Additional Coverage:
1938: A Year in Pictures
The year is 1938. The Great Depression still casts a long shadow over America, and the rumblings of war echo from Europe.
Yet, life goes on. Swing music brightens dance halls, Hollywood’s Golden Age shines, and families gather around radios, clinging to hope.
These 35 photos offer glimpses into the highs and lows of this pivotal year.
- Family Portrait: A quiet moment captured in a family’s living room, circa 1938.
- Times Square in Color: A colorized image of the bustling heart of New York City.
- Swinging the Night Away: Couples dance the night away, embracing the joy of swing music.
- A Moment of Repose: An elderly woman sits peacefully outside her village home in Kaifeng, China.
- A Mother’s Portrait: A treasured photo of someone’s mother, taken in 1938.
- Triple the Blessing: An adorable portrait of triplets.
- School Days: Schoolchildren pose for a class photo in San Joaquin, California.
- Okinawan Heritage: A portrait of someone’s Okinawan grandmother in 1938.
- Connecting the World: A technician works amidst a massive wall of telephone switchboards in New York.
- A Classic Ride: A 1938 REO Speedwagon hauls a Curtis Aerocar.
- Young Sinatra’s Troubles: A 23-year-old Frank Sinatra is arrested in New Jersey for adultery.
- Hanging Ten: Surfers ride the waves on longboards in Waikiki, Hawaii.
- High School Sweethearts: Graduation photos of someone’s maternal grandparents in 1938.
- Beat the Heat: A friend gives another a boost on a hot day.
- Depression-Era Childhood: Two sisters growing up in Lisle, Illinois, during the Great Depression.
- An Unusual Tea Party: A whimsical image of a tea party with an eagle and a lobster.
- Snowball Fight in Paris: A snowball fight breaks out by the Notre Dame Cathedral.
- Pyramid Picnic: Tourists enjoy tea and sunbathing atop the Great Pyramid of Giza.
- Cary Grant on Set: American heartthrob Cary Grant during the filming of “Holiday.”
- Fighting for Fair Wages: Girl fieldworkers strike for better wages in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
- The Munchkins: Actors portraying the Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz” at MGM Studios.
- Bingo Time: Women concentrate on a game of bingo at a county fair in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
- Rexall Bargains: Women walk past a Rexall Drugstore advertising sale prices in Newark, Ohio.
- From Lumber to Harvest: An unemployed lumber worker joins his wife at the bean harvest in Oregon.
- A New Set of Wheels: A man proudly displays his new car in South Richmond, Virginia.
- Surfer Girls: Women surfers prepare to catch some waves in Hawaii.
- A Mother’s Love: A mother cares for her children in a rundown shack in Missouri.
- Judy’s Screen Test: Judy Garland’s screen test for “The Wizard of Oz.”
- Fun in the Sun: People sunbathe at Barry Island, Wales.
- The Gentle Giant: Robert Wadlow, the world’s tallest man, stands with his father.
- The Paperboy: A newspaper boy smiles during his daily run in Ohio.
- The World’s Largest Log Cabin: Two kids pose outside the “World’s Largest Log Cabin” in Portland, Oregon.
- Plane Crash in D.C.: Crowds gather at the scene of a military plane crash in Washington, D.C.
- Hedy Lamarr: A portrait of the actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
- A Coal Miner’s Family: A coal miner’s wife and three of their children in West Virginia.