Thanks for mentioning that the window, shown here, is a luxury.

Early group or family photos, even those “snapshots” were almost always attempts to show what good shape the family was in. I’m sure these people are dressed in the Sunday best — but note the father’s trousers and the patches on the boy’s pants.

The wide angle lense would account for the closing in property of the photo — but I like it for its emotional effect. It’s possible that the family gathered a lot of its material goods (a poster, a painting) together to show it off — as well as the window, which might have been a prized element of the household. Dugout houses had no windows, generally speaking.

I always find these old photos with their evidence of lives come and gone very poignant. Thanks, Sunil.

Looking at it this morning, I am impressed at how well-groomed the Whinery family is, homesteading at a place named for dried apple pie in Pueblo country. Look at the dugout houses people lived in.

Sunil, any reason you happened to pick this one out of so many? I do like the reminder that there was already color photography then. According to Calvin’s Dad, that came about in the 1930’s (see his explanation here).

It looks like this is just a pilot for now. More images are available directly from the LOC.

But its the window out that is most hard to reconcile. Its looks like either a hole in the wall or the photo…opening out into a scene of a wholly different style.