Children gathering potatoes on a large farm, vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Me. Schools do not open until the potatoes are harvested (LOC)

kevan can't! says:

This totally puts my own family archives to shame. Awesome.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

nobleaj8 says:

Not too much has changed in the county...
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

jdkullmann    says:

Man that poor kid on the right sure sure looks unhappy. Guess I can't blame him.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

Nori the Design Diva    says:

These pictures are wonderful!!! This is the first one I got to tag, and I found it oddly exciting. :)
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

h_dwight_beers    says:

This is how I made my first $14.00 some 60 years ago!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

Judith Bursott    says:

Outstanding!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

h_dwight_beers    says:

Addendum: As I recall, the schools do actually open a few weeks before picking season and close again for two weeks.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

MarkColman says:

Them's was the days when chilrens worked fer a livin!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

José X    says:

a great capture of life
have a very good day
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

maapu    says:

wow, taken 1940!!!

--
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

Totoro's mom    says:

I grew up in Geneva Switzerland in the 1960's and we always had a week off in October: "Les Vacances de Patates" left over from the days when everyone had to take off school to pick potatoes. I just checked online and it looks like that's still being done! I only had one classmate who had to go pick potatoes at his grandmother's farm during my entire school years, the rest of us just enjoyed our break. This brought back memories!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

77krc    says:

Wow, absolutely vivid photographs!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

ya3hs3    says:

Amazing photo - I picked potatoes as a high school freshman in Madawaska Maine in 1975. School started in Madawaska in mid-August and then adjourned for two weeks in September for the potato harvest. All the kids picked and made some extra money. It is hard work but not onerous; the tractor goes along the rows and turns over the potato plants, exposing the potatoes, and the pickers come behind with their baskets and gather the potatoes. Great photos to have available!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

danesller0127 says:

this 'human interest' is really 'awesome' during the world war ll eras, you can survive eating potatoes in the whole year, wthout rice. potato a native of pacific slopes of s. america, in 16th c., with roundish or oval starch containing tubers used for food. batata or sweet potato, is widely known in the philippine island, brought to table and used for food. biggest plantation of potato in the philippines is in northern luzon.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

glassmelter05 [deleted] says:

I grew up in southern Minnesota in the 50s. I was probably 5-6 yrs. old. In the fall after the potato fields had been harvested, they allowed people to come in and collect the potatoes that the machines had missed. I can still remember the cold cloudy day, playing with my brothers in the furrows of the field, throwing clods of dirt at each other, instead of picking up potatoes, and getting yelled at by my Mom.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

fotos-de-alejandra [deleted] says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Social Documentary Photography & events, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

ciderandrye    says:

I love their caps! Great photo.

Thank you Library of Congress!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

AlinaShots says:

Now I love the past even more!! It had colors!!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

miguelitostrikes says:

yeah, they still close schools up there for harvest...but it probably wont last much longer what with immigrant labor, factory farms, and the dwindling of the family potato enterprise in maine.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

tofu_minx    says:

the emotion in this photo is beautiful..
the color emotion with the antique lomo flavor matches the subjects.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

lukegilman says:

Yeah, not much has changed.... I graduated from Presque Isle in '97 and remember those days all too well. Sun up to sun down for a buck a barrel; don't think I ever cracked more than $16 in a day. It was good inspiration to find some inside work.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

kberberat says:

The most gorgeous interiors and beautiful building in Washington. Love your site and great to see you here. This is the best use of the internet! Thank you LOC for doing this.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

MICHAEL G. SEAMANS    says:

my father grew up in Aroostoock County during that era and has a tremendous slide collection.
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

//alexandre\\    says:

Fantastic !
Nice picture 1
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

debbeling1    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Maine Photography, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.

