• The Pen is capped, she's faking it - bmsirrine
  • She's not faking it. Look at a more detailed photo. There's an exposed lead on the tip of the "pen." - Whyteshadow
  • I suspect that this is not a pen. It is probably a continuity tester of some type, looking for wiring problems - ARHeminger
  • 40's "updo" done with rollers - Liz Henry
  • While it may be posed, it appears she is tracing threads on a coupling. - valhall64
  • shoulder pads - bad_idea_dinosaur
  • Remember back in the day when a war stimulated an economy instead of killing it! If robots existed then she would be begging like the rest of us - Kuby!
  • Inspector, my eye. That's a model! - jdavis417
  • Given that she is in Burbank, I'm surprised she is wearing long sleeves in June. I wonder if the room was air-conditioned for the equipment? - hmschott
  • but no working human would be dressed like her!!!! FAKED PHOTO?? - Rainer Fischer Photography (in and out-education)
  • Pearl button - hmschott
  • you sure she's not applying lipstick? :) - Dill Pixels
  • She was probably wearing her best for the event of being photographed for posterity. Who'd want to be photographed in factory overalls? - Veracity
  • Kodachrome Type B. - shobar
  • the felt tiped marker was invented in1952 - petanque don
  • Yeah, this isn't a pen.
    While this photo may have been a publicity stunt, it's pretty authentic. - /go/rikka
  • If you knew you were going to be photographed, you'd dress up, too. These were different times, people took pride in how they looked. - 1hr photo
  • not a pen. if you look at it in original size, you can see it's a glare that makes it appear to be a pen cap - Alexandriaofthenile
  • lived in burbank it was nice then, not so much any more, too many people that don't love america any more... - camed1942
  • Women have come a long way since then. - a was here
  • dot. - Punk Marciano
  • This is not a faked photo...women and men back then DRESSED....unlike today. It's not uncommon at all to see factory or other labor workers from that era wearing clothes that we think would be too dressy for work. - Walkinonsunshine

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies (LOC)

Bransby, David,, photographer.

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies

1942 June

1 transparency : color.

Notes:
 Title from FSA or OWI agency caption.
Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944.

Subjects:
 Vega Aircraft Corporation
Airplane industry
Women--Employment
World War, 1939-1945
United States--California--Burbank

Format: Transparencies--Color

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection 12002-66 (DLC) 93845501

General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34456

Call Number: LC-USW36-273

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    ⚓ Angela ⚓, Amerynn, getthebubbles, Nicky.lew, and 2962 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. getthebubbles (61 months ago | reply)

    this is a wonderful shot! and the colors- were they restored?

    I was trying to think of a tag that said something like "beginning of women's liberation movement" but more concise- ideas?

  3. straylight6 (61 months ago | reply)

    Wow, amazing photo.

  4. KristieLB (61 months ago | reply)

    That's really gorgeous!

  5. sean.seanie (61 months ago | reply)

    Great shot, the details are amazing.

  6. free2beesmees (61 months ago | reply)

    Excellent photo! Love the colors. It blows my mind how this photo survived with great colors! I enjoy the color match of her lipstick and the pen in her hand. I also like the history..how people dressed back then and actually "dolled" up for work like this woman in the 40's.

  7. ★VegaChastain★ (61 months ago | reply)

    I would LOVE to have that arm patch!!!! :>)

  8. jellyjams (61 months ago | reply)

    My Pops worked for Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, CA. Vega was off and on a small part of Lockheed Aircraft during WWII.

  9. buttersweet (61 months ago | reply)

    classic american beauty. i have to wonder if she dressed like that every day. lipstick and pefectly pressed dress in all that grease - i doubt it. the color is outstanding.

  10. queenbkt (61 months ago | reply)

    I love that she still looks glamorous. I couldn't do it.

    --
    Seen on your photo stream. (?)

  11. ellswörthr (61 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful...

  12. adam photographic (61 months ago | reply)

    Love the tone and color!

  13. PhineasX (61 months ago | reply)

    This is titled "Hollywood's Loss" over on Shorpy. Can't disagree.

  14. corsec67 (61 months ago | reply)

    I like the contrast between the (lipstick, hairstyle, and blouse) and the (gloves and work she is doing).
    Aside from her gloves, it looks like she should be doing some kind of office work, definitely not checking wire harnesses.

