Washington, D.C., 1943: The Light Looks Like an Angel
Washington, D.C., 1943 — photographed from the inside by Esther Bubley of the Office of War Information, and colorized by machine. A boardinghouse where the bathroom ran on an eight-minute schedule. The rent a landlady could not raise, because Congress froze this city's rents in December 1941.
Transcript
The crowded city
R001 Washington, D.C. A radio is company for this girl in her boardinghouse room
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-DIG-fsa-8d33579) · AI-colorized. View the original.
By 1943, Washington had run out of rooms. The government's own photographer went inside them.
The Census Bureau put it in a table. Six hundred eighty-five thousand people in the District in the summer of 1940. Eight hundred ninety thousand by the summer of 1943. Two hundred thousand new Washingtonians in three years — and the houses hadn't moved.
R002 Washington, D.C. The outside of a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038332) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The photographs in this film are black and white negatives from the Library of Congress. A machine estimated the colors. Nothing else has been changed.
R003 Washington, D.C. In the hall of a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038327) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Every original is free to see at the Library's website. The captions you'll hear are the photographer's own.
The boardinghouse
R004 Washington, D.C. Girl in the doorway of her room at a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038328) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Her name was Esther Bubley. Hired to develop the government's film, she ended up shooting it — and in January 1943 she went inside one boardinghouse.
R005 Washington, D.C. A dresser top in a room at a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038302) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The top of one dresser, in one rented room. A radio, a hand mirror, a bottle of tonic.
R006 Washington, D.C. Pictures of her husband decorate the dresser and mirror of this boardinghouse resident
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038304) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Her caption: pictures of her husband decorate the dresser and mirror of this boardinghouse resident.
R007 Washington, D.C. A boardinghouse rule forbids men guests to come into girls' rooms and vice versa
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038303) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A house rule forbids men guests to come into girls' rooms — and, the caption adds, vice versa.
R008 Washington, D.C. A clerk in the U.S. Navy Department reading in his room in a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038306) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A clerk in the Navy Department, reading in his room.
R009 Washington, D.C. This employee of the U.S. Navy Department listens to the radio and studies drafting in his boardinghouse room
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038316) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Another Navy employee listens to the radio and studies drafting. The ties on the wall are the closet.
R010 Washington, D.C. This U.S. Office of Price Administration clerk, speaking of her boardinghouse room says: "The light looks like an angel when I leave the shade off, so I do so"
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038307) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A price-administration clerk told Bubley why she left the shade off her lamp: "The light looks like an angel."
R011 Washington, D.C. This boardinghouse room needs a heater in the winter and a fan in the summer
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038308) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The caption for this room reads like a classified ad in reverse: needs a heater in the winter and a fan in the summer.
R012 Washington, D.C. The telephone in a boardinghouse is always busy
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038319) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The telephone in a boardinghouse is always busy.
R013 Washington, D.C. The schedule for use of the boardinghouse bathroom is worked out so that each person has eight minutes in the morning. It is social suicide to ignore the schedule and cause a tie-up like this
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038325) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The bathroom runs on a schedule — eight minutes each in the morning. Her caption calls ignoring it social suicide.
R014 Washington, D.C. Those who are not too modest save time by tripling up in the use of the boardinghouse bathroom
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038322) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Those who are not too modest save time by tripling up.
R015 Washington, D.C. After dinner a bridge game goes on nightly in the largest room in the boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038312) · AI-colorized. View the original.
After dinner, a bridge game goes on nightly in the largest room.
R016 Washington, D.C. A bridge game does not disturb this sleeper
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038321) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The bridge game does not disturb this sleeper.
R017 Washington, D.C. A boardinghouse philosopher
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038313) · AI-colorized. View the original.
She labeled this one simply: a boardinghouse philosopher.
R018 Washington, D.C. An evening gathering in a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038326) · AI-colorized. View the original.
An evening gathering. Someone's bed is the sofa.
R019 Washington, D.C. The proprieter of this boardinghouse watches the service at dinner
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038336) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The proprietor watches the service at dinner.
