These Are Some of the Floats from the 1939 Edition of the Macy's Thanksgiving
The photograph shows these are some of the floats from the 1939 edition of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The scene dates to 1939, a detail that changes how you read every face and object in the frame.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924, and its signature giant balloons arrived in 1927, replacing live zoo animals. In the parade's early decades the balloons were released into the sky at the end of the route, with a reward offered for their return — a practice that ended after a series of mishaps.
Pictures of ordinary life are some of the most valuable historical documents we have. Grand events were always going to be recorded, but a normal day — how people worked, dressed, shopped, and passed the time — survives only when someone happened to point a camera at it.
