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Ball Mason Jars Are an American Household Word. They Are as Changeless as the Town which They Made Famous

Margaret Bourke-White

Ball Mason Jars Are an American Household Word. They Are as Changeless as the Town which They Made Famous

1937

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Margaret Bourke-White

Ball Mason Jars Are an American Household Word. They Are as Changeless as the Town which They Made Famous

1937

Physical Qualities Gelatin silver print, Sheet: 350 x 275 mm. (13 3/4 x 10 13/16 in.) Image: 340 x 252 mm. (13 3/8 x 9 15/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Life Magazine, 1938
Object Number 1977.29.1
In 1929, the sociologists Robert S. and Helen Merrell Lynd published the bestselling Middletown: A Study of Contemporary Culture, a lengthy study of Muncie, Indiana, as an “average” American city that represented the United States in microcosm. Margaret Bourke-White was sent to Muncie in April 1937 to create what was touted as a “vital document” of this now-famous community. The inclusion of her eleven-page “Muncie-Middletown” photo essay in the May 10, 1937 issue of Life coincided with the release of the Lynds’ follow-up study of Muncie, entitled Middletown in Transition.
Rena Hoisington, BMA, "Looking through the Lens: Photography 1900-1960," 16 March - 8 June 2008.

Inscribed: Verso: at upper left, in graphite: "#140-1 / 10 [10 circled]"; at lower center, in graphite: "5.10.37 Muncie"; at bottom center, in graphite: "the Making of Ball Mason Jars in Muncie"

Markings: Verso: at center, stamped in red ink: "PHOTO BY / MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE"; at lower center, stamped in red ink: "LIFE"

Artist

Margaret Bourke-White

born New York, NY 1904; died Stamford, CT 1971

Meet Margaret Bourke-White

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Margaret Bourke-White
Far Across Town
1937
Harold Holmes Wrenn
French Landscape. Drawing for a lithograph which was never made.
1931
Margaret Bourke-White
Club and Lodge Life
1937
Honoré Daumier
The disadvantage of sending a bad painting to the exhibition. - They wrote across my forest! Spinach twelve sous per meter! - And what about me, my magnificent study worthy of Géricault,... they had the audacity to stick this label on it!! This is a horse, don't mistake it for an ass which might confuse it with the author!
1848
Margaret Bourke-White
Czechoslovakian Fascist Henlein Speaks to the People. [Published in 'North of the Danube,' 1939?]
c. 1938
Honoré Daumier
Let's be quite clear. - Bertrand is going to sneak in and out of the groups at the stock exchange and polish up the tarred bitumen shares, he'll make them sparkle, he'll say they're being snapped up, snatched up all round, that they're rising like balloons... As for you, Baron, you have a certain 'savoir faire', go and buy some for 20%, 30%, even 100% more. I've got the whole lot in my wallet, they won't be able to deliver any, we'll sell them for what we like and providence will do the rest. - (Bertrand) Forward march against the dupes, let's cash in... fly... etc.
1838
Margaret Bourke-White
Czechoslovakian Peasants Dressed in their Sunday Best. Published in 'North of the Danube,' 1939
c. 1938
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Vestiggi d'antichi Edifici fra i quali evvi l'Urna Sepolcrale tutta d'un pezzo di porfido di Marco Agrippa che oggi serve per il Sepolcro di Clemente XII (Remains of Ancient Buildings Among Which Stands the Sepulchral Urn of Marcus Agrippa Made Entirely o
1743
Margaret Bourke-White
Sudeten Germans Cheer Henlein. Published in 'North of the Danube,' 1939
c. 1938
Honoré Daumier
The other day, I pulled off another smart trick... I had set up a firm with a capital of ten million francs to exploit top boots in cardboard ... I had placed only eight shares worth a petty 1200 francs... I called together my eight shareholders and held forth in something like the following manner: "Ah! Good-day ye strolling gentlemen, how handsome you are, how fine you seem!" I promised them more cheese than bread, I gave them a 50% dividend, I warmed them up a bit and let them simmer... The following day they couldn't get hold of my shares fast enough, I placed all of them and at the next meeting I said: "The last time I did the books I made a mistake. I forgot to take into account the price of the cardboard and its fabrication. You must return the dividend I gave you, I'm going to hold it back... I put down nothing and kept back the r
1838
Margaret Bourke-White
At the Top
1937
Honoré Daumier
A visit to the Library. - Listen woman... they have told us not to disturb the people sitting here, because they are working. - What do you mean working... they are just feigning to be working... in reality they aren't moving at all! --- Visitors from the province who insist on overlooking Paris from the top of the July Column, convinced that the revolution of 1830 was only made in order to have a pretext to build an observatory on the Place de la Bastille.
1853