ZOE GAUPP
“Wading Pool” (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 167, folder 10, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University).
Representations of children’s welfare programs at Techwood and University Homes in Atlanta, Georgia from the 1930s-1950s can be put into direct conversation with photographs and images of children and families during the same time under Joseph Stalin’s rule in the Soviet Union (1929-1953). Techwood Homes, located in northeast Atlanta between the Coca-Cola company headquarters and the Georgia Institute of Technology, was an all-white project that replaced a fourteen-block slum area known as Techwood Flats. University Homes was an all-Black project adjacent to the Atlanta University Center that replaced the Beaver Slide neighborhood and its poor housing conditions. Management at these first federally funded housing projects in the United States, developed welfare programs to satisfy the demand and interests of the many families that resided there. Here, I analyze photographs and media concerning the welfare programs and clubs for children situated in Techwood and University Homes with images of children in the Soviet Union during the same time. In doing so, I hope to bring to light the relations between federally funded housing projects in the US, specifically in Atlanta, and socialist rule in the USSR. Specifically, I aim to show that images of children undertaking useful tasks were used in both contexts to illustrate how the model citizen was created. In this comparison, I analyze photography of children in the USSR during the 1930s that highlights life under socialist rule and the useful activities that children were involved in. Then, I place newspapers advertising the activities of children living in Techwood and University Homes in direct contrast to these Soviet photographs to showcase their citizen-building intent.
Atlanta Context: Palmer, Techwood, and the WPA
Charles F. Palmer was the Atlanta real estate developer who was behind the funding application to the federal government to create Techwood Homes, and he would go on to become the first chairman of the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA). Palmer took inspiration from European and Soviet examples of social housing [Figure 1]. Palmer and his wife, Laura Palmer, traveled to Moscow in 1934 to tour Soviet housing projects. Letters in Palmer’s archive indicate that he sought to meet with Stalin as part of that trip [Figure 2].
Figure 1: Letter from Charles F. Palmer to Clark Foreman, June 7, 1934 (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 15, folder 7, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University).
Figure 2: Letter from Charles F. Palmer to Attilio Bollati, June 2, 1934 (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 29, folder 4, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University).
In Stalin’s Soviet Union at the time the Palmers visited, art and photography were used to promote nationalism. We can say that art and photography were used with propagandistic intention—the images were staged to convey joy and to promote a communist lifestyle. Similarly, Palmer wanted to draw positive attention to the housing projects of Atlanta. Hiring photographers, who may or may not have been previously unemployed, to capture moments of success within Techwood Homes—clubs, amenities, extracurriculars—Palmer looked to the success of state-sponsored projects in the USSR and also sought to use photography to portray a way of life at the new housing development.
Palmer’s application to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal government to fund Techwood ultimately involved various branches of the federal government in Atlanta. Among these were the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an agency formed to create more American jobs in the wake of the Great Depression. One of the ways in which the WPA helped to jumpstart the economy was through its federal art project. This program dedicated $35 million to fund artists to create murals, easel paintings, graphic art, and photography. The artwork and goals of the federal art project were consistent with American regionalism and scene painting that flourished from the 1920s-1950s. During this time, artists focused on creating representational scenes of American life, idealizing urbanization in US culture, and evoking nationalist sentiments.[1]
Soviet Context: Stalinist Socialist Realism
Under Stalin and communist rule in the USSR, socialist realist art depicted everyday working people, the Red Army, and urban workers to showcase positive images of Soviet life. Ultimately, the goal of socialist realism was to use art as a form of propaganda to display a political message.[2] The Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia was established in Stalin’s era to produce artwork in line with the values of his regime. Both American regionalism and socialist realism used media to construct state directed beliefs and values.
No longer were drawings or paintings, subject to the artist’s liberty and design, the only form of display, however. Photographs showed real people—in this story, children—living under these circumstances. Seeing people in the flesh, posed or not, gave viewers the opportunity to imagine themselves in a similar position. The ideals of Soviet realism were also closely aligned with the medium of photography because photography conveyed a certain “truth” due to its inherent “realism.” Socialist realist photographs were presented as truth, yet many that implied the joys of living and working under communist rule were staged or posed.
Children in the Soviet Union held a special role: they represented the innocence of youth and the promise of a socialist future. For socialism to succeed, children were educated politically into Stalin’s cult of personality and Soviet childhood was idealized. Likewise, at Techwood and University Homes, children were viewed as the nation’s future. Advertising displayed the happiness that could be brought to youth living in federally funded public housing, promising a brighter future for the nation during a time of economic rebuilding. By using photography to promote the lives of children in the USSR and at Techwood and University Homes, the message conveyed became more real for viewers.
