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Preview image of work. vintage or early gelatin silver print,  Boardinghouse, Washington, D.C. 15769

2008.17.1

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Boardinghouse, Washington, D.C.

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Artist

Esther Bubley (Phillips, WIsconsin, 1921 - 1998, New York City, New York)

Title

Boardinghouse, Washington, D.C.

Creation Date

1942

Century

mid-20th century

Dimensions

11 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (29 x 26 cm)

Classification

Photographs

Creation Place

North America, United States, District of Columbia

Medium and Support

vintage or early gelatin silver print

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Gridley W. Tarbell II Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2008.17.1

These young residents of a Jewish boarding house in Washington, D.C. came, like many other Americans, to the capital to aid the war effort. This image by Esther Bubley, a photographer of Russian Jewish descent who had recently arrived from Wisconsin, conveys the challenge of making a new home, as a young woman asleep amidst a card party. Bubley empathized with her subjects without being a resident boarder herself. The success of her Boarding House series led to jobs as a darkroom technician at the Office of War Information and later as an editorial photographer for LIFE and the Ladies Home Journal.