The interior of a general store in Moundville, Alabama.
This public domain photograph comes from the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress. The subject is the interior of a general store in Moundville, Alabama. The shelves are well-stocked with merchandise.
This photo was shot by Walker Evans, who was acting as an agent of the United States government. It is therefore in the public domain.
10 megabyte TIFF. Hosted at the Library of Congress.
User Descriptions
03.17.10
SUPER MARKET:
1.The photograph was taken in the year of 1936 as the calender in the store shows.
2.The provisions were properly merchandised so the the customers can easily pick up the products they needed.
3.There were many bags which should be filled with rice or wheat or any cereals.
4.The hurricane lights were displayed by their sizes and visually good.
5.As it was taken in 1936 and the photograph was in black and white the original colour was not applied.
6.The top most shelf has some chairs and some boxes which looks little shabby.
7.There was some empty box lying on the floor which looks untidy.
8.The cups and plates are properly displayed on the table and as it was till the edge of the table, slight shaking or touching would make the materials fell down. so it has to be placed as such that is would not fall on any circumstances.
9.A wall paper was displayed on the wall as she is advertising for the soft drink coco cola, so called coke.
10.The overall thing is, the products has to be displayed properly and neatly. so that the customers does not have any issues in selecting their groceries, and they have happy shopping.
03.17.10
This image is a peek into the old time general store. Captured in black and white, this photo takes you back in time to where the general store was your window into the world, a source for food, dry goods, treats, and information. This photo shows some of the products offered to customers when they walked through the door. Front and center is a collection of white dishes, stacked up in a display flat. Below the dishes are boxes of OK soap. Next to that are big, giant bags of self-rising flour from Snow Ball and Hi-Ball. Rising straight up from the flour bag stacks is a beam with a calendar attached from July 1936. On the wall behind rises shelves filled with goodies from eras past. A few woven chairs, lanterns, boxes and tins, and metal dustpans fill the shelves and help you to imagine shopping in the store. Next to the shelves is an old fashioned Coca Cola poster, featuring a glamourous woman in a white dress tempting us to buy some Coca Cola products. I love this image of a snapshot in time. It makes me think of a simpler time, when your local store owner knew your name and knew your weekly order. A time when the human connection was a bit stronger and less generic, less sterile. When shopping was as much a social event as it was a necessity.