This photo is true, even today. Kids are excused to plant and harvest ~ it's amazing. When I was a kid growing up, Dad would plant potatoes and it was so much fun harvesting them - trying to see who got the biggest spud, or who hit the mother load....It brings back good memories :) Thank you...
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

JTD Images says:

"nobleaj8 says: Not too much has changed in the county..." Ha! I love living in Maine...
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

sandra.d.    says:

it's great to see natural, non cloned, health food!
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

shellygrrl    says:

many northern maine schools open up in mid-august; and most still let their students out for harvest, although these days the vacation doesn't last as long for some schools. some let students out for one week, others for two, and a few for three (from mid-september till the day after columbus day is observed).
Posted 24 months ago. ( permalink )

da70 says:

This is really special to see. I can't wait to see what pictures show up here. Welcome to flickr Library of Congress.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

fmason41 says:

a time when everyone worked. honest work was not looked down upon-and you could live on the honest work you did. today honest work means you live in a slum.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Starlisa    says:

remarkable photograph! great color and detail...
I remember picking beans for a while as a teenager, it gave me something to do to earn some spending money for clothes and such... we never had too much.

this project is wonderful!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

MEtoAK says:

Ahh yes a Presque Isle graduate of 2003 and it was still the same when I was there just with machines mostly now. Every fall everyone gets 3 weeks off school just for harvest.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

David G Photography    says:

This is why farm families had many kids, to help on the farm. Sometime in the last 50 years kids went from being sources of labor to sources of work. Now days, parents are excited to see their kids go back to school so they can focus again on work...
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Elizabeth 58 says:

I feel so fortunate to have been born and raised in the potato fields of Caribou, Maine. What a wonderful opportunity to learn a good work ethic and earn money for clothes for school. We were never cold and were well dressed at the same time. My dad was the digger and the overseer of the whole operation...he would have to get off of the bus to life some of the children into the bus. Sometimes he would let the men run over a barrel to build a fire to warm up our toes and fingers while waiting for the hard frost to melt on the ground so that he could dig and we could pick!! Betty Bubar Collins
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

bazoftforever says:

My heart potatoes :
www.flickr.com/photos/12826779@N02/
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

HESIOD says:

I REMBER "Erdäpfelklauben" DURING THE II. WAR.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Debbie C.B.'s    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Potatoes!, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

kankaku    says:

Wonderful picture!!!!
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

teach311    says:

Great picture - would the opening of school make the kids work harder or slow down?
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )

Jim'sLady says:

biographical info on the photographer

Museum of Contemporary Photography
quote
In addition to photography, Delano composed music. He died in Puerto Rico in 1997. Jack Delano was born Jack Ovcharov in Kiev, Ukraine on August 1, 1914. ...
www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/delano_jac k.php
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Muddy LaBoue    says:

Wonderful!

When I was growing up in North Carolina in the late 1960's and early 1970's, we always started school late because we had to wait for the tobacco harvest to be finished. After getting my start as a tractor driver who had to jump off the tractor to let someone else turn it at the ends of the rows, I worked on a tobacco harvester during my summers from age 11 to 16.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

heidiree    says:

I live in Caribou, ME and this was so weird to see! And yes, they still have the potato harvest school break!
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

mystiestar says:

Yes these 1914 hats are really back in style in 2008, I guess its sort of 'Retro' lol.
Posted 19 months ago. ( permalink )

sickstylez says:

1940 wow, there you can see what 68 years can change.
Posted 18 months ago. ( permalink )

/go/rikka says:

I've lived in coastal Maine for nine years, and rarely go inland...it's startling to see the differences.
Posted 16 months ago. ( permalink )

L8o    says:

Wow! ..unique shot! (and message :`)

Please add a 'medium
sized version' of your
wonderful picture t o
our 2 0 0 8 Campaign!

Cryptiabydagmar is recovering her deleted account    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called The frugal kitchen (photo's & recipes), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 12 months ago. ( permalink )

Made In Turkey says:

expressive foto . beautiful
Posted 10 months ago. ( permalink )

immortalfriendstotheworld says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called soulful group, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink )

immortalfriendstotheworld says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called a new world, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink )

immortalfriendstotheworld says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called The Natural Beauty of Children, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 9 months ago. ( permalink )

Vilseskogen    says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Economic Botany, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

kadavoor    says:

Beautiful.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called People love their Work, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

Arian Pedrosa says:

buena
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

MooersRealty    says:

Neat to see the heritage. Grew up on a Maine potato farm, picked from age of 5 on. Fewer farmers and more large operations makes me dream of more smaller farmers with locally grown food is my hope. Maine potato picking video
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )