Zestfully Clean on the Home Front in 1943

From the Jan. 2, 2015, Shorpy Old Photos.

ZESTFULLY CLEAN: 1943.

June 1943  "Arlington, Va.  Girls in two of the long line of showers at Idaho Hall, Arlington Farms, suburban Washington residence for women who work in the U.S. government for the duration of the war."

Photo by Esther Bubley, Office of War Information.

Comments:

Arlington Farms had various uses after the war before being razed in the 1960s and is now part of Arlington National Cemetery.

During the war, Arlington Farms was a major attraction for male military members for some reason.

A Lot of Women.  --GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Copper and Communication

MARCH 28, 2017--  HOT LUNCH 1942  --  November 1941, Garfield, Utah.  "Loading a copper converter at the Garfield smelter of the American Smelting and Refining Company."  By Anfreas Feininger, OWI.

MARCH 30, 2017--  A SERIES OF TUBES, 1943--  June 1943  Washington, D.C.  "Miss Helen Ringwald, employed by the Western Union telegraph office, works with the pneumatic tubes through which messages are sent to branches in other parts of the city for delivery."  Esther Bibley, OWI.

It takes a lot to win a war.

--GreGen

Shorpy Photos, Home Front: Farm Security Administration

From the Shorpy Photo site.

OCTOBER 31, 2017--  LIKE PULLING TEETH: 1942.  February 1942.  "Dental clinic, Farm Security Administration camp, Welasco, Texas."  Arthur Rothstein, OWI.

NOVEMBER 1, 2017--  WELDON & SLEEPY: 1942--  February 1941.  "Two members of the "Musical Drake Family" performing at a barn dance in the Mercer G. Evans Farm Security Administration camp in Welasco, Texas.  Our pickers are brothers Welson (1923-1977) and Jasper 'Sleepy' Drake (1926-1992)."
Arthur Rothstein, OWI.

NOVEMBER 6, 2017--  SWING YOUR PARTNER: 1942.  February 1942.  "Farm Security Administration Mercer G. Evans camp in Welasco, Texas.  Drake family playing for a Satyrday night dance."  Arthur Rothstein, OWI.

The couples are slow dancing and there is one male-female couple.  The other two are women couples.

A comment says that the reason for the women dancing is that so many men had joined the military.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Keeping the Buses Running and "Arming" the Kids

From the Shorpy Old Photo Site.

MAY 22, 2017--  HOUND DOC: 1943.  September 1943.  Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania.  "A mechanic at the Greyhound Garage."  Esther Bubley, OWI.  With tire, gasoline rationing, bus riding became much more popular.

MAY 26, 2017--  THE CHILDREN'S ARMY: 1942--  Washington, D.C., 1942.  "Children playing, using sticks as guns."  Color.  Louise Rosskam, OWI.  The boys are "armed" and girls aren't.  The girls are also wearing dresses."

One of the comments was, "They don't need no stinkin' Nintendo."  Or "Idge Phones."

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Trains and More Trains

Jack Delano sure took a lot of train pictures for the Office of War Information.

Here are five more:

MAY 21-2017--  Red Means Go: 1943  Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago

MAY 23, 2017--  Locomotive Dreams: 1942  Chicago and North Western roundhouse.

JUNE 6, 2017--  Pabst Backward:  April 1943  Illinois Central and Pabst Blue Ribbon neon sign, Chicago.

JUNE 16, 2017--  40th Street Shops:  1942   Dec. 1942   Chicago & North Western RR locomotives.

AUGUST 31, 2017--  Backtrack: 1943   Willard, New Mexico

See Train, Go train, Jack.  --GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: She Sells Celery and Game Night

January 15, 2017--  SHE SELLS CELERY: 1942--  November 1942"  Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  "Mennonite farm woman at her stall in the Central Market."  Marjory Collins, OWI  She is standing under a sign for Millers Celery.

January 14, 2017--  GAME NIGHT: 1942--  October 1942.   "New York.  Dr. and Mrs. Winn with daughters Janet and Marie, a Czech-American family, playing Chinese checkers while the grandmother knits."  Marjory Collins, OWI

Comment:  John A. Winn, his wife Hanna and daughters came to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia in 1939.  he became a well-known psychiatrist and died in 1983.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: TVA and Coal

JANUARY 23, 2017--  Turn, Turn Turn: 1942--  June 1942.  "Tennessee Valley Authority power and conservation.  Fort Loudoun Dam construction.  Workman opening valve on a new pipeline of Fort Loudoun Dam, farthest upstream of the TVS's main Tennessee River projects.

"Scheduled for closure and first storage of water early in 1943, this dam will create a 15,000 acre lake reaching 55 miles upstream of Knoxville..  This reservoir will have a useful storage capacity of 126,000 acre-feet.  Power installation of 64,000 kilowatts is authorized, with a possible ultimate of 96.000 kilowatts."  Alfred Palmer, OWI.

