Happy Thanksgiving!

Mounted hunters flushing out turkey and chicks, c. 1875 Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives
Mounted hunters flushing out turkey and chicks, c. 1875 Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives

Hi, everybody!

We just want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving holiday! There are lots of sites that can give you the history of the holiday in depth, so we’re just going to leave you with some evocative pictures instead.

WAVES stationed at U.S. Naval Training School in the Bronx, c. 1942-45
WAVES stationed at U.S. Naval Training School in the Bronx, c. 1942-45

Thanksgiving is a holiday where Americans traditionally (i.e. from 1863 on) sit down together and share a big meal while being thankful that we have food to eat, family and friends, and a decent place to live. As the nuclear family has changed, this holiday is often celebrated with friends or colleagues (“family of choice”) as with the WAVES depicted above. During tough times like WWII, or recessions, or just when far away at college, people couldn’t/can’t always get home to their families.

artstor-polychrome-turkey

 

These three great images all came from Artstor, which is making good on it’s plan to become the largest digital repository of images from art, science, archaeological, and many other institutions throughout the world. This is one of many databases available to you as a student at FIT.

 

 

martha-pies-cvr

 

 

Thanksgiving is the America holiday celebrated most often with pie. This typically American dessert got the royal treatment in the recent Martha Stewart Living. The cover image is so lovely that we hope it will encourage your Thanksgiving baking to new and tastier heights! Have a wonderful holiday, whoever you share it with!