This has a more modern feel to it. Nice job.

Absolutely wonderful in colouring, makes it feel like it's alive with this family. I see the boy has one of those toy guns that shots suction cup bullet/arrow look.

This is so well done Rob, excellent! tigs=^..^=

So awesome here Rob. I saved the image and studied it closely. I found the boy has a plastic "dart" gun that shoots suction cup darts and on the lady's jacket collar is a safety pin; the fireplace has deteriorating mortar between the bricks and damaged bricks inside the fireplace; there is a box of Diamond brand matches on the mantle; the numbers 500, 700 and 600 are etched into the mantle - maybe chalk? The calender says 1939 and on the floor in back of the mans rocking chair is some kind of "toy" with wheels; of course there are other assorted items on the mantle top. So cool!!!!!!!!

As Bruce is illustrating, there are ways to make certain determinations from studying an old photograph (and being a photo detective is a fun afternoon activity as well, boys and girls!). For one thing, that calendar is pretty fresh because this is January of 1939 (I downloaded the 97.2MB Tiff copy so I could get the clearest possible view of the various elements here). One can bring up calendars from any year and, in this case, compare the months to the Saturdays we see here. 7, 14, 21, and 28 simply tell us that it could be January or October, those two months having that arrangement. Looking close however, we see something on the 28th that was always on calendars when I was a kid (and sometimes still is)... a half-moon. October 28, 1939 had a full moon that night, so it has to be January, with a half-moon. I get the feeling, too, that the locale of this claim shack had to be close enough to the Mississippi coast to warrant weather flags being printed on the other Saturdays; local rain was forecast on the 7th, a weather change for the 14th, and fair on the 21st (research into the Sunflower Plantation, mentioned in Rob's narrative, indicated this was near Pace, Mississippi, 300 miles north of the Gulf Coast). These were hurricane watch and weather symbols common at that time. Close study of the other elements tells us that the fireplace brick were in tough shape because they were only brick faces, mortared to either a plywood or a fire-resistant concrete board. Steady heat would have started separating them and those kinds of cracks show up in close study of this fireplace. There's also a shaving brush and mug up there on the mantel, so the father here (Russell Lee mentioned was the photographer) was fastidious about his appearance. Both he and his wife had been out in the fields because their shoes, while being fairly good quality (hers are of a wingtip style) are nonetheless plastered with dried mud. The toys behind him are a single strap-on roller skate (I used to rent these uncomfortable monsters for a quarter at my parochial school) and a toy digger/crane, laying on its side. The other major clue is the name, Sunflower Plantation. There were 149 government farm "experiments" set up during the "New Deal" of the Roosevelt Depression years. Many were operated as pure experiments in Socialism; others were pure Cooperatives; some, like Sunflower, were more entrepreneurial. In 1938, the average southern tenant (sharecropper) family's income was $73 per person for a year's work. To learn a bit more about their life, and to see more photos of this family and the way they maintained life in their shack, follow this link.

-Nik

Your colorization here is superb. Makes this come alive, gives the viewer a very realistic impression of this family. Bravo.

Rob, join me in the above comments, in particular the ones of Bruce and 'Nik'.
This image was taken just before my childhood days. I had a suction cup pistol as well (only for about half an hour, ☺ ). It was presented to me by my father. My first target was the ceiling. When my mother saw the result of my 'aggression' (please notice the quotation marks): the arrow fixed on the ceiling, she was inexorable and gave my father a scolding for his irresponsible buying behavior, ☺ . This 'fond' memory revives when I look at this picture and makes me smile again. Nostalgia 'pur sang', intensified by your expertly done colorization. Thanks for that again, my friend!

Fabulous old vintage photo that gives us a peek into the past and the family life and hard times people had to endure...a terrific job on the coloring and a fave for me.