London, 1940, a Girl Sitting in the Wreckage of her Bombed-out Home

The photograph shows London, 1940, A Girl Sitting In The Wreckage Of Her Bombed-Out Home With Her Doll. Made in 1940, it is the kind of image that turns a date in a history book into something you can actually see.

The first half of the 1940s was consumed by the Second World War, the largest conflict in human history, and photography went to war with it — small 35mm cameras and wire services meant pictures from the front could reach newspaper readers within days.

Pictures of ordinary life are some of the most valuable historical documents we have.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.