R020 Washington, D.C. The landlady of a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038300) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The landlady.
R021 Washington, D.C. Paying the rent at a boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038301) · AI-colorized. View the original.
And paying the rent.
The rent freeze
Rent day in this city came with a law attached — passed five days before Pearl Harbor. Congress had looked at what it called the congested situation at the seat of government, and frozen Washington's rents.
The Emergency Rent Act pinned rents to what the room had cost on January first, 1941. And in the statute book, the Act ends on the very page where the next law begins: the declaration of war on Japan, six days later.
R022 Washington, D.C. Pearl Ginsburg refused to have her boardinghouse rent raised
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038311) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Which is how one boarder earned the shortest caption in the series: Pearl Ginsburg refused to have her rent raised.
R023 Washington, D.C. An employee of the U.S. Navy Department laid up with a cold in his room at Dissin's boardinghouse
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038317) · AI-colorized. View the original.
One caption names the house: Dissin's — a Navy Department employee, laid up with a cold. The Library keeps it all as one lot: one house, thirty-eight negatives.
R024 Washington, D.C. This girl met her husband at the boardinghouse. When he was drafted, she moved back into her old room. His pictures decorate the dresser and wall
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038323) · AI-colorized. View the original.
This girl met her husband at the boardinghouse. When he was drafted, she moved back into her old room. His pictures decorate the dresser and wall.
The wires
R025 Washington, D.C. Miss Dorothy Lutz, a Western Union telegraph messenger. She has been a messenger for nine months
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032155) · AI-colorized. View the original.
By day the boarders ran the city. At Western Union: Miss Dorothy Lutz, a telegraph messenger, nine months on the job.
R026 Washington, D.C. Western Union telegram messengers
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032201) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The messenger bench.
R027 Washington, D.C. Miss Genie Lee Neal reading a perforated tape at the Western Union telegraph office
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032334) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Miss Genie Lee Neal, reading a perforated tape.
R028 Washington, D.C. Miss Ethel Wakefield, a Western Union telegraph PBX operator
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032340) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Miss Ethel Wakefield, at the switchboard.
R029 Washington, D.C. Mrs. Susan Poyce writing switching instructions on a blackboard at the Western Union telegraph office
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032352) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Mrs. Susan Poyce, chalking switching instructions.
R030 Washington, D.C. Miss Louis Crist and Medora Corrick working in the routing center at the Western Union telegraph office
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032339) · AI-colorized. View the original.
In the routing center, the racks are labeled: government telegrams in one, commercial in the other.
R031 Washington, D.C. Hattie B. Sheehan, a streetcar conductor for the Capitol Transit Company
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032171) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Capitol Transit put women on the streetcars. Hattie B. Sheehan, conductor.
R032 Washington, D.C. Miss Frances Lewis, the motorman of a two-man streetcar
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032174) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Miss Frances Lewis — her caption gives her the job title: motorman.
R033 Washington, D.C. Hattie B. Sheehan, a streetcar conductor for the Capitol Transit Company
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032188) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sheehan again, with the coin changer on her belt.
R034 Washington, D.C. Preparing an advisory forecast at the U.S. Weather Bureau. A junior meteorologist assembling plotted sectional weather maps prior to analysis by forecasters
Esther Bubley · July 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-031379) · AI-colorized. View the original.
At the Weather Bureau, a junior meteorologist assembles the sectional maps.
R035 Washington, D.C. Preparing an advisory forecast at the U.S. Weather Bureau. General view of the plotting room
Esther Bubley · July 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-031384) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The plotting room, preparing an advisory forecast. Weather was war information now.
R036 Washington, D.C. A sign on a shoe store on the last day on which war ration shoe coupon seventeen may be used
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032160) · AI-colorized. View the original.
June brought a deadline: the last day to spend war ration shoe coupon seventeen.
R037 Washington, D.C. A crowded shoe store on the last day on which war ration shoe coupon seventeen may be used
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032183) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The shoe stores were as crowded as the boardinghouses.
