and adjustments were made daily to keep the engines in proper tuneup. All of this could be done while keeping the engine hot. Every 31 days the fire was put out and the boiler was required to be drained, cleanout plugs removed and the interior of the boiler washed out with high pressure water jets. Certain appliance had to be removed, disassembled, cleaned, and reinstalled. Every 92 days additional inspections were required, and other work, primarily air components, were removed and rebuilt. There was also a one year cycle for certain other repairs. But the big one every 5 years, as shown in this photo, concerned major boiler work, and disassembly of the running gear. It could take an engine out of service for a couple weeks. The engine was lifted off its wheels, and every component that could be removed was disassembled, inspected, tested, and completely rebuilt as necessary. In the foreground we see a cylinder liner in left foreground, and the stack casting on the right. A portable machine was set up in front of the cylinders for re-boring the casting to receive new liners. Boilers had their superheaters removed and all flues taken out. Inspectors climbed inside and cleaned out accumulated scale, and carefully examined inside and out for hints of excessive corrosion or cracking. If necessary complete boilers could be removed from the running gear and frames, and major boiler repairs made. Very labor intensive and expensive, so the railroads were more than happy to switch to diesel electric locomotives when they became available. Thanks LarryDoyleGood info on locomotives! How they worked on the inside was always a mystery to me. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Career Girls: 1941
... Bedford, Massachusetts." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Kids) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/29/2018 - 11:45am -

January 1941. "Outside a large textile mill in New Bedford, Massachusetts." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano, Kids)
Truck Talk: 1940
... Avenue. U.S. No. 1, Washington, D.C." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Eateries & ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/06/2018 - 8:08pm -

June 1940. "Truckers at the Capital truck comfort station on New York Avenue. U.S. No. 1, Washington, D.C." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Eateries & Bars, Jack Delano)
Mission Control: 1943
... could use one of those desks at Shorpy Central. Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Thinking Time ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/01/2014 - 6:12am -

March 1943. "Marceline, Missouri. A dispatcher at work in the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad offices." We could use one of those desks at Shorpy Central. Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Thinking TimeThe glass globe with the knob on the far right is a timer. When I visited an interlocking tower at a major junction, the operator explained that he had to set the timer before he could set a route. Then each change he made was locked down until the timer expired, which was after the next train was due. This made him think through his actions, and prevented last-minute corrections. I suppose it serves the same purpose here. I wonder if the three units to the left of it record the times that changes were made? [Here, with a survivor, from Union Switch & Signal. -tterrace] Time outFor about two years (97-99) I worked the lever operated interlocking at Springhill, Indiana on the Soo Line. We controlled movement of both Soo and CSXT traffic there, and the only time we engaged the timer was when an established ‘proceed’ route had to be changed. As I recall it took about eight minutes for a route to ‘time out,’ the longest eight minutes one could ever experience. Signals in advance of the interlocking gave the hogger on an approaching train a pretty good idea of what to expect at the interlocking, giving him the opportunity to set up his train handling for the plant. The timing device, for instance, prevented us from changing switches from a main line movement to a crossover move (requiring much slower speeds) when the train crew was rightly expecting to run straight through at maximum speed. Timers are still part of the most sophisticated CTC boards today, but they’re controlled by computer software. I suspect the three white faced devices controlled the train order boards outside the dispatchers office, which the timing apparatus was linked to. Launch ControlI wonder what the three buttons under his elbow were for? [Cream, Sugar, Lemon. - Dave] (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
My Little Tommy: 1940
... Newtown, Connecticut." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. (The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/18/2018 - 2:50pm -

October 1940. "Mr. Thomas Festa, Italian FSA client with his horse on his farm two miles out of Newtown, Connecticut." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. (The Gallery, Agriculture, Horses, Jack Delano)
Night Maneuvers: 1941
... the bus in Anniston, Alabama." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Transparent Soldiers? Why do the light ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/11/2018 - 10:33am -

May 1941. "Soldiers from a nearby Army camp waiting for the bus in Anniston, Alabama." Medium format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Transparent Soldiers?Why do the light streaks from passing vehicles pass behind the signs and mailbox but in front of the soldiers? [Because they weren't standing there when the cars went by. - Dave] Fort McClellanThe "nearby Army camp" would have been Camp McClellan (later Fort McClellan, which was closed in 1999). Noble BusinessesThe soldiers are standing at the side of the Farmers Supply Company at 801-803 Noble Street. Some earlier sources give the address as 715 Noble. They sold a plethora of different goods including International trucks, farm and industrial tractors and equipment, buggies, wagons, feed, seed, harnesses, stoves, etc. Also seen in the photo are the following businesses. 800-802 Noble: The Model Laundry 804-808 Noble: Farmers Supply Co. Used Cars 818-822 Noble: Callahan Grinding & Machine Co., Inc. The picture below shows the front of the building, which burned down in the 1980s. All of the other structures are now gone as well. "A Wandering Minstrel, I"Posters in the window feature an advert for the Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, a once famous traveling show that featured Black talent across the segregated South of the Jim Crow era, most famously through the Mississippi Delta region and beyond. During the 40's a Billboard ad tabbed the program as "the Greatest Colored Show on Earth"and seeking "Comedians, Singers, Dancers, Chorus Girls, Novelty Acts and Musicians." It was owned by various people until its ultimate demise as times and tastes changed in 1959. An historical roadside marker in Port Gibson, MS touts the impact of the Rabbit's Foot troupe on the development of blues music in American culture. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Small Towns)
Drinking Buddies: 1941
... World's Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. (The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2019 - 11:28am -

