AA-2026-0145EA
On the image
A woman in a striped dress stands at the edge of a dark forest pool, holding a small child, while two other children wade or float in the water below her. The setting is a natural swimming hole, shaded by tall trees that filter the summer light into a dappled pattern across the water's surface. This was how families cooled off before backyard pools became standard — you drove to a creek or quarry and went in, the adults watching from the bank while the children claimed the water as their temporary territory. The woman's posture suggests she is both supervising and restraining, keeping the youngest from following his siblings into deeper water, which was the entire point of bringing an adult to a place where no one was in charge and nothing was regulated. By the 1970s, parents would worry about liability and strangers and water quality in ways they had not yet learned to worry about here.
Visually related — by likeness
Children at a Swimming Hole, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-0145EA. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/children-at-a-swimming-hole-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20260145EA,
title = {Children at a Swimming Hole, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-0145EA},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/children-at-a-swimming-hole-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Children at a Swimming Hole, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-0145EA UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/children-at-a-swimming-hole-1950s ER -
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