R038 Washington, D.C. Blanche Beavers waiting on a customer in the Arcade seafood market
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032662) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Blanche Beavers, at the Arcade seafood counter.
R039 Washington, D.C. Two boys waiting to help customers with their orders at the grocery store
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-032669) · AI-colorized. View the original.
And two boys at the grocery, waiting to carry orders.
Sunday
R040 Washington, D.C. Brother Edwin Foote preaching a sermon at the First Wesleyan Methodist Church. He wears sackcloth to reprimand the congregation for not attending a revival meeting held the preceeding week
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-019976) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sunday morning, March. At First Wesleyan Methodist, Brother Foote preached in sackcloth — reprimanding the congregation, the caption says, for skipping the revival.
R041 Washington, D.C. Member of the congregation during the sermon at the First Wesleyan Methodist Church
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-019974) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A sailor in the congregation.
R042 Washington, D.C. Soldier from a nearby camp giving a testimonial during the morning services at the First Wesleyan Methodist Church
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-019979) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A soldier from a nearby camp rose to give a testimonial.
R043 Washington, D.C. Sunday school children and teacher listening to the services at the First Wesleyan Methodist Church
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-019986) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The Sunday school listened from the side room.
R044 Washington, D.C. People leaving the Firt Wesleyan Methodist church after services
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-020379) · AI-colorized. View the original.
And then the sidewalk, and the week began again.
R045 Washington, D.C. Women gossiping in a drugstore over cokes
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-DIG-fsa-8d26810) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Women gossiping in a drugstore over cokes — her words, on the caption card.
R046 Washington, D.C. Riding on a streetcar
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-020180) · AI-colorized. View the original.
She rode the streetcars with them.
R047 Washington, D.C. A streetcar passenger
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-023091) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A streetcar passenger.
R048 Washington, D.C. Little boy riding on a streetcar
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021027) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A little boy at the window.
R049 Washington, D.C. Spectators in the National Gallery of Art on a Sunday afternoon
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-020181) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sunday afternoon at the National Gallery, which was free, and heated.
R050 Washington, D.C. Street photographer in front of the Capitol
Esther Bubley · Mar. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-020196) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A street photographer worked the Capitol grounds — a picture of pictures being sold.
R051 Washington, D.C. Sailors posing for their picture under the cherry blossoms
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021015) · AI-colorized. View the original.
April. Sailors posed under the cherry blossoms.
R052 Washington, D.C. Posing for a snapshot on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021026) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Snapshots on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial, one year old that spring.
R053 Washington, D.C. Listening to the U.S. Army band play at a free concert in front of the Capitol
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-030535) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The Army band played free concerts in front of the Capitol.
R054 Washington, D.C. Little boy listening to a solo on the trumpet by Henry "Hot lips" Levine at a concert by the U.S. Army band in front of the Capitol
Esther Bubley · June 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-030547) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Her caption credits the trumpet solo: Henry "Hot Lips" Levine.
Saturday night
R055 Washington, D.C. Girl sitting alone in the Sea Grill, a bar and restaurant waiting for a pickup. "I come in here pretty often, sometimes alone, mostly with another girl, we drink beer, and talk, and of course we keep our eyes open--you'd be surprised at how often nice, lonesome soldiers ask Sue, the waitress, to introduce them to us"
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-DIG-fsa-8d27122) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Saturday night was the Sea Grill. A girl waiting alone told Bubley: "We drink beer, and talk, and of course we keep our eyes open."
R056 Washington, D.C. Girl who has picked up two soldiers since coming into the Sea Grill alone. They are drinking beer and exchanging life histories
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-DIG-ppmsca-05112) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The same evening, the caption updates: she has picked up two soldiers. They are drinking beer and exchanging life histories.
R057 Washington, D.C. Girl and a soldier came into the Sea Grill separately, but are developing a beautiful friendship
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021016) · AI-colorized. View the original.
This girl and this soldier came in separately. The caption says they are developing a beautiful friendship.
