Photograph included in DCC “The Call of the Rails,” from Daily Life along the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Collection

You and your students are going to look at a photograph taken in Union Station in Chicago in 1948 by the photographer Esther Bubley. Tell your students that, together, you’re going to figure out everything you can about the picture. Then ask some of the questions below.

Questions

Who is in the picture?

Are they inside or outside?

Do you think someone is going somewhere? Why do you think that?

What time of year is it? Why do you think that?

How old do you think the child is?

Who do you think the child is looking at?

What is that person wearing? (for older students) What does that mean?

Who is standing next to them?

What do you think the child is feeling?

You can show your students more pictures from the CB&Q Railroad Collection in the DCC “The Call of the Rails.”