This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/3/2012
Not everybody can be famous. Ordinary people must go about our day and do the mundane tasks needed to survive. But, along the way, we live our lives. While doing so, we experience laughter, pain, excitement, intrigue, puzzlement, sadness and all of the other emotions of life.This archive is about the celebration of ordinary life by regular people.
No better medium captures ordinary life better than vintage photography. Within this archive is a recording of “us”. Many of the images will remind of us our favorite aunt, nosey neighbor, or the kooky man that lived around the corner. Forgotten people live on via this archive. Remember the guy that fixed your bicycle tire? How about the guy that baked the bread on the corner? Remember the teacher that wore the glasses on the edge of her nose?
Each of these types of people is represented in this collection. Although ordinary per some standards, these people were and are the true backbone of our country. The photographically captured faces of our ancestors printed on real photo stock cannot be forgotten by our digital age descendants.
These images have all been gathered from many newspapers as part of the John Rogers Photo Archives. Now that we are in the digital age, real photography and its printed images are a thing of the past, never to be produced again. Each of these images are one of a kind, and with online media and digital photography, these real images that you can hold in your hands will never be produced again.
This archive offers one lucky bidder the opportunity to capture a snapshot of the American Life. The subjects depicted are as diverse as the people featured. Old/young, Mothers/Daughters, Fathers/Sons, Good Guys/Bad Guys, and everyone in between is contained within this lot. As I built the lot, I couldn’t help but notice how the photographers captured the raw emotions of the subjects – laughter, sorrow, celebrating, hunger, pain, joy, fear, pride, and all of the emotions associated with daily victory and defeat.
By spanning four decades, the fashions of each decade are captured. Bee hive hair do’s , buzz cuts, afros, long hair, baldness, feathered hair, lamb chop side burns, and mullets chronicle individual styles. Clothes are represents by blouses, miniskirts, leisure suits, zoot suits, moon boots, hoop skirts, and every fashion introduced to modern society.
And as life keeps moving, all of the subjects in this collection are doing something. The can be seen shopping at swap meets, eating at the local diner, attending lodge meetings, protesting the latest social cause, singing, dancing, attending festivals and church, and just plain living life, at their own pace.
As it cost money to live, occupations are certainly depicted. In this grouping we see teachers, local politicians, homemakers, soldiers, students, electricians, garbage men, musicians, bakers, morticians, road workers, and all of the other jobs that keeps America functioning. It seemed as everybody had a place and was content with doing what was expected of them.
Carefully harvested, this collection derives from the images of the Chicago Sun Times, Seattle Post, Denver Post, St. Petersburg Times, Detroit News, and Chicago Daily News. Images average very good to excellent condition and average 8x10 in size. One letter of authenticity from MEARS Auctions will be issued guarantee the originality of the contents.