American Life in Early 40’s – 1942
Photographers working for the U.S. government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) between 1939 and 1944 made approximately 1,600 color photographs that depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. What did you think? Please tell us in the comment section below and remember to sign up for our free newsletter.
October 24, 2023 @ 9:37 am
My parents manned (they volunteered) the cupola of the Leland, Michigan Court house, to watch for potential Japanese aircraft coming over the N. Pole to do damage. As school kids, we picked Milkweed pods which were being developed as possible marine lifesaver stuffing and as possibly being used as parachute material. We saved tin cans….gas, tires, butter, sugar and many things were rationed. We in school, as we had fire drills, the boys went first to save them for possible soldiers. We made Maple Syrup to replace sugar….a triangular pointer was placed on speed odometer windows at 35 mph, the recommended speed to save gas. The list goes on and on. Oh yes, we started every school day with the Pledge of Allegiance which was switched from the right arm extended to the hand over the heart. The extended arm was too much like the Nazi salute. My 92 year old cousin is the only one that I know and have talked to, that remembered this one. I turned 86 this past March and I remember the anger my father showed at the sneak Japanese attack on Pearly Harbor, while they had diplomats in Washington. All of these experiences are why my generation, even though young then, have a very different perspective on the world we are in today.
July 30, 2017 @ 9:04 pm
Marilyn I so agree with you in every word. My Dad and Mom told me about all of the things Women did then. Dad was in the Navy and flew Blimps in Panama and at the Naval Air Station in Elizabeth City, NC to spot any danger from the Atlantic Ocean. Am proud of the Women of that day.
July 30, 2017 @ 10:09 am
WHAT AN OUTSTANDING PRESENTATION!!! SO VERY AMERICANA DEPICTING LIFE IN THE EARLY 1940’S. THE CITIZENS, AT THAT TIME, SEEM TO APPEAR SO DIFFERENT IN MANY ASPECTS. PLEASING FACES AND ALL PEOPLE SEEMED TO BE VERY PROUD OFTHEIR APPEARANCES. FAR CRY FROM MANY OF THE DRESS CODES OF MANY TODAY. SO APPRECIATIVE OF THE WISE PHOTOGRAPHERS TO LEAVE US WITH MEMORIES OF YESTERYEAR. THE QUOTES WERE FLASHED VERY QUICKLY SO I WILL READ AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL I MANAGE TO READ EACH CAPTION AND UNDERSTAND. EVERYTHING. SEEMS SO VERY PATRIOTIC AND THE LAST PICTURE WITH OUR BEAUTIFUL FLAGS FLYING ALONG THE STREET IN LINCOLN, NEBR!!! WONDERFUL AND MOST ENJOYABLE DEPICTION OF HOW THINGS WERE DURING OUR WW11 WAR YEARS. APPRECIATED THIS PRESENTION TO THE NTH DEGREE.