Saturday, September 02, 2017

School Days

For most kids, summer has ended, and they have returned to school. I remember my distress when the ads for "Back to School" sales began to pop up in August. Nooooo! There was the stress of a new teacher, and where your seat was, and would you remember your locker combination. But some aspects of the ritual were comforting, like the slightly institutional aroma of floor cleaner, the construction paper decorations on the walls, and of course, seeing some of your old friends again after several months. Today's vintage photos are school related, in case you hadn't guessed.

Here's one, undated but almost certainly from the 1950's. I admit that I am making a sort of educated guess here, but it looks like some young mothers are filling out forms in preparation for nursery school. Maybe. There's a small kitchen in the background (along with a man who must be the principal!) The table closest to us has some random camera equipment scattered about. But the main subject of this photo is the very glamorous and pretty woman in the center of the picture. She looks like a movie star!


This next one is also undated; it appears to be some sort of informal class picture. Some of the kid's faces seem to reveal a lot about their personalities. The kid with the green sweater (to the left) is looking less than thrilled to be there. The girl with the blue flowered dress seems confident and cheerful, while the girl with the pink skirt will probably be a teacher in another 15 years. And the boy in the black (dark blue?) t-shirt looks like he is cooking up something mischievous! 


8 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

In that second pic, are those windows above the chalkboard and is that the real outdoors we are seeing? And is this South Park?

Nanook said...

Major-

I'm thinking with the label on the Crayola box coupled with the 'look' of the folks and their style of dress, the first image is probably from the late-1940's. And the second image from around the same time - or maybe very early-1950's. At least some of the kids are smiling in the second image.

@ TM!-

Yes, yes, and yes-!

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, all I know for sure is that the kid in the black t-shirt is named Eric Cartman.

Nanook, after reading your comment, I found a crayon-collecting blog, and it appears that that particular design of box was used by Crayola from 1946 to 1949. So this probably falls neatly into your estimated dates.

dennis said...

In the second pic the artwork over the blackboard reminds me of Norman Rockwell's ''Christmas in Stockbridge".

Melissa said...

School kids may dress differently (My uncles were sent home for wearing jeans to school!) but their expressions sure haven't changed much!

Check out the stern bespectacled lady in the first picture! Her outfit looks like a lunchroom worker’s uniform; I bet there were no food fights on her watch! The gentleman next to her has the confident air of a principal, what is a much snappier dresser than any of mine!

Nanook said...

@ Melissa-

OMG-! Nice to 'see' you.

And, yes, that "bespeckled lady" (with her arms crossed - talk about rude) looks as if she could prevent any food fights by merely raising one eyebrow-!! My principal in grammar school was a lady, but in junior high - um, make that 'middle school' - our principal sported bow ties. The rebel-! (And he was a he).

Anonymous said...

Don't know about you but I am amazed at how early kids return to class these days. No longer is it 'Summer Vacation'...it's just 'Summer Break'. We'd return mid September...and while I wasn't happy to be heading back, the family had time to enjoy the summer. Oh well...KS

Melissa said...

Yeah, I remember school always started *after* my early-September birthday. That was one of the reasons my sister and I had a big Halloween party instead of individual birthday parties.