The Things We Miss When We're Not Looking

Well, summer has put a crimp on my blog entries, hasn't it?
Over the years, I've become more and more (and more) interested in mid-century design and the history of material culture of the 1950s and 1960s. Lately, in looking at our family photos, I've begun to look beyond family and have become intrigued by structures within the photographs...a chair, the wallpaper, floors, cars, etc. Most of these things were around when I was a child, but they were such fixtures in the background that I never really took notice of them. Here are a few photos I recently pulled from the hundreds I've already scanned that show some really neat things in the background (or foreground, as the case may be). I think they're fantastic (and kind of miss them, too).


My mom's wedding shower, February 1955. My grandmother's kitchen table was sooooo cool!


My grandpa Ralph and a family friend. Love the chairs - each one is different!



Great-grandma Katie in her very 1950s kitchen. Look at the metal cabinets - I wonder if they're still in this house?