Abundance

Freshly-laid eggs in Sonoma county, California.

Photo taken by Russell Lee in 1942.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: freshly, laid,

Halloween Party

(photo by Dorothea Lange )

Youngsters at the Shafter, California migrant camp, 1938.

During the Great Depression, people lost their land or their jobs as tenant farmers. Drought, sand storms, and soil erosion (aka the Dust Bowl) added to their misery.

In search of a better life, farming families relocated to California by the thousands, often sheltering in makeshift conditions that raised public health concerns.

In response, the US government established a network of migrant camps that provided assistance and a sense of community. Other photos from this event show the children lining up for refreshments - in the form of sandwiches and punch. (Notice the cups a few of them are holding. This was a bring-your-own event.)

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[American Memory link]
to locate this image, use search terms: halloween, party, shafter

Kitchen Scene

The caption accompanying this photo reads: "Kitchen utensils in a Blue Ridge Mountain home. Virginia."

Taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1935, there's dignity in this photo - and a stark beauty. Nevertheless, the image is too gritty to qualify as contemporary "country kitchen chic."

For all the nostalgia we feel about those who led simpler lives in bygone eras, this photo makes it clear that such lives were frequently materially impoverished.

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[American Memory link]

to locate this image, use search terms: kitchen, utensils, Virginia