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From 1939 until 1942, Everett Kuntz snapped hundreds of photos capturing everyday life in his hometown Ridgeway, Iowa. But it wasn't until 2002, shortly after learning he had cancer, that Kuntz would print the photos.
Immediately, he noticed how the images preserved a time thought to be lost forever ... a time when America was still emerging from the Great Depression and rapidly approaching a great war.
Yet the photos depict a sense of hope in the people of Ridgeway, an innocence that epitomized the calm before the storm.
Kuntz's photographs show the faces, fields and porches of small-town America before World War II and stand as a historical record of both a bygone time and a rural Iowa that's fading away.
posted on February 27, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Clara Gilbertson Perry remembers growing up in Ridgeway, Iowa. Her remembrances are part of the Iowa Public Television documentary, "Picture Perfect, Iowa of the 1940s."
posted on February 26, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Norma Quill Fisher talks about her memories of growing up in Ridgeway, Iowa, and her enjoyment of the photos taken by Everett Kuntz.
posted on February 26, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Nancy Kuntz Hildreth & Carol Kuntz Swenson talk about their father, Everett Kunz's photos.
posted on February 26, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Everett Kuntz's wife, Helen, was instrumental in getting a book of his photos published. Iowa Public Television talks with Helen, and their son David, about the life depicted in those photos.
This segment describes the life of young Ridgeway, Iowa community members and their remarkably loving memories of school. ... 03:48
This segment introduces 1940s Iowa photographer Everett Kuntz and his work. 02:20
An era of 'complete innocence' comes to life in the 1939-1942 photos of Ridgeway, Iowa, taken by Everett Kuntz. 00:30
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