American car culture in these images is loud and proud. In 1950, the United States had more registered vehicles than any other country on earth, and the car was not just transport but identity, status, and freedom in a single object. The designs of the period was all about tail fins, chrome details, and two-tone paint jobs.
They were expressions of optimism so literal they were built into the bodywork. General Motors employed designers who came from fashion and Hollywood, treating the annual model update as a cultural event. These days, less is more and most of us sentimental old fools hate every moment of it.
#24 A Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour And A Kentucky Fried Chicken In The Mid 1960s
The photographers who captured everyday American life during this period were not always professionals. Some of the most significant archives came from amateurs, people who simply pointed a camera at what was in front of them without any intention of creating a historical document.
Vivian Maier, a nanny who spent decades photographing street life in Chicago and New York, left behind over 150,000 negatives that were discovered at auction only after her passing in 2009. She never showed the work to anyone. The photographs that now feel like essential records of mid-century American life were taken by someone who had no idea they would ever be seen, making them all the more honest.
#25 Boeing 307 Aircraft Operated By Pan American World Airways In The 1940s
What these images have in common is not a particular decade or a particular place. It is the feeling of a world that moved at a relaxed pace, where the diner was open, the drive-in was packed, and someone thought to bring a camera. The Yesterday in America page keeps adding to the archive because the appetite for it never seems to run out, and why would it? The past is not going anywhere, and neither, apparently, are we.
Which one of these triggered a flood of nostalgia? Tell us in the comments!
