John Vachon photographed Dubuque’s railroad depot in April 1940, when the depot was still the front door of every river town. This was where the drummers arrived, the soldiers left, the mail came in, and half the town seemed to have a reason to be on the platform. Arrivals and departures were public events, and…
The archive record for this photograph names everybody in it — and then tells the whole story of the evening. Rear brakeman Clarence Averill, at right, went over to the bowling alley in Clinton, Iowa, one night in January 1943 with friends: Lester Stein, a passenger brakeman on a streamliner; Jim Cross, a freight brakeman;…
Russell Lee photographed this flock of turkeys on Rex Inman’s farm near Estherville, Iowa, in December 1936. These were birds raised outdoors on an Iowa farm — photographed in the run-up to the holiday tables they were bound for. A flock, a farmyard, and cold December air: that is exactly where a turkey dinner started….
All week, the farm came first. But on Saturday night, everybody came to town. Arthur Rothstein photographed Iowa Falls’ main street on a Saturday night in September 1939, when a full main street was still the center of the social world. Farm families drove in for supplies and for a picture show — and for…
