Archive Fever
Visual essays, photos, and ephemera from youth cultures by blog editor Kelly Rakowski
Hot Wheels
April 19, 2012 — by
Before high school car culture, teens peddled their way to freedom. Here’s a cross section of California kids on wheels from turn of the 20th century to 1945, found in the Los Angeles Public Library. Above is Leela McAdam nee McCabe – winner of the best decorated bicycle for the 1900 Fourth of July parade in Lompoc, CA.
Coffee House Rendezvous
April 18, 2012 — by
“We tend to attract a rather circumscribed clientele. There are a group of cool people on campus — not meaning it derogatorily — but just people who consider themselves swinging and if you consider yourself swinging, well, you just have to go to the coffee house. For one reason or another, it’s the place to be and the place to be seen.”
Coffee House Rendezvous came out in 1969, it’s a film about the role of the coffee house as a point of congregation and performance in 1960′s youth counter-culture. Plus, the whole film is on YouTube!
Non-Violence Training
April 16, 2012 — by
In 1960, photographer Eve Arnold traveled to Petersburg, Virginia to cover the Petersburg Improvement Association, a part of the non-violent protest movement happening in the south. She photographed young black activists training not to react to harassment by enemies of the cause. The PIA trained how to passively resist aggressors blowing smoke in protestors faces, taught illiterate people how to write, and educated young people on non-violent gestures to bring change. More…
Ladies Have A Smoker
April 10, 2012 — by
Smoker – (n.) An informal social gathering for men only
Sick of letting the boys have all the fun, the Young Women’s Republican Club of Milford, Connecticut decided to have a “smoker” of their own. On the evening of May 20th, 1941, the girls drank, smoked pipes, wrestled, and had their very own strip-tease. Life Magazine’s Nina Leen documented the debauchery.
Hiking Germany
March 27, 2012 — by
Teenagers hiking across the German countryside is nothing new. The most noted are the Wandervogel (wandering birds) of the early 1900s who rebelled against materialist society in favor of folklore tradition and living off the land. Pictured below are young men hiking in 1950 & 1930 Germany.
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