JANUARY 16, 2017--  Big John: 1942--  November 1942:  "Pittsburgh (vicinity).  Montour No. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Cone Company.  Coal miner waiting to go underground."  John Collier, OWI.  The miner is a black man.  Everyone doing their part for the war effort.

What Made America Powerful.  --GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Office of War Information and Buses

September 25, 2014, A TO Z: 1943.  May 1943.  Washington, D.C.  "Office of War Information researchers working."  Ann Rosener, OWI.  Nothing like getting your photos at home.  These OWI photographers compiled quite a history of the Home Front during the war.

September 17, 2014,   BUS BAGGAGE: 1943.  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  bringing baggage from a bus."  Esther Bubley, OWI

There were ads on the wall for Kellogg's Rice Krispies "A hit for wartime meals."    Also one for Amoco Oil reading, "The Gas Behind the Guns."

Buses were another major way to get around.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photos: Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard at Baltimore

September 27, 2014, SECOND SHIFT: 1943.

April 1943 Traffic jam on the road from Bethehem Fairfield shipyard at Baltimore as the second shift of workers leaves the plant."  Majory Collins, Office of War Information (OWI)

Comment from Charles Street:  "My maternal grandfather worked a Bethlehem Fairfield shipyard during WWII even though he was a butcher by trade (and bought a small grocery store/ butcher shop after the war with money he made at the shipyard).  He commuted by street car."

Plenty of work and money to be made supplying the country with the tools of war.

--GreGen

Shorpy World War II Home front Photos-: New York and D.C.

Life went on back in the United States and the Office of War Information was there to take pictures of it.

JUNE 26, 2014:  HATTY'S HATS: 1943:  March 1943.  "Trucks in garment district.  By John Vachon, OWI.

JUNE 23, 2014:  EN ROUTE: 1943:  March 1943:  "Washington, D.C..  "Riding on a streetcar."  By Esther Bubley, OWI.

JUNE 22, 2014:  I FEEL FINE:  1944:  June 1944.  "Brooklyn, N.Y. Home nursing class held at community house of the Church of the Good Shepherd."  Howard Hollum, OWI.

JUNE 21, 2014:  RACING DAY PEOPLE: 1943:  March 1943.  New York, N.Y. Times Square on a rainy day by John Vachon, OWI.

--GreGen

Shorpy's Home Front in Manhattan

Two recent photographs from the Shorpy site.

OCTOBER 25, 2015 MANHATTAN: 1942:  September, 1942.  New York, New York.  Looking north from Ninth Street station at the Third Avenue elevated railway as a train leaves on the local track."  By Marjory Collins, OWI.

OCTOBER 24, 2015 THE CAUTIOUS COMMUTER 1942:  September 1942.  "New York, New York.  Waiting for the Third Avenue elevated railway at 89th Street about 8:45 a.m."  By Marjory Collins, OWI.

You still had to get from point A to Point B and public transportation was the way to go with all the rationing.

--GreGen  (Greatest Generation)

Shorpy Photos of America's Home Front: Swimming and an Early Form of Point and Click

10-21-15:  Modern Photography: 1943.  July 1943.  Glen Echo, Maryland.  "Climbing the ladder to the sliding board at Glen Echo swimming pool on a hot day."  By Esther Bubles.  Although the caption didn't say it, probably for OWI.    Even with war on, life at home continued.  Kids went swimming.

10-14-155  Family Business: 1943.  April 1943.  "San Augustine, Texas. Clyde Smith, grocer, with his two daughters."  By John Vachon, OWI.  You still had to eat.  Apparently one of the old grocery stores where items were behind counters.  An early form of point and click.

--GreGen

Shorpy World War II Photos: Agnes the Operator

10-8-15  AGNES THE OPERATOR, 1942--  July 1942. "Production Machine guns of various calibers.  Agnes Mahan, bench lathe operator at a large Eastern firearms plant, makes oil drills for .50 caliber machine gun barrels.

Photo from Colt's Patent Firearms Mfg. Co. Hartford, Connecticut."  Photo by Andreas Feininger, OWI.

Showing a "Rosie the Riveter" hard at work producing the weapons of war for the U.S. military on the Home Front.

10-2-15 SLOW TRAIN COMING, 1943.  John Delano, OWI.  Another in a large series of pictures of trains.  This, of course, was a very important part of our war effort.

--GreGen

Shorpy Photos: High School Victory Corps and Tires

From the Shorpy Photos site.

This site is always a great source of the American home front with obviously a huge collection of Office of War Information (OWI) photographs.

Sept. 2, 2015,  LEARNING THE ROPES:1941.  Oct. 1942.  "High School Victory Corps.  Flushing High School, Queens, New York.  Boy climbing a rope without using his legs.  Very difficult.  Photo by William Perlitch, OWI.

High school boys would soon be in the service so needed to be in good shape.

