Historical Background Sample

Historical Background
for Photograph Poem

SAMPLE

What is the history around this photograph?

How might this affect your understanding of the source?

Use two sources to fill in the APPARTS table below.

For each part of the table below address the following questions:

What is my initial response to the photograph?
What information have I found from my research?
What do I still need to know regarding the photograph?

Historical Background for Photograph Poem
Author/Photographer Donor: Tina Townsend
Place and Time Mission High School Ca. 1946 World War II which had a tremendous impact on the United States had ended on August 14, 1945 with the surrender of Japan. The United Nations charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945 at the War Memorial Opera House. In 1947 O'Connor Moffat & Co. sold to Macy's (16 Oct) and in 1948 the first telecast in San Francisco happened on May 25^th.
Prior Knowledge Location is MHS; Probably students who attend Mission; Clothing subjects are wearing is from the 40s & 50s; Hairstyles are like those worn by teenagers; Steps of MHS look the same as they do today;
Audience Could be the student who is taking the picture; Other students who are just “hanging out”
Reason To document the time or a special event, i.e. the last day of school or Spring Break;
The Main Idea People are happy to be off of school; Enjoy taking a picture of what they look like; Although WWII was a time of opportunity for different races and for women to work and have experiences outside of the strict norms prior to the war, after the war they returned to their traditional roles. It was a time of conformity for men and women alike. Hysteria over bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had subsided but in July of 1946, U.S. exploded first post-war nuclear bombs in tests over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Led to more hysteria, concerns regarding health hazards. Beginning of atomic age and Cold War. Relationship with Soviet Union troubling over balance of power in Europe; CIA established to spy on foreign powers; Marshall Plan established to bolster European economies after the war; Balance of power threatened in China as well; Chinese Civil War; Life in Postwar America was complicated by a lot of soldiers returning home and wanting their old jobs. Women and African Americans had been working and earning better wages during the war. They were going to be displaced. Also, there was a housing shortage. GI Bill of Rights was instituted; Suburbs were developed; Role of women changed to keep (middle class) them at home; lots of labor unrest; women’s fashion changed to be more traditionally “feminine” not that of a working woman; All of this led to the baby boom.
Significance Shows what teenagers looked like in 1946; Shows that teenagers enjoyed doing in 1946 what teens enjoy doing in 2006 (50 years later!) hanging out with friends, dressing the style, and relaxing. Chose to research the effect of World War II on teenagers in San Francisco and the change in popular culture postwar. How do the events in the world effect how the teenagers on the steps will feel or act? What was high school like for teens in 1946? What was Mission High School like? (Look in yearbooks in MHS Museum) *Why is there only one female in the group?*
Image Citation Mission High School. Photograph. ca. 1946. Picture This: Family Photographs ofEveryday San Francisco. San Francisco Public Library. 31 Oct. 2006 <http://www.sfpl.org/news/onlineexhibits/shades/otherphotos/002-118.htm>.
Source Citation: (print, database or web) Peduzzi, Kelli. America in the 20th Century. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995.
Source Citation: (print, database or web)

Historical Background for Photograph Poem

Use APPARTS to research the historical background of your photograph.

Author/Photographer

Donor: Tina Townsend

Place and Time

Mission High School

Ca. 1946

World War II which had a tremendous impact on the United States had ended on August 14, 1945 with the surrender of
Japan. The United Nations charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945 at the War Memorial Opera House.

In 1947 O'Connor Moffat & Co. sold to Macy's (16 Oct) and in 1948 the first telecast in San Francisco happened on May 25^th.

Prior Knowledge

Location is MHS; Probably students who attend Mission; Clothing subjects are wearing is from the 40s & 50s; Hairstyles are like those worn by teenagers;
Steps of MHS look the same as they do today;

Audience

Could be the student who is taking the picture; Other students who are just “hanging out”

Reason

To document the time or a special event, i.e. the last day of school or Spring Break;

The Main Idea

People are happy to be off of school; Enjoy taking a picture of what they look like;

Although WWII was a time of opportunity for different races and for women to work and have experiences outside of the strict norms
prior to the war, after the war they returned to their traditional roles. It was a time of conformity for men and women alike.

Hysteria over bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had subsided but in July of 1946, U.S. exploded first post-war nuclear bombs in tests over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Led to more hysteria, concerns regarding health hazards.

Beginning of atomic age and Cold War. Relationship with Soviet Union troubling over balance of power in Europe; CIA established to spy on foreign powers; Marshall Plan established to bolster European economies after the war; Balance of power threatened in China as well; Chinese Civil War;

Life in Postwar America was complicated by a lot of soldiers returning home and wanting their old jobs. Women and African Americans had been working and earning better wages during the war. They were going to be displaced. Also, there was a housing shortage. GI Bill of Rights was instituted; Suburbs were developed; Role of women changed to keep (middle class) them at home; lots of labor unrest; women’s fashion changed to be more traditionally “feminine” not that of a working woman; All of this led to the baby boom.

Significance

Shows what teenagers looked like in 1946; Shows that teenagers enjoyed doing in 1946 what teens enjoy doing in 2006 (50 years later!) hanging out with friends, dressing the style, and relaxing.

Chose to research the effect of World War II on teenagers in San Francisco and the change in popular culture postwar.

How do the events in the world effect how the teenagers on the steps will feel or act? What was high school like for teens in 1946? What was Mission High School like? (Look in yearbooks in MHS Museum)

Why is there only one female in the group?

Image Citation

Mission High School. Photograph. ca. 1946. Picture This: Family Photographs ofEveryday San Francisco. San Francisco Public Library. 31 Oct. 2006
     <http://www.sfpl.org/news/onlineexhibits/shades/otherphotos/002-118.htm>.

Source Citation: (print, database or web)

Peduzzi, Kelli. America in the 20th Century. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995.

Source Citation: (print, database or web)