The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

One of the really cool things about the internet is that now everyone who can get there can get access to a treasure trove of historical documents and photographs that were previously the domain of hardened researchers or supergeeks.  All you need is some time to spare and the desire to take a look at our country’s not-so-distant past, and some great stuff is there for the asking.  Case in point, the Library of Congress WPA poster gallery I highlighted a few years ago.

This time we’re going to look at something even cooler – highlights from a LoC collection of photographs from the 1930s and ’40s…in color!  While the subject matter isn’t necessarily scintillating on all these, the opportunity to see life as it really looked back then is a rare treat indeed.  Something about seeing a scene as pedestrian as a quiet street in color brings it to life in a that black and white photography can’t always do.  I find it a lot easier to immerse myself in the past when looking at it this way.

These photos were all taken between 1939 and 1944 by the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI).  Here’s a few of my favorites (click on a photo to see a larger version)…

I love the vividness of this one, taken in Tennessee in 1943.  The photo credit says this woman is operating a hand drill, but it looks like a rivet gun to me.

Read on Daddy-O…

I’ll probably pull some of these for a later article, but you should check out this sweet Flickr slideshow of color photographs from the 1930s and ’40s. They’re provided by the Library of Congress, who had another spectacular collection featured on this very site.

In days of yore companies issued trading/bubble gum cards depicting not just baseball players, but everything from actors, U.S. Presidents, and even license plates. One such manufacturer, the Goudey Gum Company of Boston, began issuing cards picturing Indian tribes and well-known Indians in 1933. This series ended in 1940, but Goudey began printing a new series depicting “Indian and Pioneer romantic days” in 1947. Shown here are two cards from that series, owned by a family member.

On the left is a card showing a member of the Huichol, native to Western Central Mexico (yes I know that a native Mexican has nothing to do with American Thanksgiving). Most curiously about this card is that it speaks of the Huichol as if they were extinct, but according to their Wikipedia article they are very much alive. Now if I had to choose between a Wikipedia article and a 60-year-old gum card for accurate historical information it would be a tossup I grant you, but I’ll have to chalk the gum card gaffe up as a careless error.

On the right is Luqaiot of the Kittitas Tribe, native to what is now Washington state (there’s your Thanksgiving connection, tenuous as it is). Most of what I found on Luqaiot (in my 6 minutes of research) backed up what his card said, so Goudey’s batting .500 so far.

Goudey Gum Company, for those still reading, ceased operations in 1962. Happy Thanksgiving!

Back in the day (1935 to be precise), President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an enormous government program aimed at providing employment for millions of Americans affected by the Great Depression. The WPA produced many public works (bridges, roads, etc.) and cultural projects. And while that is great, what I really care about are the cool posters designed to promote many of the WPA’s programs.

All of these images and hundreds more are available as part of the Library of Congress’s “Posters of the WPA” collection. I’ve simply picked what I feel are the best of the lot, and added my usual pithy commentary. As you’ll see, these great images are very much of their time, and most display an Art Deco sensibility that I love (at least that’s what I think the style is).

This promo for adult education classes in Ohio is so delightfully absurd, it’s hard to believe it came from a government program.

For those not familiar with war propaganda of days gone by, this is typical of many images from World War II (and World War I for that matter). In order to convey just how evil the enemy was, racial stereotypes and slurs were often employed. I’m not sure what the implied threat is here, however, as “the Jap” seems to have conquered the relatively unimportant North Pole.

Read on Daddy-O…