Snapshots of the Past

Aunt Winnie – Vintage Print

Aunt Winnie, [between 1937 and ca. 1938] — historic photograph
Aunt Winnie, [between 1937 and ca. 1938]. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Aunt Winnie comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A fine choice for anyone who loves history, and a gift that gets noticed. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Aunt Winnie

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Aunt Winnie is identified in the caption as a former slave of Jesse Stephenson, and the portrait was made at the Works Progress Administration's State Office in St. Louis, Missouri, around 1937 or 1938. In those years the Federal Writers' Project gathered life histories from formerly enslaved people across the South and border states, and photographs like this one were often taken to accompany the written narratives. The caption's wording reflects how the project labeled its subjects at the time, so it is worth reading with that context in mind. Her name appears only as "Aunt Winnie," a common form of respectful address for older Black women, which leaves much of her life beyond the frame.

Created / published[between 1937 and ca. 1938]
Medium1 photographic print : gelatin silver ; 10 x 8 in.
GenrePortrait photographs 1930-1940.Gelatin silver prints 1930-1940.
Notes240131. Caption on item: Aunt Winnie slave of Jesse Stephenson, State Office, St. Louis, Mo. Forms part of: Portraits of African American ex-slaves from the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project slave narratives collections.
SubjectsWinnie,--Aunt. African Americans--Women--1930-1940. Older people--Missouri--Saint Louis--1930-1940. Freedmen--Missouri--Saint Louis--1930-1940.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,312 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-201093

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