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Potatoes and Barrels

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fields, crops, pastures.

Empty barrels line the rows of dug-up potatoes in this photo of a potato harvest. On the right-hand side, men are placing barrels full of potatoes on a horse-drawn wagon. The horses on the left may be pulling a mechanical potato digger. A man standing in the middle and other workers in the far distance are using baskets to gather the potatoes and put them in the barrels. See a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the harvest activities in the field.

This is an unused real photo postcard with no address, message, or date. The back of the card has an Azo stamp box design (with squares in all four corners) that suggests a time frame that may range from 1924 to 1949.

Although there's no indication of the location where this photo was taken, an article by Paul E. Rand details a similar process of Harvesting Potatoes in Maine. His description is part of Presque Isle: The Star City, a site on the Maine Memory Network. For a similar harvest photo that's referenced in Rand's article, see Harvesting Potatoes, Presque Isle, 1940.

Potatoes and Barrels (Cropped)
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4 comments

Deborah Lundbech said:

Who knew they used barrels for potatoes?
Interesting workplace photo, Alan.
15 months ago

Alan Mays replied to Deborah Lundbech:

Thanks, Deborah! I sure didn't know about using barrels for harvesting potatoes -- it took me quite a bit of searching to figure it out.
14 months ago

RicksPics said:

Yes, an interesting photo. I would have expected more hands in the field picking the potatoes than are pictured here. Hard work!
15 months ago

Alan Mays replied to RicksPics:

Thanks, Rick! I agree -- there are a few more men who are barely visible at the far end of the field, but it does seem like small potatoes compared to the number of workers one would expect to see!
14 months ago