Sept. 1941. "Merrymakers at the World's Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Small Towns)
Cannery Rows: 1941
... Miller, Negro FSA clients." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. From a big ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/19/2019 - 1:40pm -

October 1941. "Penfield, Greene County, Georgia. Canned goods made by Doc and Julia Miller, Negro FSA clients." Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. From a big gardenI count at least 720 jars, split between quarts and half-gallons. That's an average of 48 ounces per jar, or 34,560 ounces. Divided by 16 you get 2,160 pounds of food. It takes a lot of work to grow and harvest a ton of food by hand. Lots of workI do a fair amount of canning, and that is an impressive bit of work there. They must have a very large family or they are canning for neighbors as well. At that time, if you didn't have a pressure canner, it was considered safe enough to use a "hot water bath" to can vegetables. Jars of non-acid vegetables would need to be placed into a boiling water pot and boiled for up to an hour and a half to kill all the botulism spores that otherwise grow on sealed veggies. My dad's older cousin mentioned once about his mom canning in August, boiling the jars in a double boiler on the range, with the steam all but peeling the wallpaper off the walls. And you couldn't open a window or a door to get a breeze because it was thought that the cooler air would cause the jars to break after canning. Prior to the general use of pressure canners to process non acid vegetables (like green beans) there were the occasional tragedies of entire families dying from botulism poisoning. Around here, green beans were considered especially risky. So, buy a pressure canner if you want to can corn or beans or okra, or anything like that! (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Rural America)
Illinois Central: 1942
... Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Parts This is apparently a switching ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/21/2014 - 12:40pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Engine taking on coal at an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano. View full size. PartsThis is apparently a switching locomotive, as indicated by the sandbox (sometimes called a dome) atop the boiler in front of the cab, with it's sand delivery pipe running down the side of the firebox to deliver dry sand to the top of the rail behind the rear driving wheels for additional traction when starting to move a heavy cut of cars. Illinois Central locomotives, such as this one, had very commodious cabs. Small windows in the front wall of the cab, directly behind the sandbox, are to allow the engineer, and fireman, to see the color of the smoke as it is expelled out the stack - information important to maintaining the proper, efficient operation of the locomotive. The three parallel pipes running out of the picture to the right, from below the engineers position in the cab, are air brake control lines. The "broken grate" firebox (the bottom of which is indicated by the double row of rivets just below the air brake lines) is above the driving wheels, indicating that this engine was designed about two decades before this portrait. The gadget on the side of the boiler, directly below the sandbox is the injector. A simple, inexpensive, reliable, and miraculous device under the control of the engineer, that has been applied to every steam locomotive since the Civil War. With no moving parts, it takes steam from the boiler (the pipe connection at the top), sucks water from the tender (the connection below, that runs diagonally below the cab), and forces that water forward (the pipe to the right) into the boiler! This locomotive also has been equipped with a canvas awning above the engineers window (now, rolled up). This enables the engineer to stick his head out and look back, during inclement weather, to see signals during switching movements. Recently rebuilt 3600 class 2-10-0 locomotiveThe IC constructed 15 2-10-0 locomotives which were numbered from 3610 to 3624 over a period from 1939 to 1941. These were big engines that were pieced together from salvaged 2-8-2 and 2-10-2 locomotives. The lack of a trailing truck under the cab makes this an engine unsuited for much switching work as the trailing truck helps guide the drivers thru curves and switches. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Great Lakes Steel: 1942
... of War Information. - Dave] Steel mill Just like Jack Delano was as well with RR picts. Thanks Dave. And a really big great thank you ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 3:46pm -

