Stephanie Croston

    Do you know this girl? Who was she? What became of her?
     These are questions Joe Manning of Florence, Mass., is trying to answer.
     "There is a story in everything if you have time," he said.
     Manning, a historian and writer, came across this photograph by John Vachon while working on the Lewis Hine Project. Hine took pictures of child labor, and Manning has been trying to identify the children and learn their stories.
     Vachon was hired by the Farm Security Administration to photograph rural poverty. In the summer of 1939, he spent some time in Seward County, where he took this unidentified photo.
     Manning said he spoke to Vachon's daughter, who told him her father did not keep good records of who he photographed, although his records of other things were extensive.
     "I feel a sense of power that I can do this," Manning said, adding that the information he's found comes from people who left a trail. "It gives the photos meaning. They're no longer anonymous."
     Vachon spent his time in Nebraska primarily in Omaha and Seward County, Manning said. He was trained by Walker Evans and was very young when he was in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.
     "The pictures are very vernacular. You get a sense of what ordinary life looked like in the Midwest," Manning said.
     He first started researching the Hine and Vachon photos two years ago. He was hired by Elizabeth Winthrop, author of Counting on Grace, to find out what happened to the girl in the picture that was the inspiration for the story.
     The photograph, which was taken by Hine, was actually of a girl named Addie Card. Manning found her granddaughter in 11 days.
     "It made a tremendous impact on the book," he said.
     Another picture of two girls in North Carolina led to their family.
     One girl was identified, and Manning found her nephew, who said the girl had never married. The other girl was his mother.
     "It's been one picture after another," Manning said.
     He said he is enjoying using his talents to find the stories behind the photos.
     "I have a detective's mind and a talent for telling stories and interviewing," he said.
     As he researches the photos, he has gotten the sense that people are excited to see the pictures and to share the stories of what happened to the people and places in them.
     "It's adding another story to the history of America," he said.
     If you recognize the girl in this photo, you can contact Manning at www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/oldphotos.html or (413) 584-0679.