Portico of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 1943, by Esther Bubley, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The captions of similar Bubley photos indicate that the image was taken on a Sunday afternoon as she was following sightseeing servicemen around The Mall taking pictures for the Office of War Information Service.
“Individual beds at nursery. Black River Falls project, Wisconsin,” June 1937, by Russell Lee, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
In the early summer of 1937, Lee took a number of photos around the community of Black River Falls. Most were related to a land use project of the U.S. Resettlement Administration, for which he was a photographer.
The principal employment in Black River Falls, since its founding in 1839, was logging and sawmills. However, many of the people Lee photographed there were farming cut-over areas.
Today, the town is probably best known as the subject of the 1973 book (and 1999 film) Wisconsin Death Trip.
“Gate made from the end of an old bed. Alvin, Wisconsin,” May 1937, by Russell Lee, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Alvin was named for one of its founders, Alvin Spencer, who had moved his family to the area in 1907.
In order to submit a request for its own Post Office, the little Forrest County community where the Spencers had settled had to have a name. Alvin submitted the name of another community leader, Curtis Powell, for consideration. Curtis submitted his friend Alvin’s name. Since there was already a town named Curtis in the state, the new community was dubbed Alvin, Wisconsin.
I love that they submitted each other’s first names.
“Mrs B Captain, Ekins and garden, Savage Crescent,” Upper Hutt, New Zealand, ca. early to mid 20th c., by J.W. Chapman-Taylor, via Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa.
I wonder if the wooden crates stacked up on the left indicate that this was a market garden, which were common in the Hutt Valley until the 1940s.
You can click on the picture to enlarge it (or click here and then on the image to zoom in even more).
Chapman-Taylor was an important New Zealand domestic architect, builder, furniture designer, and photographer who lived in the Valley in the mid 1930s.
An encore porch from 2013. . .
Front porch, near the Koyukuk River at Wiseman Creek, Wiseman, Alaska, July 1984, by Jet Lowe for an Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (all photos here).
For over six decades, this little porch sheltered many hours of masculine conviviality. In 1913, it fronted the Siverly and Bowker Saloon. The following year, the building was sold to a fraternal organization, Pioneers of Alaska, and then used as one of its local chapters — an “Igloo;” it was Igloo No. 8.
By 1972, the building had been sold again. At the time of these photos, it was the home of the owner’s son.
Above: the back porch and entrance to the kitchen.
Above: the side view.
enclos*ure 