November 1942. "Hanna furnaces of the Great Lakes Steel Corp., Detroit. Coal pusher apparatus with coal storage building seen in the fog which constantly hangs over the plant." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Arthur Siegel. View full size. Steel mill againAnother terrific pict, I love these of heavy industry which is almost gone today.How many photos did A Siegel take of steel mills? and he was lucky to be able to during WWII, I would think it would be off limits to take photos of steel mills during the war. [He was working for the Office of War Information. - Dave] Steel millJust like Jack Delano was as well with RR picts. Thanks Dave. And a really big great thank you for this wonderful photo blog, how did you get it started and when? Steel MillThe machine in the picture is actually a coke pusher. The coke ovens are in its front and it pushed the coke out of the oven. I ran one of these as a young steelworker. I knew a guy.....named Danny Reed, (speaking of coke pusher)...... Great guy,....I often wonder what happened to him. Great Lakes SteelMy father was hired by GLS in 1958. Looking back, I think he loved this place. Anyone remember him? Dale Forth Jr. df7@dcx.com Loved working thereI was hired here in 1971. Just came home from Vietnam and needed a job. The first few weeks hired as a track labor, 80 percent of the time our crew sat in shanties and ate tacos from our Mexican co-workers. I coundn't believe how easy the work was. After a year I was laid off and got hired at the Ford Rouge plant. Man I found out what work was. I worked at the Dearborn stamping plt and earned every penny. Anyway I ended staying there 31 years, retiring as a general foreman. I still think back at the mill. Good experience. My DadMy dad used to work at the Michigan Steel plant as the storekeeper. Does anyone remember Harold Brown? I worked at Great Lakes too, in the boiler house. -- Jim Brown jimbrown2006@netscape.net Also worked here.Fresh outta high school in '68, I worked at GLS for a few months, moving up from track labor to railroad signalman. (The steel was moved around by diesel engines.) I remember my first day on the job, a fella fell to his death. Good omen, eh?! My GrampsMy grandfather Rocco G. worked there 43 years. Retired and then kept himself pretty dang busy for another 30 plus afterwards. My dad, tooHe worked as a rigger from 1964-66 then from 1969-73 (break for Vietnam) before he got a job at Ford. Spent a lot of time on Zug Island. Bill Bryan, had the nickname "Badeye Junior". (no idea why) Mom could never get all the filth out of Dad's work clothes when he was working on Zug. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Arthur Siegel, Detroit Photos, Factories)
Needle's Eye: 1943
... of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. Cooling towers The structures atop both ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/01/2014 - 10:14am -

March 1943. Needles, California. "General view of street leading to depot of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. Cooling towersThe structures atop both hotels resembling inverse pagodas are cooling towers, as no decent hotel in a place like Needles could have done any business without some kind of comfort cooling. They may be water-cooled condensers for refrigerated systems, or they may be just plain old "swamp coolers"; it's impossible to tell from this evidence alone. From what I've seen and been told, the louvers on the sides were usually made of wood, probably cedar or cypress. The man straddling the foreground tower attests to the intensive maintenance that these systems required, while the tower in the background may have emanated the warm smell of colitas. The Joads, of course, drove past this place at night, after spending the searing hot desert afternoon immersed in the Colorado River, the poor man's air conditioning. Welcome to the Less ornate today.I am certain this is the location, with all the charm thoroughly removed: View Larger Map ID for CarsWe often hear it said that today's cars are not distinctive enough to ID. That was also true in the 30's, especially from the rear! To the right of the fellas on their way to the USO Club is a nice new 1941 Pontiac Streamliner "Torpedo" Four-Door Sedan. With a nice pair of non-factory fender skirts as well. To their left is a 1939 Ford Tudor. Can't tell if it is a Deluxe as we cannot see the right tail light - or lack thereof. Updated IDThe 1939 Ford is definitely a Tudor and not a De Luxe Tudor. The De Luxe models are easy to spot because the headlights are in the fenders, not between the fender and hood as shown here. The 1941 Pontiac is a De Luxe "Torpedo" Four Door Sedan and not a Streamliner. In addition to there being a definite break between the roof line and the trunk, the side trim on the De Luxe ends in a straight line, parallel to the ground, before the trunk begins. The Streamliner, which is a true fastback, has side trim which extends far beyond the trunk top, dips down towards the rear bumper, and follows the fender line. Also of note, the fender skirt shown on the Pontiac is a standard accessory that was shown in the Pontiac catalog. Photos of everything below. Needles Today...The soldiers in this picture were most likely stationed at the Needles Army post located between the Riverview Cemetery and what is now Needles Airport on the road going to Blythe. They would be going to the U.S.O. located inside the El Garces Hotel (Harvey House), which also serves as the passenger train station (it was completely refurbished in 2014 and serves as an Amtrak station and office space, although the only office space being used now is for the local city bus company). Most of the buildings in the picture are still around. Some are abandoned but available for reuse. We are looking south on F Street from Front Street, which jogs around Santa Fe Park via F and G Streets. Looking at the postcard here, the building on the left, at the corner of F and Front Streets is the Needles Point Pharmacy along with some other businesses. Beyond that (during wartime) there was a service station at the northeast corner of Broadway and F Street. Across the street from that is the Needles Theater (Cinema)/Masonic Lodge (the local Masons built it in 1929 as a dual purpose building). The theater closed down many years ago and the Masons no longer meet in Needles. However, the marquee still works and it can be rented for messaging. On the other side of F Street, where the palm trees are is Santa Fe Park, which is in front of El Garces Hotel (Harvey House). There aren't as many palm trees today. We cross Front Street as it jogs around Santa Fe Park. Here we see the Needles Point Liquor Store (complete with loyal customers at the front door) and then we see the Needles Eye Lunch. This is the Butler Building and it's all abandoned but it's serviceable. Beyond the Needles Eye Lunch we see a Shell Station and the northwest corner of F Street and Broadway. This is now where Needles Glass and Mirror do business. Across the street from that we see the Hotel California, which burned down in 1952. Today that site serves as the parking lot for the Frontier Phone Company. Beyond that is Robinson's Motor Inn (cottages) which is now Robinson's Apartments. (Three of the old 1930s motels became apartment complexes.) Needles Point Drug and Liquor Stores are now neighbors on Broadway to the southwest of this picture. The former site of the Needles Point Drug Store is now property of the Needles Unified School District. There are still other businesses in that building, including a beauty salon. The solid white line down the middle of the street is now a double yellow line. The crosswalk from the drug store to the park no longer exists. Only parallel parking is allowed on Needles streets today. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Eateries & Bars, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Time to Make the Donuts
... least to see if there is something new. The photographs by Jack Delano that you put up made me buy 48 rolls of Kodachrome 64: great stuff while ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 9:27am -