Comparisons of Photographs and Other Media
The first set of images I will analyze pairs a kindergarten class in the USSR during 1930s with a newspaper photograph showcasing the wading pool at Techwood Homes [Figures 3, 4]. The photograph from the Soviet Union captures a candid moment of children walking to the lake from the classroom, highlighting how the lives of children in Russia balanced play and education. The photograph has been taken during a moment of innocence and delight. Some of the children are shown holding toys and they all file out as a group—complete with their swimsuits and sun protective hats and sandals. A teacher or chaperone is also present to oversee them as they head out into the world. In the Atlanta image, we might presume that a photographer was hired by Techwood management to shoot promotional images. The children seen here smile and splash with glee around the housing project’s wading pool as their mothers watch in the background. On a hot day in August 1936, it looks ever so pleasing to relax and cool off in a pool. These images showcase the youthful joy and luxury of life at Techwood, in which a child may spend time outside at the pool with friends. In the context of the newspaper, the caption of the photo “Ain’t they got fun? -At Techwood the wading pool is oh so cool!” not only speaks to the success of the project through the children’s happy play, but also may have been intended to sway public opinion about federal housing or entice families to move in. [3]
Figure 3: Mikhail Grachev, Kindergarten, 1930. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Figure 4: “Wading Pool” (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 167, folder 10, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University).
The next set of images compares some of the recreational activities children in the Soviet Union participated in with clubs and activities for children at University Homes. In the USSR, the Communist Party developed the Young Pioneers initially under Lenin’s oversight and maintained the organization from 1922-1991. This organization was available for adolescents ages 9-15 years old, and members were taught how to integrate themselves into the state.[4] During the Soviet era, the USSR recognized that children embodied revolutionary transformation. Young Pioneer activities often combined the scientific needs of children with the vision of revolution.[5] Soviet children frequently took part in extracurricular activities that encouraged inquisitiveness, such as learning about the flora and fauna of their region to generate excitement about and encouragement for being outdoors. In one seemingly staged photograph, two young boys stand smiling over their hawks perched on a branch [Figure 5]. Children in the background run toward them to investigate the find. Another activity done outside was zarnitsa or heat lightning [Figures 6, 7]. [6] This game encouraged Soviet boys to learn the trials and tribulations of war and military strategy. The column of boys in this photograph, stretching to the horizon, hold guns and wear gas masks. Games like zarnitsa instilled fixed gender roles insofar as young boys were encouraged to prepare to defend their homeland. Though there were presumably no war games for children at University Homes, newsletter photographs showcase some of the activities and clubs for tenant children that included cooking/homemaking classes, Little League baseball, Brownie Scouts, and Boy Scouts [Figures 8, 9]. Though there may have been more liberty for children at University Homes, it was not foreign to design programs that allowed children to gain skillsets for the future as adults. In many cases, young residents learned skills representative of their gender that would prepare them to enter the workforce and become a responsible member of their household and society at large.
Figure 5: Mikhail Grachev, Young Naturalists, 1930s. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Figure 6: Viktor Bulla, Young Pioneers, 1937. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Figure 7: Mikhail Grachev, War Games, 1930s. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Figure 8: Members of clubs at University Homes (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 38, folder 6, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University).
Figure 9: Members of clubs at University Homes (Charles F. Palmer Papers, box 38, folder 6, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University).
The “Kiddie’s Korner” was a regular feature of The Tab, the tenant newspaper at University Homes. While wartime preparation may not have been explicitly taught to young public housing tenants, national pride and a sense of citizenship was impressed upon them in columns like “The Story of the [American] Flag,” which is immediately followed by an exhaustive fifteen-point list of cautions [Figure 10]. Point one begins broadly with “Do not permit disrespect to be shown to the flag of the United States,” whereas point eleven is quite specific, cautioning “Do not use the flag as a covering for the ceiling.”[7] Another “Kiddie’s Korner” story reminds children to be good as the Christmas season approaches [Figure 11]. Selective language cautions children that Santa will come only if they are well behaved, as they should know to be. Children are also told that Santa Claus grieves when they are bad and will only reward children with manners. Though there is no photograph used here, the message of good behavior and the duty to be a well-behaved child-citizen is instilled through the repetition of Christmas. I couple these tenant media pieces with a Soviet illustration, which shows a school warden reprimanding a child for bad behavior [Figure 12]. The message conveyed in both contexts is that children must take responsibility for their actions to become proper citizens.
Figure 10: Excerpt from The Tab: The Voice of University Homes 2, no. 3, (June 1939). University Homes Records, 2015.0058.3.1.9, Atlanta Housing Archives, Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta.
Figure 11: Excerpt from The Tab: The Voice of University Homes 2, no. 3, (June 1939). University Homes Records, 2015.0058.3.1.9, Atlanta Housing Archives, Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta.
