AA-2026-FECFB6
On the image
A small girl in a white coat and dark tie stands in a bare-branched yard, holding what appears to be a toy or doll, wearing a green and white cowboy hat that reads as a costume choice rather than weather-appropriate headwear. Behind her, a modest suburban house with a small porch and a second-story addition speaks to the post-war housing boom, the kind of place built quickly and lived in with pride by families who had recently arrived at homeownership. She is dressed for what the photographer or her mother considered an important moment—Easter, a holiday, or perhaps just the day the color film came out—and placed in front of the camera to mark it. The yard is bare dirt and sparse grass, the cars parked nearby are the practical American sedans of the early 1940s, and everything about the scene announces a family's investment in ordinariness as a form of success: they had the house, the child, the camera time, and the conviction that this moment deserved to be recorded and preserved.
The historian's note
Early color film photography of American suburban domestic life, likely spring 1940–1945. The clothing, automobile models, and home construction date to the World War II era or immediately after. The use of color film stock—likely Kodachrome or Agfacolor—indicates the scene was either professionally shot or by an affluent amateur, as color film remained expensive and uncommon for casual family documentation during the 1940s. The suburban neighborhood represents the period's emerging growth of single-family housing developments on the outskirts of American cities, driven by Federal Housing Administration lending and returning servicemen seeking domestic stability. The girl's formal dress for an ordinary moment in the yard reflects the era's attitudes toward documentation and children's presentation, where photography was still formal enough to justify dressing up and careful enough to preserve that formality in color.
Subjects & keywords — each links to a search
Visually related — by likeness
Child in Easter Outfit, American Suburban Neighborhood, 1940s. 1940–1946. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-FECFB6. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-in-easter-outfit-american-suburban-neighborhood-1940s.
@misc{aaAA2026FECFB6,
title = {Child in Easter Outfit, American Suburban Neighborhood, 1940s},
year = {1940–1946},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-FECFB6},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-in-easter-outfit-american-suburban-neighborhood-1940s}
}TY - ART TI - Child in Easter Outfit, American Suburban Neighborhood, 1940s PY - 1940–1946 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-FECFB6 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/child-in-easter-outfit-american-suburban-neighborhood-1940s ER -
From the community
Identifications, corrections, and discussion from readers — reviewed by a librarian before appearing here.
Sign in to add an identification, correction, or comment.
No notes yet — be the first to add what you know about this image.