June 1942. Truck driver at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Douglas Dam. View full size. Amazing 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer. Amazing! It looks like aAmazing! It looks like a photo taken in a studio with a complex lighting setup. Or maybe a modern HDR photo. Hard to believe it was taken in the forties. I love the color!I love the color of these Kodachrome transparencies you're posting. Absolutely marvelous! Please post more if you got 'em. [Glad you like them. For many if not most of the ones we are posting, this is the first time they've been seen in all their high-res, color-corrected glory. - Dave] Color correctionDave, What color correction do you do to Kodachromes? Do 40s Kodachromes need any? I believe this particular emulsion should be good for something like 180 years when stored dry and dark. BTW: Love this site and visit twice a day at least to see if there is something new. The photographs by Jack Delano that you put up made me buy 48 rolls of Kodachrome 64: great stuff while it lasts. [Thanks. There was no color correcting for this one aside from hitting Auto Color in Photoshop, which will remove any color cast. Then there is usually a bit of tweaking with the Shadows and Highlights filter. One reason these look so nice is the large film size. The 4 by 5 inch Kodachrome sheets used to make these pictures have 18.4 square inches of usable surface area, which is 18 times as much as a 35mm film frame, which gives almost exactly one square inch. So there is a lot more information to work with. The archival tiffs for these images are from 130 to 200 mb in size. The Delano pictures tend to be underexposed and require a bit more tweaking. Below is a Delano shot with the before-and-after versions in alternating stripes. - Dave] ExposureDave, Thanks for taking the time for your comprehensive reply. Although I have a Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5, I am resigned to using it with Ektachrome 100 EPP readyloads, as Kodachrome is nowadays available in 35 mm only. The Kodachrome goes in a Leica M6 TTL therefor and has to be sent to Kansas (the only remaining K14 lab in the world) for processing. The original Delano slide looks underexposed by at least a full stop and certainly benefits from your post processing. If Delano exposed like this consistedly, I wonder why. Keep up the good work! [The darkness of some of these may have to do with the settings used by the contractors who digitize these for the LOC. They may be erring on the side of caution. You can usually extract a nice picture from the tiff of an underexposed sheet whereas with an overexposed image you are pretty much stuck with what you see. - Dave] Original Kodachrome FilmWe must remember that the original Kodachrome film was ASA 10 and very contrasty. It was hard to overexpose it! Kodachrome II (ASA 25) came out around 1960 and was far better. These photographs are just so good! I can't tear myself away from the computer until I've seen them all. GREAT work, Dave. Scanner?Can anybody comment on the scanner used for these shots? [There is no scanner. The LOC transparencies are digitized using a Sinar studio back, which is something like a regular digital camera (but without a light source, which the user has to supply along with a lens, if one is needed). Basically a giant CCD array that records an image in one to four exposures. - Dave.] (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, WW2)
Chicago Fog: 1942
... An unusually heavy fog in the early afternoon." Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. After That ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/13/2017 - 1:03pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. An unusually heavy fog in the early afternoon." Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. After That Bus, Watson!Save for the street furniture and bus markings, this could be London on a clear day back when everyone heated with coal. The buses' position on the street gives nothing away because they appear to be driving roughly in the middle -- a tendency toward which has not infrequently been ascribed to bus drivers on both sides of the water. Royalty in the MistThe double-decker bus looming out of the fog is a Yellow Coach Model 720, which was nicknamed Queen Mary in a nod to the famous Cunard superliner RMS Queen Mary, launched in 1936. The Chicago Motor Coach Company had 100 of the Series 2 that were built in 1936, and 40 of the Series 4 (fuel tank and battery location moved to eliminate fire hazards) that were built in 1938. They proved to be very useful and many of them were rebuilt several times before finally being retired in the early 1950s. The Fifth Avenue Coach Company bought 25 Series 3 and 35 Series 5, which were the New York versions of the Series 2 and Series 4 respectively, with some body changes. According to New York Fifth Avenue Coach Company: 1885-1960 by Oliver J. Ogden, bus Number 104 (seen in the bright sunlight below) was: the Yellow Coach demonstrator for the new Queen Mary Design. After it was shown in New York, it kept the No. 104 but was relettered "Chicago Motor Coach." It stayed with Chicago and then was sold to Coast City Coaches of New Jersey in 1945. [Via Motor Bus Society] Actually, it was destined for Chicago all along as it was intended to replace No. 103—the 1933 Model 706 prototype that was the basis for the Model 720 (and which, after retirement, appeared in several movies). The New York Model 720s were numbered in the 2000s. No. 104 was actually the only Series 1, built in 1934 and used in 1935 as a demonstrator on Route 5 in New York City before being sent to Chicago to be put into regular service. Why all the swapping around? Because both the Chicago Motor Coach Company and the Fifth Avenue Coach Company were both owned by the Omnibus Corporation and shared the same paint scheme. And the Omnibus Corporation and the Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company were the brianchilds of John D. Hertz, along with Hertz automobiles, Hertz Rent-a-Car, Yellow Cab Company, etc., etc. The Model 720 were visually similar to the Yellow Coach Model 735s, but Chicago Motor Coach Company did not acquire any Model 735s. A 1936 Series 2 is seen below. They were so popular that kids got to get in on the action. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chicago, Jack Delano)
Long Train Going: 1943
... Clovis, New Mexico." One of hundreds of photos documenting Jack Delano's trip from Chicago to California on a Santa Fe freight for the Office ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2013 - 1:46pm -

