Posted on by Mark R. Stoneman

Leveling hummocks in dust bowl, thirty miles north of Dalhart, Texas. Farmer: “Every dime I got is tied up right here. If I don’t get it out, I’ve got to drive off and leave it. Where would I go and what would I do? I know what the land did once for me, maybe it will do it again.” Son: “It would be better if the sod had never been broke. My father’s broke plenty of it. Could I get a job in California?”

Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration, June 1938. New York Public Library, 48893db0-8d02-0136-6724-1f99981d5ab5.

Posted on by Mark R. Stoneman

‘Emigration—Detailing the Progress and Vicissitudes of an Emigrant’ (1833)

406C841D-104C-4D85-94AF-35D76A757086

Here is a 15-panel satire by C.J. Grant, perhaps meant for working-class Britons. In it, British emigrants could get away from taxes, but expect frightning exotic animals, cannibals, isolation, poverty, and homesickness. Read the panels in high definition at the Library of Congress, and check out Matthew Crowther’s blog post about the artist at Yesterday’s Papers for some publishing context.

Posted on by Mark R. Stoneman

Female employees of the German munitions factory WASAG in their work clothes, 1916. The one on the right seems to have been “conscripted” (zwangsverpflichtet), though it is unclear on what basis. She was also apparently highly skilled insofar as she was a production manager (Produktionsleiterin) of some kind. Source: Haus der Geschichte Wittenberg, “Arbeiterinnen der WASAG Reinsdorf,” https://st.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=69193

Posted on by Mark R. Stoneman

All DC area residents have complaints and even horror stories to tell about the Metro. Since introducing it to children in the family from out of town, I’ve started looking at it with fresh eyes.

Photograph by Mark R. Stoneman (markstoneman.com)
Photograph by Mark R. Stoneman (markstoneman.com)
Photograph by Mark R. Stoneman (markstoneman.com)
Photograph by Mark R. Stoneman (markstoneman.com)