Posted by Bruce Berman in New Mexico, Rural America, Russell Lee Biography, Russell Lee’s Road
Bulletin Board in Post Office Showing a Large Collection of
“Wanted Men” Signs, Ames, Iowa, 1936, by Russell Lee
Little American Flags, cut up and turned sideways,
Post Office in Garfield, New Mexico,
May 2010, by Bruce Berman
Iola Alvarez, Postmistress of Garfield, NM
She holds a 1922 postal register, May 2010
by ©Bruce Berman
by Bruce Berman
It’s probably hard to believe it, but I never saw this image of Russell Lee’s until this morning. This keeps happening. It either means I’m an unoriginal wannabe, or that there is still a lot out there that is similar to what used to be out there, and it’s still good “Cannon Fodder,” for a photographer.
The Postmistress, Iola Alvarez, in Garfield, New Mexico, claims these mailboxes were first installed in 1919.
New Post Office rules require that no one can look into another person’s mailbox,” so, says Iola, “I covered them up a “few years ago.”
Ila Alvarez has been at her current job in Garfield since 1988.
She loved the old mailboxes so she found a magazine, bought several issues, cut up the pictures of American flags that she found on its pages, snipped out the “stripes,” and turned them vertically and taped them into each box.
Problem solved. History preserved. A touch of patriotism achieved with a “defaced,” flag.
No peekers.
1919 mailboxes still going.
Tags: 1930’s Photography, New Mexico, Russell Lee, Small Town Americ