March 1943. "Canyon, Texas. Approaching the town on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad between Amarillo, Texas, and Clovis, New Mexico." One of hundreds of photos documenting Jack Delano's trip from Chicago to California on a Santa Fe freight for the Office of War Information. View full size. A Cold DayThe the length and contrast of the plume produced by the steam locomotive up ahead indicates it's a cold day in Texas. The picture appears to have been taken hanging out the window of the caboose cupola. I'll bet the crew was happy when he closed that window upstairs, letting all the heat out! I would love to have made this trip. That so much wood is in sight ahead is interesting for many unfamiliar with railroads of the era. We often think of metal and railroads, but even in the mid-1940s, wood was still used extensively for boxcar sheathing. Reefer cars (note upward protruding latch for the ice hatch) like the one just in front of the caboose the photographer is riding in were still almost exclusively wood-sheathed to help reduce heat transmission. The war had a lot to do with what could be seen along the nation's railroad lines, too, in terms of construction materials. Some "war emergency" cars were produced, framed with steel as before, but using wood sheathing for the sides instead of steel, which went to the war effort. Virtually every car the could be pressed into service was repaired and operated. Thus many older cars continued in service when they otherwise would have been scrapped and replace by new. The effects of the Great Depression also contributed, since many railroad held off ordering new equipment, then found themselves handling greatly expanded war traffic while the equipment order they might have placed just before the war was set-aside until victory. It was a good thing, but FDR's relatively limited attempts at economic recovery never really lifted economic activity enough to escape the Great Depression. It was the war itself, with its huge economic stimulus, that finally ended the Great Depression. A lesson about holding off on economic stimulus and austerity budgets that should needs to be emphasized as we struggle into the 6th year of the Great Recession. That's also why there's still a lot of wood in sight along the iron road. Still hauling freight.This curve appears to be about 3 miles north of the center of Canyon, TX and about a mile south of present day Interstate 27. After Canyon the track turns southwest toward Clovis, NM and continues westward toward Albuquerque and Los Angeles. Since the early 20th century this track has been part of the Santa Fe Railroad's(now BNSF)Southern Transcon route between Chicago and Los Angeles. These days you'll see a lot of inter-modal(container) trains on high-priority schedules with transit time from Chicago to Los Angeles in the neighborhood of 55 hours. Are those passenger cars?It looks like there might be a block of about 8 passenger cars deadheading in the freight train, just to the left of the signal. Not unheard of, but I would think unusual in view of the shortage of passenger equipment during the war. Or maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, which would not be unheard of either. Yeah, they might be passenger carsHard to tell but they sure don't look like freight cars. Could be a repositioning move of troop cars from one base to another. Clovis had some WWII bases near it as I'm sure other towns down the line did. What I'd like to know is what kind of locomotive was pulling them. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
War Store: 1941
... making plans to move." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Fly Ribbon You've gotten your money's worth ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/17/2019 - 10:51am -