Figure 12: Mikhail Grachev, School Warden,1955-1959. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Often the importance of being “good”— a good neighbor, good friend, good child—was promoted in media about the Atlanta housing projects. Advertisements and photos of children at Techwood and University Homes served as propaganda that extended ideas of acceptable behavior to all residents. Children who were healthy and well behaved were used as models for these projects. Learning from European and Soviet examples, Palmer and the AHA implemented similar visual rhetoric for federal housing in Atlanta. Pairing scenes of children partaking in activities alongside tag lines mentioning the importance of children’s health and well-being made the welfare programs at Techwood and University Homes more desirable. At the two housing projects children could partake in healthy exercise outdoors and support their development through activities at the playground, library, or auditorium.
A perfect example of the kinds of messages children’s images conveyed is seen in the Techwood woodworking shop, started by a disabled veteran. According to the Atlanta Constitution, children (mostly boys) came “in droves now every afternoon” to make items for their parents.[8] In the US, with unemployment still high, children were being taught skills, typically based on their gender, that would prepare them for roles they might have taken later in life. Soviet youth were likewise educated in handicrafts and model building, as seen in a photograph of children gathering around a model [Figure 13]. In both the US and the USSR, it was important that children were inquisitive and learning skills that would benefit society as a whole.
Figure 13: Mikhail Grachev, Next to a Model, 1937. See Russia Beyond, “This is how 'happy Soviet childhood' looked like (PHOTOS),” October 7, 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331096-happy-soviet-childhood. Image courtesy of MAMM/MDF.
Conclusion
These visual comparisons showcase the power of images in the New Deal and Interwar period of the 1930s, a time that maps onto the artistic movements of American regionalism and Soviet socialist realism. I hope to have shown a correlation between images of children in subsidized housing in the United States and images of Soviet youth that Stalin’s regime used to sway public opinion. In the US context, garnering support for slum clearance and state-sponsored housing was important to those in power like Palmer and FDR. Hired to portray an idealized American culture. photographers and artists produced images of happy and productive children at Techwood and University Homes that helped to make federally subsidized housing projects in America palatable. Images like those captured by Soviet photographer Mikhail Grachev helped Soviet viewers believe in the communist system. If children were happy, learning, and playing, nothing could be wrong.
At Techwood and University Homes, families were living in federally subsidized housing units for the first time. Photography not only showcased residents, but also all of the amenities offered at these new projects. Both Palmer and Stalin found success by selling their “projects” through carefully crafted images of child-citizens.
***
Zoe Gaupp is a 2022 graduate of Emory University College of Arts and Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in Art History.
NOTES
[1] Rebecca Seiferle, “American Regionalism Movement Overview and Analysis,” TheArtStory, August 21, 2018, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/american-regionalism/.
[2] Sarah Ingram, “Socialist Realism Movement Overview and Analysis,” TheArtStory, November 7, 2018, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/socialist-realism/.
[3] See newspaper clipping in Charles F. Palmer Papers, OBV3, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University.
[4] Matthew D. Pauly, “Children as Salvation: The Young Pioneers and Komsomol,” in Breaking the Tongue: Language, Education, and Power in Soviet Ukraine, 1923-1934 (University of Toronto Press, 2014), 174–99.
[5] Lisa Kirschenbaum, Small Comrades: Revolutionizing Childhood in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932 (New York and London: Routledge Falmer, 2001).
[6] Ruslan Budnik, “Playing at War: Zarnitsa – The Soviet Youth Military Exercises,” WarHistoryOnline, July 13, 2018, https://www.warhistoryonline.com/cold-war/playing-at-war-zarnitsa.html?chrome=1.
[7] The Tab: The Voice of University Homes Newsletter 3, no. 2 (June 1939), 16.
[8] See newspaper clipping in Charles F. Palmer Papers, OBV3, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Citation
If you are citing this story, we recommend the following format using the Chicago Manual of Style:
Zoe Gaupp, “‘Kiddie’s Korner’: Comparing Images of Active Children in Atlanta and the Soviet Union,” Atlanta Housing Interplay, ed. Christina E. Crawford, accessed [the date accessed], https://www.atlhousing.org/kiddies-korner
Bibliography
Budnik, Ruslan. “Playing at War: Zarnitsa – The Soviet Youth Military Exercises.” WarHistoryOnline.com, July 13, 2018. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/cold-war/playing-at-war-zarnitsa.html?chrome=1.
Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia)
English Russia. “Soviet Kid’s Drawings Back from 1930.” Accessed April 21, 2022. https://englishrussia.com/2017/12/22/soviet-kids-drawings-back-from-1930s/.
Ingram, Sarah. “Socialist Realism Movement Overview and Analysis.” TheArtStory, November 7, 2018. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/socialist-realism/.
Kirschenbaum, Lisa. Small Comrades: Revolutionizing Childhood in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932. New York and London: Routledge Falmer, 2001.
Pauly, Matthew D. “Children as Salvation: The Young Pioneers and Komsomol.” In Breaking the Tongue: Language, Education, and Power in Soviet Ukraine, 1923-1934, 174–99. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014.
Seiferle, Rebecca. “American Regionalism Movement Overview and Analysis.” TheArtStory, August 21, 2018. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/american-regionalism/.