Turkeys on the Inman Farm: Near Estherville, Iowa, 1936
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.
Ninety years ago, there was no middleman between the farmyard and the table worth mentioning. Families raised their own holiday birds, or bought them dressed from a farm like this one.
Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USF33-011088-M2
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