June 1941. "In the area being taken over by the Army -- Caroline County, Virginia. Most of the customers at this store are now soldiers. Many of the people in the area have already moved out and the owners of the store are making plans to move." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Fly RibbonYou've gotten your money's worth out of that fly ribbon, and it's good to see that this country did have a good 5-cent cigar. Note the mirror over the scale. It kept the shopkeeper from weighing his thumb along with the pork chops. Cigars & boozeAlso sardines & beans. And a whole lot of flies. Sign of the timesThe sign over the soldier's shoulder is interesting. It reads, "Buying at Home-Owned Stores has the same effect on a community as savings has on the individual. Both are constructive methods of insuring the future prosperity of a community and it's members." Sounds like this store is dealing with Wal-mart and Amazon. Things keep repeating I guess. Wow!So much -- including a fully loaded flypaper hanging. Certainly the most misdressed soldier I've seen. Management's PlansI hope they decided to change the flypaper before moving. "'Wealthy in Heart'Anthropologists hired by the Army have recorded interviews with 58 people whose families had to move out so soldiers could move in. "The government bought 1,116 individual tracts of land, displacing families, farms, schools, churches and communities that had existed in the sleepy countryside for generations," according to the manuscript of a book containing the interviews and photographs. https://fortaphill.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/wealthyinheart.pdf "Hundreds of farming families who had lived there for generations were caught up in the whirlwind of history and gracefully acquiesced their lands for the needs of their country," but not without some dissent and heartbreak. "From the government's perspective, it was a necessity. For those whose land was taken, there was no alternative but to go. For some, it was a blessing in disguise that moved them on to better conditions and opportunities. For others, no worse a catastrophe could have befallen them as they lost their lands, legacies and lifestyles, never to be regained." These rural Caroline residents' stories remained largely untold until the recent interviews. Now the interviews have been transcribed for a book that will be available to the public. It will be titled "'Wealthy in Heart': Oral History of Life Before Fort A.P. Hill," said Marie B. Morton, a co-leader of the team of anthropologists. "We are in the process now of determining how many copies to publish, and what the cost might be," she said. Morton said she doesn't know how many people were displaced for development of Fort A.P. Hill. "I honestly don't know if anyone has that number because there were so many people living there who were not landowners," she said. Preservation of this slice of Caroline history has come about largely through the effort of Col. Michael S. Graese, former commander of Fort A.P. Hill, who persuaded the Army to finance the oral history. Fairfax-based Paciulli, Simmons and Associates Ltd., which has a Fredericksburg branch office, fielded the team that conducted the interviews and gathered the photographs. PSA's services include engineering, planning, surveying, landscape architecture, environmental and wetlands science and cultural resources. It all began in 2006 when Graese attended the annual Mica High School reunion on the base. He was fascinated by the school graduates' stories of their rural way of life that once existed in that part of Caroline. With the Army's financial backing, PSA launched the oral-history project in April 2007. Allan Morton, Marie B. Morton, Jerrell Blake Jr., Royce McNeal, Carolyn Hemphill, Beryl Carter and Marion Simmons conducted 82 hours of taped interviews and collected more than 300 photographs. Those interviews have yielded a wealth of details, memories and points of view of people whose families once lived where Fort A.P. Hill is today. On the military installation, Mica High School still stands as a symbol of a bygone era. The high school was erected in 1918 at a cost of about $10,000, and opened with 70 students and four teachers, according to Marshall Wingfield, author of "History of Caroline County Virginia." In the 1920s, Wingfield wrote, more than half of the Mica High School graduates went on to college. Back in the 1930s, a visit to a rural community's general-merchandise store, such as Smithers' at Delos, often meant chatting with neighbors and catching up on local news, according to those interviewed. For a child, it was a special treat. Maynard Penney 75, a Bowling Green Realtor, remembers living in Upper Zion, which had a post office, a church and a couple of stores in addition to the homes. His father was a farmer, and Penney was born there. "I was not quite 9 when we moved from there," he said. For the forthcoming book, Allan Morton, the other Co-leader of the project, wrote a dedication to the people who supplied their "little histories" about their lives before development of Fort A.P. Hill. "Many people see history in a large big-picture sense," Morton wrote. "To them, it's only significant if the world or the country has undergone change." But for "an anthropologist--one who studies people and their culture--significance lies not necessarily in the big-picture, but in understanding the everyday lives of people. "This oral history is especially significant because it focuses on a lost world." The forthcoming book of interviews and photographs, Morton wrote, "is dedicated to all the people who gave their time to open their hearts and share their memories and thoughts so this history could be told." Video "Wealthy in Heart: Oral History of Life Before Fort A P Hill" https://youtu.be/ad6jhB6P3Vw Oxydol giveawayThat is quite some giveaway -- two 1942 Nash sedans every day for 30 days, plus cash prizes daily. I'd enter in a heartbeat. No gas to run it, but it would look nice sitting on the front lawn. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Stores & Markets, WW2)
Jewish Farmers Exhibit: 1909
... a dream come true. This photo, taken among many others by Jack Delano, is my great-grandfather, Abraham Metzendorf. Beehives Those ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 12:13pm -

