IDEA, 1940s

Click for full image When producing a movie, everything stems back to this box: IDEA. In the 1940s, these were the sources of ideas: “Play,” “Short Story or Novel,” “Newspaper Story or Current Event,” “Original Story,” “Magazine Article,” or “Historical Incident.” Way off on the left, however, there’s one additional source that’s not shown above: […]

German POWs in Minnesota, 1940s

Click for full image As World War II progressed, captured German soldiers were increasing in numbers, and the U.S. needed to do something with them. Numerous POWs were scattered throughout the country and used as labor. Algona, Iowa was the main POW camp in the United States, and several Germans were sent to Algona Branch […]

Broken Children’s Glasses, 1945.

Click for full imageThese glasses were purchased at a flea market in July, 2008. The seller had no information about them, but the fact that they had been stored in situ for sixty years — and the note to prove that fact even moreso — intrigued me enough to purchase them. These are a child’s-sized […]