Photo Friday: A Page Out of the Scrapbooks Edition

Good morning!

It's Photo Friday again, folks! We made it! In continuing with photos from recently scanned family albums, I present to you some of my dad's dad's side of the family. These four pictures are from one page of a scrapbook from the 1930's, mostly featuring my dad's grandmother, Flora.

She's (naturally, of course, given my gene pool) the taller woman in this photo with the beautifully wide cheekbones. I don't know a lot about that side of the family, though her surname was Irish and her people came from Tennessee. In any case, GREAT bone structure. Notice the bow sash at Flora's waist, and the pocket-book-I'd-like-to-have in her right hand. What I love about the above photo was that it took my separating the photo from the page in Paint to notice the little boys crouching impishly in the shadows behind Flora and the unidentified woman. That's my great-uncle George (in the tie, and doesn't he look right smart in it?!) and his younger brother, my great-uncle James. "Surprise! We're in the photo!" they seem to be miming.

Here's Flora again with I think one of her sisters, posted in a rocky outcropping the likes of which I guess you see a lot of in the more scenic parts of Tennessee. I was thinking the background of this photo looks a lot like when my college friends and I would go out to the Tennessee River, up in the mountains a little past Knoxville, and jump in the quarry to swim. This photo would have been taken in Middle rather than East Tennessee, but the geological formations bear striking resemblance to one another! See how the white of their dresses fades out a lot of the detail in sepia tone. Note to self: if you're getting your picture taken in a sunny spot in 1935 or so, wear a darker colored dress to distinguish bodies from backgrounds.

I love this! If you remember from last week, apparently bicycles were a big thing on which to get your photograph made! Here tall, slim Flora strikes a cycling pose with that same characteristic, intense gaze. I love her marcelled hair and the exposed heel of her shoe. Much like the photos from my grandma Hazel's time in the thirties' in Cape Cod look specifically like New England in the styles of buildings and landscapes featured, see how well Tennessee is represented in these photos with the lush tree-filled backgrounds and the clapboard building in this photo.

Last but not least, here she stands with another woman (sorry, no clue) in front of a long, LONG car! Doesn't it look just like a postcard? See her one foot kicked up on the running board, one arm around her companion and the other in a languid pose on the edge of the driver's side window. The hats of both women! The sash again at Flora's waist. The print dress and I think locket necklace on the girl in the print dress. This could be a still from Altman's Thieves Like Us.

So! What do you think of my paternal side of the family's thirties' swagger? Aren't these photos so specific to that time period, in terms of the dress and the backgrounds and the expressions on the faces of the subjects? What's it like meeting another tall member of my family tree? Do you have any photos from this time period in your own family scrapbooks? What were people in your family doing around the Great Depression? Let's talk!

Have a great weekend, folks! I'll let you know how the menu selection goes, I'm off to work up a grocery list. See you all on Monday!