Harvest workers breaking for lunch

Title

Harvest workers breaking for lunch

Description

Sepia-toned image of a group of men sitting in a field. A woman holding a dish of food stands in the open door of the car, and several of the men gathered about the car appear to be eating and three or four hold coffee cups in their hands. The field behind them is full of rows of harvested grain. In the early 1900s machinery was expensive, and most farmers did not own their own harvesting machinery. Instead paid crews such as this one for the few days it would take to harvest their crops. The crew would then move on to the next farm in the area ready for harvest, or on to another area entirely. Museum records do not identify either the people in the picture or their location, but the photo was part of the Herbert McMullen bequest. McMullen was a local photographer who, in addition to taking his own photographs, collected images that depicted daily life in the area.

Date Created

circa 1910s-1920s

Subject

Picnics
Agricultural laborers
Economic History

Medium

gelatin silver prints

Identifier

WCMpic_013532

Rights

Online access to this image is for research and educational purposes only. To inquire about permissions, order a reproduction, or for more information, please contact the Five Oaks Museum at Research@FiveOaksMuseum.org.
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

Source

Robert L. Benson Research Library, Five Oaks Museum

Type

Still Image

Collection