Artist J. Theodore Johnson created this 1937 mural of farmers for the Works Progress Administration—an organization created to employ millions of Americans to carry out public works projects. A great deal of these projects were aimed at promoting American art and culture with the hope they would give more Americans access to what President Franklin Roosevelt described as “an abundant life.”
You can learn more about the New Deal arts projects in the online exhibition “A New Deal for the Arts.”
Posters like these were used as a recruiting tool during World War II to encourage women on the home front to join the Women’s Land Army.
Learn more about the WLA during World War II in this 1993 Prologue article entitled “‘To the Rescue of the Crops’: The Women’s Land Army During World War II.”
I noticed on the farms, mostly the little ones with just a shack for a house, there seems to be no one but the women left to do the work. You see them taking care of cattle, etc. It makes me proud to see how the women have picked up where the men left off and are keeping the home fires burning.
Why are these women all smiling? Probably because they are excited to be members of the Women’s Land Army during World War I—an agricultural organization created to enlist the help of women while farming men were called up to the military. What a fun way to be part of the war effort on the home front!
Here’s another helping of rice for your Tuesday—this photograph of wild rice harvesters in Chippewa National Forest comes from the Records of the Forest Service.
Another great image from the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs—Leo Wessel Bear and his wife, holding jars of the vegetables that they have canned.
Teenager working detasseling corn in a field during the summer near New Ulm, Minnesota
“The hybrid corn seed for the following year is obtained in this manner. It is one way for young people to make money from the seed corn companies. The youths earn their pay. It can be cold, wet work early in the morning when the tall corn plants are covered with heavy dew. Then it can get hot and muggy as the sun climbs overhead. 07/1974.”
Anyone have any fond memories of detasseling corn in the summertime? On a hot, humid day like today, that activity sounds like pure torture.
This family is busy picking cherries on an Oklahoma fruit farm while a baby in a stroller looks on. In this heat, one can only imagine the tedious work of cherry picking… while wearing a long dress and a bonnet.
Millions of peaches
It’s almost peach season! If you live by a U-pick farm, spending an afternoon picking peaches is a great way to enjoy the great outdoors and treat yourself to a sweet reward at the end of the day. These World War I “farmerettes” don’t look too thrilled to be packing peaches in the heat of a Virginia summer, though…
In this heat, many of us are probably dreaming of an island getaway. If you’re in the DC area, the closest you might get is by snacking on some fresh pineapple and sunbathing on the National Mall. Pictured above are lush pineapple fields on the Hawaiian islands of Lanai and Kauai. In 1973, many Hawaiian pineapple fields were in danger of being taken over by land developers for urban use, due to the rising costs associated with pineapple production. These photographs were taken by photographer Charles O’Rear for the EPA’s Documerica project.
Learn more about the project in: DOCUMERICA: Snapshots of Crisis and Cure in the 1970s
It’s Flashback Friday! Do you have a photograph of someone in your family in a powder blue tuxedo?
See more 1970s fashion in our new exhibit ...
“A patron of ‘Sammy’s Bowery Follies,’ a downtown bar, sleeping at his table while the resident cat laps at his beer, 12/1947”
Get it while it’s hot! You only have until January 3, 2012, to see “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam” before it closes. This photograph of a be-napkined...
December 16th is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
Yummmm Chocolate!
