Plains Farmstead In Winter, 1920s.

A plains farmstead in the middle of winter, Model T parked outside. 1920s.
Labels: 1920s, early 20th century farm photos, farm life, model t, winter
Threshing Oats, 1942

Note reads, "Threshing oats at home. November 1942." If you're in west-central Minnesota, go see this done live at Rollag starting today.
Shady Side of the House, 1930s

No A/C, no electric fans, the shady side of the house is the place to spend a sunny afternoon. 1930s (more)
Labels: 1930s, early 20th century farm photos, farm life
Norwegian Homesteader, 1910s

A woman and two children, outside a wooden farmhouse and near an enormous firewood pile. From a photo postcard, 1910s.
Labels: children, farm life, homestead, norwegian, photo postcard
Easter In the 1920s

The 1920s send their wishes you a Happy Easter! In this photo, younger versions of the people seen in the Minnesota photo negative set show their Easter morning discoveries. I just hope nobody bumps that kid in the middle too hard.
Labels: 1920s, easter, farm life, minnesota history
A Sea Of Hats: Farm Foreclosure Sale

Also: farmer's diary * iowa depression * nebraska foreclosures * remembering farm life
Labels: 1930s, 1938, antique photo, farm life, wisconsin history
Sittin' on Grandpa

Labels: 1930s, early 20th century farm photos, farm life, grandkid, grandpa
Laziness and the P.W.A.

In 1933, the US government starting putting a large amount of money into public works, helping the economy, building communities, and keeping people working. The PWA, or Public Works Administration, did a lot of high-profile work, but the PWA helped communities and projects of all sizes. This picture was captioned "P.W.A. Workers" -- however, they look hardly like a PWA project. The owner of the photo album had a sense of humor; the PWA (and its relative, the WPA) had a somewhat undeserved reputation for laziness. Ms. Photographer, it seems, saw a woman in the field -- and the guys not working -- as representative of the PWA, whether or not their paychecks came from the New Deal or not.
see also: the pwa *pwa thoughts * *pwa and nat'l parks * the wpa * wpa murals * wpa in georgia * wpa posters
Labels: 1930s, 1938, farm life, farming, public works administration, pwa, wisconsin history, wpa