    This is a very cool trip back into history.

  15. Walljet (61 months ago | reply)

    Wundervoll!

  16. carpeliam (61 months ago | reply)

    it's so interesting to see that she's wearing lipstick, blush, eyeshadow.. a nice blouse, her hair is well done... the only thing setting her apart from a stepford wife is the pair of gloves, the arm patch, and her profession. so different from today, where women in technical positions aren't expected to look any different from the men in technical positions. then again, i think the dress code on both sides of the sexes has been loosened for these types of things... much more concerned now about safety than appearance.

  17. fineartdavid (61 months ago | reply)

    @getthebubbles

    How about "emancipation" or "suffrage".

    Neither are really right, but it's that kind of feeling.

  18. Piper_H (61 months ago | reply)

    She is gorgeous.

  19. The Library of Congress (61 months ago | reply)

    Glad you are enjoying the photos! Regarding the color for these early examples of Kodachrome color transparencies, in digitizing them we tried to reproduce the originals as faithfully as possible. For the full story on how we digitized the FSA Color photographs, go to http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/fsacdig.html

  20. serendipity.rachael [deleted] (61 months ago | reply)

    These are amazing and inspiring! What a collection!!!

    I love how he women had class and style, and weren't afraid to work hard !

  21. Jim Rees (61 months ago | reply)

    Kodachrome uses external dye couplers that are added at the time of processing. All other color films use dye couplers integrated with the emulsion. This makes the Kodachrome process much more complicated but the image is far more stable. This slide will still look good long after we're all dead.

  22. *Milou* (61 months ago | reply)

    She is beautiful. I wonder where she is now and if she knows we are all admiring her.

  23. Slimeface (61 months ago | reply)

    Style, grace and beauty with amazing lighting....

  24. Dan Lester (61 months ago | reply)

    The reason for the fine color, undoubtedly with no restoration, has been explained. Also consider that LC will have kept the slides in proper storage conditions, which many home slides and phots are not stored in.

    Remember that this was during WWII, when a great deal of the factory and other work was done by "Rosie the Riveter" and her friends. If you don't know that poster image, google it (or yahoo it). Women did indeed do all sorts of "factory work" and men's work that they'd never done before, as all the men were off fighting and dying.

    Also consider that it is 99 percent sure that this was NOT a candid, but a posed shot of a selected woman who was told to dress more formally, wear makeup, and so forth.

    Women's Lib? Probably not. It was a wartime necessity, and afterwards a great many of them went back to usual "women's work" at home. Think of June Cleaver, who, if there were any back story, may well have been riveting wings of P-38s a few years earlier, but in the 50s was cooking dinner in heels and hose.

  25. rose_peacock (61 months ago | reply)

    I could see Gena Davis playing her in a movie...

  26. RR Anderson (61 months ago | reply)

    mama!

  27. strph (61 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful!

    --
    Seen on your photo stream. (?)

  28. greyMedium (61 months ago | reply)

    Wow, these archives truly show the detail that medium and large format film can capture, utilizing a Sinar 54H digital back to capture thus shows how far the consumer grade DSLR's have to go before even nearing the resolution of film.

  29. lawatt (61 months ago | reply)

    so fantastic to have all these images available -- i can see myself spending hours going through them all!

    thank you!

  30. kenorland (61 months ago | reply)

    You guys!!! This is so awesome.

  31. trv.eaglesun (61 months ago | reply)

    Description from Library of Congress says no enhancement at all..... just scanned as is. This is hard to believe, because many professional photos as old as this, if they are in color, have already faded.

  32. lawatt (61 months ago | reply)

    this is a scanned transparency, not a print, so much less likely to fade...

  33. ACFred (61 months ago | reply)

    I have an ongoing project (brand new, of course), started in an effort to help restore the color to these images, but also try to maintain the integrity and charm of the original.
    Here is the adjusted photo:
    www.flickr.com/photos/alec_fredericks/2201429 168/
    And the Commons Upgrade set:
    www.flickr.com/photos/alec_fredericks/sets/72 157603732346...

  34. Shannon Dagher (61 months ago | reply)

    AMAZING...this looks so "current." Like it could have been shot yesterday. Fantastic that we have shots like these for posterity. :)

    SO GLAD YOU'VE JOINED FLICKR! :)

    --
    Seen in your 1930s-40s in Color set. (?)