New York. October 13, 1909. The Federation of Jewish Farmers of America exhibit at the Educational Alliance building, East Broadway and Jefferson Street. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. The EdgiesI had more than a few friends that grew up on the Lower East Side. The one thing they had in common was the Educational Alliance, or the "Edgies" as they referred it to it. They were able to get advice and help during tough times. It is still there helping the locals, mainly Hispanic and Asian. Seward Park High School had students speaking more than 50 languages and dialects; 80 percent of the pupils came from homes where English was a second language. The school has recently been broken up into five smaller schools to better cater to the students' diverse population. The list of successful graduates and beneficiaries of the Edgies is enormous. Back to the GardenWoodstock took place on the fields of a Jewish farmer. Max Yasgur was his name. Farm teamYes, Jewish athletes were common among 1900-1920's boxers and ballplayers. That is and was a common American career path for the youths of virtually all incoming immigrant groups. That is getting on about about 100 years ago. There does not seem to be too many Jewish NBA stars these days, judging from the complete lack of them. There is likewise a dearth of American kibbutzes. As for Jewish farms in the U.S., I was going to say that law and medical schools are fertile grounds for growing young Jewish doctors and lawyers, but I absolutely decided not to go there. Six-pointersActually, Israel has a thriving agricultural sector, and basketball was largely a Jewish sport in the 1920s and 1930s. Okay then....its two, two, two girls in one (although I have been known to see double at times). Baruch AtahYou'd think those four young boys never saw giant Yiddish Yams before. Mazel Tov to the growers. Jewish Farmers of America?Jewish Farmers of America? New one on me. I imagine that organization meets about as often as the Association of Jewish NBA Centers. We all knew Old McDonald had a farm. I didn't know about Old Moishe. Still, someone has to grow our Kosher okra. I'm no bigot, but"Jewish Farmer" strikes me as an oxymoron. [Ever hear of a kibbutz? - Dave] The Farmer's DaughtersThe two pretty young ladies on the extreme right are reminiscent of Tevya's daughters in "Fiddler on the Roof." The young men selling their produce are providing the girls amusement by apparently humoring the fascinated young boys about the pumpkins and other squash. Sunrise, sunset, it looks like a good time is being had by all in this very happy picture. Thank you. [This is a double exposure. That's one pretty young lady on the right. - Dave] Jewish farmersI would refer any skeptics to the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, founded in 1900 by Baron de Hirsh, and whose function was to relocate immigrant Jewish farmers across the United States and fund them with low-interest loans through the first credit unions to be established in this country. My grandfather Leonard G. Robinson, an immigrant himself from Russia, was one of the authors of the Federal Farm Loan Act, and eventually became president of the JAIAS. Leonard G. RobinsonThat's amazing. I would love to learn more about your grandfather and his involvement with both the federal farm loan act and the JAIAS. Jewish farmers in ConnecticutI'd just like to add to the comments here that for Jewish immigrants from the Pale of Settlement, having a plot of land was a dream come true. This photo, taken among many others by Jack Delano, is my great-grandfather, Abraham Metzendorf. BeehivesThose boxes to the left of the smiling man in white. (I wish I knew what H.A.S. means, although I suspect the A is for Apicultural.) The white-on-black sign in Yiddish above the hives reads Clean Bees. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC, Stores & Markets)
Li'l Skeptics: 1943
... absorbed into the Office of War Information. Probably only Jack Delano and Gordon Parks (both well represented on Shorpy) caught the look of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 1:55pm -

Washington, D.C. July 1943. "Spectators at the parade to recruit civilian defense volunteers." Medium-format negative by Esther Bubley, OWI. View full size. SiblingsBut probably not twins. Just notice the difference in size. Sister's peripherals are vastly more robust, even if brother's CPU is somewhat close in capacity. That their countenances are so alike is remarkable. I'd say they are twins separated by a year or so. Seersucker bibsYes, its definitely July in D.C. If I had to squeeze in on that curb to watch a lame-o parade in the middle of a D.C. summer, I'd be a touch crabby myself. Double the pleasureTwin sourpusses! This must be the worst parade ever. Esther Bubley had the sense to turn her camera away from the event, and she captured a priceless moment others probably missed. Just drop your trash in the street...Looks like the streets were everybody's waste receptacle. I do remember finding cigarette packs, gum wrappers, and all manner of rubble in the streets when I was very young, we used to save found tobacco coupons, redeemable cigarette freebies, chewing gum give-away points, soda pop caps AND cigar bands that we wore as rings (yeah, we were poor). These youngsters look absolutely miserable and yet we never were. They appear to have lived in a cave. This pic does bring the memories flooding back, thank you. A family faceThese two obviously look just as much like Mommy or Daddy as they look like one another (and they also look like they thought this parade was going to be much more entertaining). And I covet everything worn by the lady on the right -- dress, purse, and especially the shades she's holding. I wonder if she's those kids' designated Cool Aunt. Esther BubleyShorpy is leading the much-deserved revival of interest in Esther Bubley. Born in 1921, he was younger than most of the photographers associated with Roy Emerson Stryker's documentary projects in the 1930s and 1940; by the time Esther went to work for him in 1942, the Farm Security Administration had been absorbed into the Office of War Information. Probably only Jack Delano and Gordon Parks (both well represented on Shorpy) caught the look of the World War II homefront as compellingly as she did. Esther died in 1998. Aperture's 2005 collection of her photos is a fine tribute. DisappointedThey look like they had been told there'd be ice cream "before" the parade! CurbedIf twins are indeed telepathic, these two are having a serious conversation about something. Either that or the drunk clown just threw up. AccessoriesI'll bet they still looked like this when they were 60. On the other hand, Cool Aunt is smokin'! One can still make the dress, buy the purse in a good vintage shop, & procure the specs via the intertubes. The ring might be a special order. Depending on where you are starting from, you might need some meatloaf and whole milk to approximate the figure. Yum! Cool Aunt is also sans hose - a delightful byproduct of wartime nylon & silk shortages. D.A.There's something very Diane Arbus about this photo. I love it. Fashion-forwardI see the wearing of the dark socks and shoes with the short pants began early in that generation, and persists to this day. They Look So Cereal!These kids look like they were the models used for the signature character for Frankenberry cereal from General Mills. In our family, we used to say someone with such an expression was "pooty-mouthed." Where that came from, I do not know, but it seems like a pretty descriptive and self-explanatory word. (The Gallery, D.C., Esther Bubley, Kids)
Pittsburgh Posts: 1941
... film plane of my 1937 Ikoflex (identical to one used by Jack Delano) and sighted across the facade of my row of townhouses. At f/8 the depth ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2020 - 12:53pm -

