January 4, 2011
Found In the Archives: Claud Thornton’s Traveling Crime Museum
Jack Delano/Library of Congress
In March 1941, Jack Delano was working for the federal government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA), photographing the relocation of area farmers during the construction of Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
In addition to the farmers and the housing conditions of the construction workers, Delano found interest in the roadside culture of camp followers that catered to the construction workers: “gas stations, barbecue stands, and amusement centers.”
Among these was a traveling sideshow “crime museum” that Delano, according to the Library of Congress, described as, “consisting of dilapidated effigies of famous criminals run by an old shell-shocked World War veteran.”
(via Found in the Archives, NPR’s Picture Show miniseries featuring archival films and found images selected by Rich Remsberg)
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How’s it going Eisenhower.