  35. maminga (61 months ago | reply)

    "thus shows how far the consumer grade DSLR's have to go before even nearing the resolution of film."

    I totally agree, which is why I am still a die-hard slide film user, even though I have a very hard time finding film these days.

  36. Girl b - Barbara Taylor (61 months ago | reply)

    This is such a fascinating project!
    I work as a digitisation technician for a Design Archive, so I am excited to see how the LOC has used Flickr to get the images 'out there'. And I'm straight to that link to read more about the project!

    I also don't think that woman really dressed like that for work, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was staged and she was really a model! I mean, in the 40's, the only woman who looked like that at a manual job was Joan Crawford in the movies, right??

    It would be interesting to hear from women from that time to see what they say...

  37. le cercle (61 months ago | reply)

    Wow! this is such a great picture. It really shows the demands on women to both be beautiful and laborious at the same time.

  38. FlorinC (61 months ago | reply)

    Superb image, and what clarity. Even for work, the women would get all dolled up back then..amazing..she's beautiful.

  39. simaruba (61 months ago | reply)

    The colors!!!

  40. AlinaShots (61 months ago | reply)

    YAY!! I finally know that the past had colors too!

  41. Maly B. (61 months ago | reply)

    yeah, they have been available, but it is very nice to have them in such a public and open place.

  42. scheiro (61 months ago | reply)

    That a wonderful shot!!!! The woman is so beautiful. The atmosphere scene gives really strong feeling.

  43. koremanoblogg (61 months ago | reply)

    Very nice

  44. majorphoto (61 months ago | reply)

    Ektachrome was developed in 1935 and Kodacolor in 1942 - my parents have Kodachrome slide transparancies from the 50s that are as saturated as the day they were processed

  45. dennis gray (61 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful color, but more so shows the mettle and adaptability of the American people

  46. Edward on Flickr (61 months ago | reply)

    Like ACFred above, I've also had a go at re-processing this photo, starting with the 141MB TIFF image from the Library of Congress:
    Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation (1942) (processed)
    I'm not suggesting all these old photos should be "enhanced" until they look like they were taken yesterday, but it is interesting to have a look at them after processing nonetheless. And that being said, there's certainly room to improve the JPEG encoding of these images even without touching the colour-balance - just compare the large version of this image to the large version of mine to see the extra detail that's there. I've uploaded the full 7788x6384 pixel image there if you want a look - it's about 7MB.

  47. lenz art (61 months ago | reply)

    i agree that she looks beautiful, and out of place yet perfectly comfortable in her surroundings. A whole different era, I've probably never looked this good going to work and I work in a nice clean office.

    --
    Seen on your photo stream. (?)

  48. Ala care este (61 months ago | reply)

    This is also war propaganda. Posters such as this were used to motivate the public and keep the moralle at a higher level. I guess this was the first kind of "subversive" advertising, only with a noble purpose.

  49. robb montgomery (61 months ago | reply)

    If it is a Kodachrome, likely is, it is not at all unusual that the color are this saturated and flesh tones so lifelike. A hallmark of the grainless compostion of this photographer's favorite emulsion.

    Also, if it kodachrome then this is a studio shot - definintly couldn't eb documentary candid news photo. Why? Other than all the obvious art direction and styling cues for of the model and hair and dress, Kodachrome is extremely slow-speed film meaning there has to be a light/strobe kit involved in the making of this image. And a tripod for the camera .. and. I love the LOC for this.

  50. The Library of Congress (61 months ago | reply)

    You're right; it's Kodachrome sheet film.

    This good conversation made us wonder if other photos in the b&w FSA/OWI collection could offer additional clues to the context. Found one more portrait of this woman with a caption that mentions "Hollywood missed a good bet when they overlooked this attractive aircraft worker.”

    (The b&w negatives are low resolution since scanned in the 1990s to capture the whole collection of 170,000 b&w negatives.)

  51. das_gute_a (61 months ago | reply)

    Just an innocent question: Is it incidental that these pictures appear to be truly patriotic (all of them but one?) while the caucuses are on their way? Beyond all doubt they are fantastic to look at. But why does it appeal to me, that they are - in the choice that has been made - also 'republican'? I absolutely wish I was wrong.

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