R058 Washington, D.C. A slightly inebriated couple at the Sea Grill
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021021) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A slightly inebriated couple.
R059 Washington, D.C. Sue, a waitress at the Sea Grill serving beer
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021051) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sue, the waitress the lonesome soldiers asked for introductions.
R060 Washington, D.C. Soldiers form Walter Reed Hospital drinking beer at the Sea Grill
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021062) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Soldiers from Walter Reed, out of the hospital for the evening.
R061 Washington, D.C. Jitterbugs at an Elk's Club dance, the "cleanest dance in town"
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-023094) · AI-colorized. View the original.
At the Elks' Club: jitterbugs, at what the caption calls the cleanest dance in town.
R062 Washington, D.C. Dancing to the music of a juke box at the Walsh Club for federal employees
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-022803) · AI-colorized. View the original.
At the Walsh Club for federal employees, the music came from a juke box.
Sunday night
R063 Washington, D.C. Sailor kissing his mother goodbye at the Greyhound bus depot
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021006) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sunday night ended at the Greyhound terminal. A sailor kissing his mother goodbye.
R064 Washington, D.C. Woman standing in line with her son until he leaves on the bus at the Greyhound bus depot
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021007) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A mother stood in line with her son until the bus took him.
R065 Washington, D.C. Soldier buying a ticket at the Greyhound bus depot
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021060) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The ticket window: Baltimore, Annapolis, Richmond, and all points between.
R066 Washington, D.C. Parents of one of the soldiers on a special bus, climbing onto the baggage cart to look into the bus until the moment it departs from the Greyhound terminal
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021034) · AI-colorized. View the original.
One soldier's parents climbed onto the baggage cart to see into the bus until the moment it left.
R067 Washington, D.C. Soldiers looking out the window of the bus just before leaving the Greyhound terminal
Esther Bubley · Apr. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-021065) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The faces in the windows.
The alley
R068 Washington, D.C. A child in her home, which is an alley dwelling near the capitol
Esther Bubley · July 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-036228) · AI-colorized. View the original.
In July she walked the alleys behind the Capitol. A child in her home — an alley dwelling, a few blocks from the dome.
R069 Washington, D.C. A child whose home is an alley dwelling near the capitol
Esther Bubley · July 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-036233) · AI-colorized. View the original.
The boom that filled the boardinghouses never reached these houses.
Congress had created an Alley Dwelling Authority nine years earlier to clear these blocks. The Authority's own report counted a hundred and seventy-six squares of alley dwellings — and in one alley, families living in corrugated iron garages.
R070 Washington, D.C. Negroes in front of their alley dwellings near the capitol
Esther Bubley · July 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-036249) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Bubley's caption states the fact of it plainly: these are homes, and this is the capital.
Two weeks to Christmas
R071 Washington, D.C. In Lafayette Park, feeding the pigeons
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040182) · AI-colorized. View the original.
December. In Lafayette Park, across from the White House, a woman who had fed the pigeons almost daily for thirteen years went on feeding them.
R072 Washington, D.C. A pawnshop window
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040306) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A pawnshop window.
R073 Washington D.C. At the main desk in the lobby of the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040489) · AI-colorized. View the original.
At the United Nations service center, the flags of the Allies hung over the lobby desk.
R074 Washington, D.C. A picture-taking machine in the lobby at the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040288) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A machine sold your own photograph, already framed, for fifteen cents.
R075 Washington, D.C. Servicemen who must wait several hours between trains sleeping in one of the lounges at the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040263) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Servicemen with hours between trains slept in the lounges.
R076 Washington, D.C. Servicemen who sleep in the lounge at the United Nations service center between trains can have an attendant wake them at a specific time
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040293) · AI-colorized. View the original.
You could leave a time with the attendant, and be woken for your train.
R077 Washington, D.C. Child being fed at the nursery in the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040343) · AI-colorized. View the original.
There was a nursery. Children were fed according to instructions their parents left.