Sept. 1, 2015,  TIRE SERVICE: 1941.  "Hollywood, California.  "Tire service station."  Photo of Mosher Tire, next to the Dix Hotel.  Photo by Russell Lee, OWI.

Comment:  Owner of Mosher Tire Service was Lewis Dean Mosher, born in Illinois on Sept. 26, 1885.

Of course, tires were in short supply due to the war.

You can view the photos by typing in Shorpy and the capital letter words.

--GreGen

Shorpy Home Front Photographs-- Part 2

Jan. 17, 2014--  THE PENTAGON: 1940.

June 16, 2014--  THE "HUMP OFFICE: 1942--  December 1942 "Switch lists coming in by teletype to the hump office iof the Chicago & northwestern railroad yard in Chicago."  Jack Delano, OWI.

JAN. 15, 2014--  DATA ENTRY: 1942--  January 1942, Washington, D.C..  "U.S. Office of Defense.  Transportation system of port control and its traffic channel control.  using IBM punch card equipment.  Photo of a woman typing punch cards.  Early computer system.

--GreGen

The Office of War Information

From the Sept. 28, 2013, "Amazing Colir Photos of the U.S, Home Front During World War II."

FDR issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI).  They were tasked with taking photographs releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities and providing news outlets audio, film and photos of the government's activities during the war.

Thousands of photographs were taken and approximately 1600 were in color.

The Shorpy site sure has a lot of OWI photos, especially of trains.  I wonder if anyone has written a book about this organization?

Smile for the Camera.  --GreGen

Shorpy's Yreka Magazine Stand: 1942-- Part 2: Western, Crime and War Dominates

DARE-DEVIL ACES--  10 cents--  bombers"Leatherback Wings"  "The Hell Divers' Last Patrol"

LIBERTY--  10 cents

G-MEN DETECTIVES--  10 cents--  Nazis on cover

TEN DETECTIVE ACES--  10 cents

.44 WESTERN MAGAZINE--  10 cents--  cowboys

THRILLING DETECTIVES--  10 cents

SUPER SPORTS--  15 cents-- baseball on cover

COWBOY- LIFE ROMANCE--  20 cents

THRILLING WESTERN--  10 cents

SUPER SCIENCE STORIES--  20 cents

WEST--  15

You could sure get a lot of reading for a buck back then.

--GreGen

Shorpy's Yreka, Cal. Magazine Stand, June 26, 1942-- Part 1

From the Feb. 11, 2015, Shorpy "Yreka Comix: 1942."  You can see the photo by typing in the title.  "Yreka, California Magazine Stand." by Russell Lee, OWI (Office of War Information).

I was interested in seeing what people back then were reading, especially kids.  Were some of the comics about the war?

Here are the magazines, newspapers and comics I could make out in the photo with headlines  

LIFE MAGAZINE--  "War Stamp Bride"  10 cents

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE--  "Rommel Drives On Deep Into Egypt"

COLLIER'S

The rest are comic books.

ACTION STORIES--  20 cents

SKYFIGHTERS--  10 cents   World War II, "Wings of Victory"

Great Reads.  --GreGen

A World War II Poster: United We Will Win

The first poster for January in my 2015 Military Posters calendar is from World War II and features a whole bunch of cannons pointing and firing skyward with the flags of the Allies: U.K., U.S. China, Soviet Union, Australia, Mexico and others.  Lots of color and the words "United We Are Strong" at the top and "United We Will Win" at the bottom.

Text reads: "United We Are Strong, Henry Koerner, Office of War Information, 1943.

"Henry Koerner escaped from Austria in 1938 after it was annexed by Germany.  Soon after his arrival in the United States, Koerner began his career as an artist for the United States government creating numerous posters for the war effort."

--GreGen

Shorpy World War II Photos-- Part 1

From the Shorpy photograph site.

Someone could definitely make a great book on the home front in the United States using these photos.

JULY 10, 2014,  SMOKE SIGNAL, 1943:--  March 1943 "Ash Fork, Arizona (vicinity).  Passing an eastbound freight train on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad between Winslow and Seligman, Arizona, Route 66.  By Jack Delano, Office of War Information (OWI).   Railroads played a huge role in movement in the U.S. during the war.

JULY 8, 2014, PLANE JANE:, 1942--  1942 "Melbourne, Australia.  Beaufort torpedo bomber final assembly plant, OWI.  Planes were being made for the war in other Allied countries.  The girl appeared to be doing a final inspection, but oddly enough, was wearing a fancy dress and high heel shoes, something I would not expect.

JUNE 30, 2014, MEET THE MUNTZES, 1943:  Feb. 1943--  Moreno Valley, Colfax Co., New Mexico. Dinnertime at george Muntz's ranch, the 4th photo of the family in Shorpy.  By John Collier, OWI.  This one reminds me of the famed Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving painting.

--GreGen