Can you believe that sometimes children as young as twelve worked in coal mines? When photographer John Vachon visited the coal mine town of Kempton, Maryland-West Virginia in May 0f 1939, he took outstanding photographs of the people in the small company town, including these of some of the coal miner’s children. They give us a […]
The Kempton, Maryland-West Virginia coal mine has been abandoned. None of the miners were expecting it In early April 1950 a notice was placed in the window at the company store that the mines would close in a week. None of the miners were expecting this. “At midnight April 15, 1950, the Buxton & Landstreet […]
In May, 1939, photographer John Vachon visited the coal-mining town of Kempton, Maryland-West Virginia when the miners were on a 30 day strike before their annual contract was renewed. The song below, We Done Quit, was sung by Sam Johnson and recorded by George G. Korson at the Scott’s Mine in West Virginia in 1940. […]
While operating a small shanty that served hot beverages and snacks on a frozen river to tourists that were visiting the “Ice bridge”, a man heard the ice below him tremble and he immediately sensed disaster. The morning was said to be a cold and misty one, the weather and the time of day, about noon, perhaps limiting […]
Migrant workers to Barrien, Michigan made the best of their lives under difficult living conditions in 1940. These photographs taken by photo/journalists John Vachon reveal what their lives were like. Photographs show migrant agricultural workers, and families from Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas harvesting cherries and strawberries. They lived in miserable housing in company […]
These photographs taken by Russell Lee in July 1942 document the efforts of the energetic residents of Ola, Idaho and show the backbone of America. Russell Lee reported “Some of the members are in the armed services and others are working in war factories and others are helping neighbors who are haying. One member of […]
Ola, Idaho applied and received for two loans from the Government to open a cooperative sawmill to save the town from economic ruin. Their efforts paid off and when photographer Russell Lee returned to the town in 1942, the smiles on faces of the citizens of Ola reveal their success. Member of the Ola self-help […]
The Great Depression hit Idaho hard. From 1929 to 1932, the income of the average Idahoan dropped nearly fifty percent. Photographer Dorothea Lange visited Gem County’s Squaw Creek Valley, Ola, Idaho in October and November 1939 and took many pictures of the residents. These photographs reveal Idaho’s social history during the Depression and early war years. […]
The picturesque town of Ola, Idaho was an isolated community due to impassable roads much of the winter and this created significant problems for them during the Great Depression. Ola is an unincorporated community in Gem County, Idaho, United States. It is located approximately 30 miles north of Emmett. Carroll Baird homesteaded along Squaw Creek, less than […]
The garment industry is one of the oldest and largest export industries. We often hear of sweatshops and under age workers in other countries, but there was a time in America when sweatshops were common as well as those who worked at home and required their children to assist in the work. The photographs below […]
