December 24, 1943. Washington, D.C. Christmas Eve party given by Local 203 of the United Federal Workers of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Joseph Horne.

December 1943. Another classic from Esther Bubley and her ever-inquiring camera: "Washington, D.C. In the library at the United Nations service center. Boys are urged to take books back to camp with them." View full size.

December 1943. "In the evening, Hugh Massman and his wife fold diapers. Joey's bureau drawer crib is moved to the side of their bed for the night." The Massmans were a young Navy family whose lives in Washington, D.C., were documented by Office of War Information photographer Esther Bubley. We're fortunate to have heard from their son Bascomb, whose comments have served as informative and entertaining annotations for these pictures. View full size.

February 1942. Red Cross nurse's aide and wounded serviceman, location unknown. 5x7 safety negative, Office of War Information. View full size.

May 1942. "When a husky leatherneck throws his weight on a line, things come his way. A member of a Marine barrage balloon unit in training at Parris Island, South Carolina, helps to ground one of the big bags that the Corps has added to its kit of fighting tools." View full size. 5x7 safety negative by Alfred Palmer.

February 1942. Firestone factory at Akron, Ohio. War conversion of beverage containers. An oxygen cylinder for high altitude flying, manufactured by the metal division of a large Eastern rubber factory, placed on a huge stack ready for shipment to the Army. View full size. 5x7 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer.

February 1942. B.F. Goodrich plant. "Not only as nurses behind the battle lines, but as workers in the factories producing important war goods, women are doing much to win this war and to spare the lives of the men doing the actual fighting. These girls are preparing a metal fuel tank to receive a bullet-sealing cover, an important new safety development to military aviation." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

December 1943. Hugh and Lynn Massman sightseeing on their first day in Washington. Their baby, Joey, is being taken care of in the nursery at the United Nations service center. View full size. Caption and medium-format safety negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information.

January 1942. Bantam, Connecticut. The business section of Bantam with the camera facing south along Lafayette Boulevard (Route 25). A few rods to the left is the Warren McArthur plant [fabricator of aluminum aircraft parts], while the block of stores visible at the left includes Mitchell's Tavern, the First National Store, a garage and two service stations. Not shown, but lying just this side of Mitchell's restaurant, is the birthplace of Horace Bushnell, a discoverer of anaesthesia. Reading from the right are the Episcopal Church, Tony's Bantam Inn (favorite eating place), Marcel Roy's drugstore, the Bantam grocery store and the firehouse. View full size. Photo and caption by Howard Hollem for the OWI.

December 1943. "Lynn Massman, wife of a second class petty officer studying in Washington, D.C., giving eight weeks old Joey his daily bath." The Massman family was the subject of dozens of photos shot by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size. Epilogue: Joe, a lawyer, died in March 2000 in Montana. His dad, Hugh, died two years later. Lynn, a mother of eight, passed away in 1983 after a very active life. Click here for remarks by her son Bascomb.

December 1943. Lynn Massman, a Washington D.C. Navy wife and mother, does her marketing. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Esther Bubley.

April 1942. "Baker's Garage in Wisdom, Montana. Largest town, population 385, in the Big Hole Basin, a trading center in ranching country." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.

A display showing savings from materials substitution at the 1943 U.S.-Canadian Combined Conservation Committee Exhibit in Washington, D.C. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Esther Bubley.

June 1942. Fort Knox, Kentucky. "A good job in the air cleaner of an Army truck. This Negro soldier, who serves as truck driver and mechanic, plays an important part in keeping Army transport fleets in operation." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

January 1942. Bantam, Connecticut. "Defense homes. The heating unit is in the kitchen of Fred Heath's four-room apartment in the new federally-financed homes for 80 families just a few minutes from the Warren McArthur factory in Bantam. The well-insulated coal fire puts steam in the radiators and provides the heat for cooking. The tenants are well-pleased although on several nights when the temperature dropped to 10 degrees below zero they were forced to replenish the fuel every two or three hours. That cigarette Fred Heath holds is not tailor-made, by the way -- he likes to roll his own." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Howard Hollem for the Office for Emergency Management.