Sometimes the best way to really feel connected to the past and to the people who lived in bygone eras is to just look at photographs. Photographs give us a unique glimpse into individuals’ lives and maybe even allow us to feel we have something in common. The following historic photos of Pennsylvania were all taken in the mid-1930s, just a few years after the Great Depression ended and a few years before the world would go to war.

1. Homes in Bethlehem overlook a busy steel mill in this photo from 1935.
Photogrammar/Walker Evans
2. Cars are seen in this photograph that shows the city of Bethlehem in 1935.
Photogrammar/Walker Evans
3. Smoke billows from the steel mills that kept the city of Pittsburgh going for generations. Its rich past as a steel town earned Pittsburgh, seen here in 1935, the nickname of The Steel City.
Photogrammar/Walker Evans
4. Rolling farmland is seen in Bedford County in 1936. Those who travel along the Pennsylvania Turnpike have seen similar views for generations.
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein
5. A family gathers around the dinner table in Bedford County in 1937.
Photogrammar/Arthur Rothstein

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6. After a long day of driving, several truckers kick back and relax at a truckers’ rest stop, Amity Hall.
Photogrammar/Edwin Locke
7. Billboards were popular back in the 1930s, too. This 1938 photo, captured somewhere near Harrisburg, touts Amity Hall as the place to stop for weary travelers.
Photogrammar/Sheldon Dick
8. A coal worker takes a brief break from his duties at a South Street, Philadelphia, coal yard in 1936.
Photogrammar/Paul Vanderbilt
9. A shoeshine stand sits in front of a barbershop in Philadelphia. This photo was captured on the corner of 19th Street and Bainbridge Street in 1937.
Photogrammar/Paul Vanderbilt
10. Townspeople gather around an auctioneer who is auctioning off a house and its contents in York in 1939.
Photogrammar/Marion Post Wolcott
11. A small child sits in a rocking chair in Westmoreland County in 1936.
Photogrammar/Carl Mydans

What are your favorite historic photos of Pennsylvania? Join the conversation in the comments! Then, since we’re already journeying back in time, take a look at the nine things you probably didn’t know about the history of Pennsylvania.

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