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Flipping through an Anonymous Family Photo Album from 1942
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Flipping through an Anonymous Family Photo Album from 1942

Keith Dotson
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This 1940s family photo album depicts all the extraordinary drama and beautiful banality of an average family’s life in the 1940s

Flip through an old 1940s photo album with photographer Keith Dotson

I found this worn old family photo album in an antique shop, with no record of who the family was or where they lived.

Based on scant evidence found in the photographs and newspaper clippings themselves, I think they lived in New York State — possibly western New York near Buffalo or Rochester.

Regardless of their identities, I became caught up in their lives as I went through the album page by page, seeing their relatives visit, witnessing their vacations to the lake or Niagara Falls, being present as their family grew, seeing friends (or relatives) going off to fight in World War II.

The charming old photographs found within the tattered black pages of the album illustrate so wonderfully the extraordinary drama and beautiful banality of one American family’s life in the 1940s.

Within these pages, the implied stories are ordinary yet fascinating.

Front cover of the family photo album, Some photographs inside display a date of 1942.
Front cover of the family photo album, Some photographs inside display a date of 1942.
The Little Tramp: I love this great snapshot of a little boy wearing a Charlie Chaplin costume -- even the makeup!
The Little Tramp: I love this great snapshot of a little boy wearing a Charlie Chaplin costume — even the makeup!
The women of the family, and one little boy -- maybe a cousin?
The women of the family, and one little boy — maybe a cousin? Look at that wonderful neighborhood behind them.
Perhaps a visit to see family in the country
Perhaps a visit to see family in the country.
The men folk take a turn posing with the little girl by the barn.
The menfolk take a turn posing with the little girl by the barn.
Family takes a trip to Niagara Falls, with the Rainbow International Bridge seen in the background. It would have been only about a year or two old at the time this photo was made.
Family takes a trip to Niagara Falls, with the Rainbow International Bridge seen in the background. The bridge would have been only about a year or two old at the time this photo was made.
Sunbathing in an unmowed yard: Look at her dress standing upright in the back.
Sunbathing in an unmowed yard: Look at her dress standing upright in the back.
People dressed in western attire at some type of event -- perhaps a county fair or holiday celebration.
People dressed in western attire at some type of event — perhaps a county fair or holiday celebration.

A new baby

For part of the photo album, we see a family of three — mom, dad, and a little girl. Then, a new baby makes an appearance.

Arrival of a new baby: Dad looks a little bit shell-shocked at the arrival of a new son.
Arrival of a new baby: dad looks a little bit shell-shocked at the arrival of a new son.
But mom also looks a little tired and perhaps even a little bit grumpy?
But mom also looks a little tired and perhaps even a little bit grumpy?
Adorable big sister seen with her new baby brother outside for a walk.
Adorable big sister seen with her new baby brother outside for a walk.
Here we see the older sister dressed up in her cowgirl outfit. Western stuff must have been the rage in the early 1940s.
Here we see the older sister dressed up in her cowgirl outfit. Western stuff must have been the rage in the early 1940s.
A look at one of the loose pages from the album, featuring a group of men I assume to be brothers.
A look at one of the loose pages from the album, featuring a group of men I assume to be brothers.
Brothers together in the street?
Brothers together in the street?

Men in military uniforms

Half-way through the album, photographs begin appearing of men wearing military uniforms. It seems World War II had reached this family and their friends and relations.

A visitor from the Navy 1942
A visitor from the Navy in 1942
Man in uniform leaning against a lamp post. The handwritten inscription in red ball point ink says "D.D. 1942."
Man in uniform leaning against a lamp post. The handwritten inscription in red ball point ink says “D.D. 1942.”
Seems to be the same fellow with the handwritten initials of D.D. seen in the photo above
D.D. with loves ones at the train station, preparing to go off to serve. I wonder if he returned.
D.D. with loved ones at the train station, preparing to go off to serve. I wonder if he returned safely.
Two photos of another man in uniform looking ready to face the enemy.
Two photos of another man in uniform looking ready to face the enemy.

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