Esther Bubley

These photos were taken in boarding houses in the Washington, D.C. area during World War II.

 A boardinghouse rule forbids men guest to come into 

girls' rooms and vice versa. Washington, DC, 1943
[and yet, there they are]

  

 A bridge game does not disturb this sleeper, Washington, DC, 1943

  

 A girl employed by the U.S. government, a new arrival 

at a boardinghouse, being greeted by her roommates, 1943

  

 A radio is company for this girl in her boardinghouse room, 1943

  

 A U.S. Office of Price Administration stenographer 

and a friend in their boardinghouse room, 1943

  

 An evening gathering in a boardinghouse, 1943

  

 Girl in the doorway of her room at a boardinghouse, 1943

  

 The schedule for use of the boardinghouse bathroom is worked out 

so that each person has eight minutes in the morning. It is social suicide 

to ignore the schedule and cause a tie-up like this. 1943

 

 This boardinghouse room needs a heater in the winter and a fan in the summer, 1943

 

 Those who are not too modest save time by tripling up 

in the use of the boardinghouse bathroom, 1943

  

Two girls looking at pictures in their room in a boardinghouse, 1943