Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back in time? I often daydream about what life was like in the 1930’s and 1940’s. I don’t know why I do that, but I do. While I have not found a time machine to transport me there yet, I did find a fun and very addictive program on the Ancestry.com website.
In celebration of the release of the 1940 Census, the folks at Ancestry.com know that many researchers likely have the 1940’s on their minds as they sift through census data, digging for new clues about ancestors from that era. Just for fun, they have created a program that lets you take a look at life in 1940.
The 1940 Time Machine on the Ancestry.com website is a program where you enter your name and answer a few questions about yourself. After you answer the questions, the program generates a video slideshow of what your typical 1940’s day would be like. After you watch your video, you can go back and vary your responses to create a new video. Make sure that you have a little time on your hands before you do this, though, because it is rather addictive. I could do it all day long.
For my first video, I selected the rural South as my location, along with female gender, married, white collar work, and an interest in food. My video told me that I brushed my teeth in the morning with powder on a brush made of boar bristles. My morning coffee took twenty minutes to percolate. I worked as a stenographer at an oil company, and earned about twenty one dollars each week. After work, I went home and found that my husband had called a babysitter so that he could take me to the movies. We saw Charlie Chaplin mocking Hitler as The Great Dictator, and went out for a steak dinner – what a treat.
Photo by patriciafortes on morguefile.com.