June 1941. "Rain. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Is the circus in town?What is that large tent filling the street a block ahead? Ah, I see nowIt's an awning on the next porch. A thousand words?This is a picture you can hear. DepthConsidering the light level, Vachon has achieved great depth of field without resorting to a slow shutter speed (man and umbrella in motion not blurred). I view in awe. Camera? Rollieflex? Great Cars!Facing us across the street is a 1935 Chevrolet. The third car, facing us, is a 1940 Chevrolet. The first car facing us on the right is a 1936 Ford. Bonus lovelinessThe abacus motif of the transom grill directly above the porch rail is just plain beautiful. Posts and balusters still there!Astute Shorpy followers will notice that the fragment of column on the far left is the same column as the one seen in a different view posted in June 2008: https://www.shorpy.com/node/3793 The location was identified in a comment as being on the corner of Madison and Lockhart. Here's the same view from the same location today: https://goo.gl/maps/J1xaf8nmE5AJNUQ87 Posts and balusters are still present at this location. The lack of spindlework causes it to lose some of its old charm, in my opinion. Ticket TimeParking left wheels to curb brings a parking ticket nearly everywhere. Well, except in England, of course. Depth of FieldI had the same reaction that ManyBuicks did. I shoot with several twin lens reflex cameras from the 1930s, so I experimented a bit. I fastened a piece of frosted mylar at the film plane of my 1937 Ikoflex (identical to one used by Jack Delano) and sighted across the facade of my row of townhouses. At f/8 the depth of field was barely adequate, and not nearly as good as in Vachon’s rain shot. Considering that the original photo was probably shot at about 1/50 second (common on cameras of that era) to almost stop the walker, and the day was quite dark, I think that would have required film with an unrealistically high ASA speed, especially for those years. Then I found the original scan at the Library of Congress. The film was medium format, alright, but it was sheet film. (The notch codes are visible.) That means that Vachon could have used a 2x3 Speed Graphic camera. They don’t have a front swing movement for the lens, but by dropping the bed and holding the camera sidewise, you can achieve the same result. However he did it, John Vachon knew what he was doing. [The film size is 4¼ x 3¼ inches. --Dave] Singing In The RainJust, singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling. Thanks to the keen eye of davidk I am also mesmerized by the abacus motif. A distinction without a differenceSagebrushCity might have missed the format size of the camera, but everything else he posited Vachon doing could have been done just as well with a 4¼ x 3¼ Graphic, which also existed at the time (I used to have one). (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, John Vachon, Pittsburgh)
Standard Service: 1940
... started to collect them last year. I found this image of Jack Delano somewhere in cyberspace. I believe that's a Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex around ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/14/2019 - 11:35am -

April 1940. "Gas station on a sunny afternoon. Dubuque, Iowa." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Hairy CatConsidering the Cat's hair in this self-portrait (https://www.shorpy.com/node/25187), I wonder if Mr. Vachon was peering over the camera and looking at the lens (or out the window) the moment this exposure happened. [He was looking down into the viewfinder. - Dave] That does double for me!I loved all my twin-lens reflex cameras and wish I had kept them. But nnnnoooooo ... Current view?The Page Hotel, located in the upper left, was located at the corner of Fourth and White streets. This view from Google Maps, appears to show approximately the same view. Not sure if the existing brick building across the tracks is the same one in the current view. U.S. 61 Freeway There NowBased on this article, the Page Hotel stood at Fourth and White Streets, about where the U.S. 61 freeway is now. http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=PAGE,_John Heavy metalBeing a steam locomotive fanatic, I would want a room facing the tracks in the hotel. Unfortunately I wouldn't be born until Nov. of 1940. Looks like a busy crossing and with the baggage carts must be right at the depot. John VachonJohn Vachon's FSA pictures are sadly underrated. He was highly influenced by Walker Evans, whose plain and unpretentious portraits showed little evidence of advocacy or drama. Vachon had the same style, but his subject matter often differed from that of Evans. Vachon was young and inexperienced when he was hired by FSA head Roy Stryker. He fell in love with the camera, and loved touring the country for the first time. He photographed just about everything he saw, in this case a gas station near the railroad tracks. Consequently, his vast collection of pictures has become a valuable document of how life and the built environment looked in the 1930s. If you build it they will comeIt's kind of hard to see but if you follow the road (4th Street) from the bottom towards the top of the picture you will see a baseball stadium in the distance. It was known alternatively as Municipal Stadium, 4th Street Stadium, or John Petrakis Park. It was built in 1915 and was razed sometime in the 1970s, I believe. It hosted several minor league ballclubs. Double visionUnlike commenter Jim Page, I'm a newcomer to twin-lens reflex cameras, having started to collect them last year. I found this image of Jack Delano somewhere in cyberspace. I believe that's a Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex around his neck. Being a serious fan, I just had had to buy one. Gas PricesWhat's up with the sign? Prices? Octanes? [Yes. - Dave] Photographer's viewpointWell, we can see where the photo was taken from in radiochris's modern shot. There was a fire here, tooThe six-story brick building shown in the "Current View" post is the Canfield Hotel, built in 1927 as an addition to the existing four-story wooden structure. In 1946 a fire destroyed the older wooden building, killing 19 people, including owner William Canfield. The picture would have been taken from the four-story wooden part. An account of the fire: http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=CANFIELD_HOTEL (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, John Vachon, Railroads)
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