The mental images we have of the Great Depression and World War II are largely blurry and colorless due to the fact that most photos from those days are in black and white. While the familiar photos are filled with pathos, they usually fail to make the 1940s tangible. A few years ago, the Library of Congress released about 1,700 previously unseen photos depicting the realities of American life in the early 1940s in original color.
These fascinating images “focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working,” according to the Library of Congress website. The vivid colors help us better understand what the United States looked like in a bygone era, rife with different struggles. Below you will find a selection of these fascinating and rare historical photos.
1. Women employed as wipers in the roundhouse eat their lunch in the break room of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad in Clinton, Iowa, April 1943
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
2. Children stage a patriotic demonstration in Southington, Connecticut, May 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
3. Woman working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee, February 1943
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
4. House in Houston, Texas, May 1943
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
Related: 22 Rare and Beautifully Colorized Historical Photos
5. Instructor explaining the operation of a parachute to student pilots at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, January 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
6. Jesse Rhodes Waller tries out a 30-caliber machine gun he has just installed on a Navy plane, Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas, August 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
7. Living quarters and “juke joint” for migratory workers, a slack season; Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
8. Eagle Fruit Store and Capital Hotel, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
Related: 25 Gripping Photos Depicting Monumental Historical Events
9. Homesteaders Faro and Doris Caudil in Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
10. Tank crew standing in front of an M-4 tank, Ft. Knox, Kentucky, June 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
11. Getting ready to serve the barbecue dinner at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair, 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
12. At the Vermont state fair, Rutland, 1941
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
13. General view of one of the yards of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, December 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
14. Schools did not open until the potatoes were harvested, October 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
15. Chopping cotton on rented land near White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
16. Garden adjacent to the dugout home of homesteader Jack Whinery, in Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
17. Main Street, Creede, Colorado, at the mouth of Willow Creek Canyon, December 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
18. Boy near Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942 or 1943
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
19. Jack Whinery and his family, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
20. Sylvia Sweets Tea Room, corner of School and Main streets, Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
21. Boy building a model airplane as girl watches, Robstown, Texas, January 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
22. Scrap and salvage depot, Butte, Montana, October 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
Related: 20 Photos that Celebrate Fashionable Women in the 1940s and 1950s
23. Mrs. Virginia Young (right) whose husband was one of the first casualties of World War II, is a supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department of the Naval Air Base, August 1942
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
24. Lucile Mazurek, age 29, ex-housewife, husband going into the service. Working on black-out lamps to be used on the gasoline trailers in the Air Force, February 1943
Image Source: Library of Congress / Flickr
Share these images with other history lovers!