R078 Washington, D.C. A volunteer worker opening a can of baby food for a child who is being cared for at the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040337) · AI-colorized. View the original.
A volunteer opens a can of baby food.
R079 Washington, D.C. A volunteer at the United Nations service center sewing insignia and newly-acquired chevrons on the overcoat of a paratrooper
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040332) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Another sews new chevrons on a paratrooper's overcoat.
R080 Washington, D.C. A sailor getting some help in wrapping his Christmas gifts at the United Nations service center
Esther Bubley · Dec. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-040261) · AI-colorized. View the original.
And before Christmas came, a sailor got help wrapping his gifts.
R081 Washington, D.C. In a boardinghouse room
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-USW3-038335) · AI-colorized. View the original.
This is the capital the war built — not the marble, the rooms. And the file's best caption is a boarder's reason for leaving her shade off: the light looks like an angel.
D001 Washington, D.C. A radio is company for this girl in her boardinghouse room
Esther Bubley · Jan. 1943 · Library of Congress, FSA/OWI (LC-DIG-fsa-8d33579) · AI-colorized. View the original.
Sources
- Photographs: Esther Bubley for the U.S. Office of War Information, 1943 — Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information black-and-white negatives, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division (call numbers LC-USW3-…, shown on each frame). Federal works, public domain. The boardinghouse series is LOC Lot 939 (negatives 38299–38336, January 1943); one caption names the house, "Dissin's boardinghouse." All quoted captions are Bubley's own caption-card texts as transcribed by the Library. The colors are machine estimates (DDColor); the underlying negatives are black and white, and the originals are free to view at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/ (the boardinghouse lot record: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004667130/).
- District of Columbia Emergency Rent Act — Public Law 77-327, ch. 553, approved December 2, 1941, 55 Stat. 788: the "congested situation … existing at the seat of government" finding and the January 1, 1941 rent ceiling (Sec. 2(a)) read off the Statutes at Large scan (Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-united-states-statutes-at-large_1941-1942_55). The Act's final page, 55 Stat. 795, carries "Approved, December 2, 1941" directly above Public Law 328, the Joint Resolution declaring war on Japan, approved December 8, 1941 — the source of the episode's "six days later, same page" line.
- Population figures — Statistical Abstract of the United States 1946, Table 9, "Estimated Population on July 1, by States: 1936 to 1945" (Bureau of the Census): District of Columbia 685,000 (July 1940) → 890,000 (July 1943), estimates in thousands, armed forces overseas excluded. Read off the page image (https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1946/compendia/statab/67ed/1946-02.pdf); the OCR misreads 890 as 800.
- Alley dwellings — Report of the Alley Dwelling Authority for the District of Columbia, fiscal year 1936–37 (GPO), p. 10: "approximately 176 squares containing alley dwellings," Navy Place's 60 alley houses, and families "living in corrugated iron garages" (Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ilsuc.edu-20210409-131914). The Authority was created by the D.C. Alley Dwelling Act, Public No. 307, approved June 12, 1934, 48 Stat. 930.
- Scene 75's "thirteen years" — the caption of the sibling frames in the same December 1943 Lafayette Park series (LC-USW3-040195 through 040210: "This woman has been bringing grain to the pigeons almost daily for thirteen years"); the frame shown is LC-USW3-040182 from the same visit, whose own caption reads "In Lafayette Park, feeding the pigeons."
- Esther Bubley's OWI employment (hired for the lab, moved to the camera) — Library of Congress, "Women Come to the Front" (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/) and P&P photographer documentation. The often-repeated claim that Bubley lived at (or her sister boarded at) Dissin's is estate testimony, not federal paper, and is deliberately not asserted in the narration.
- Rent Act in force in these months: e.g. Shaffer v. Bowes, 31 A.2d 690 (D.C. Mun. App., Jan. 29, 1943), a dispute over one rooming-house room, decided the same month the boardinghouse series was shot (Caselaw Access Project: https://static.case.law/a2d/31.pdf).
- Research notes with page-level verification flags: research/bubley-dc/NOTES.md in the channel's files.