Square America

Manolo says, the Manolo has recently discovered and become completely obsessed with the website Square America, the site devoted to the American snapshot, as collected and organized by Nicholas Osborn.

The shot shown above is from the On The Street , which is described as the collection of,

37 photos taken by the professional photographers who staked out the streets of major cities and tourist spots and took candid snapshots which they would then attempt to sell to their subjects, promising them “Natural pictures of you in motion.” For the most part hastily shot and incredibly poorly printed these photos are nevertheless are invaluable record of streetlife from the 30s through the 50s.

Here is yet another picture from the Square America site.

This one is from the collection entitled “On Beauty (And Its Discontents)”, described as,

Almost 85 photos on the idea of feminine beauty. Expect pin-up girls and beauty queens, mirrors, make-up and more!

But these two photos are but the small part of the enormous and endlessly fascinating collections that await those who visit Square America.