Unemployed lumber worker goes with his wife to the bean harvest. Note Social Security number tattooed on his arm. Oregon, August 1939.

    by BusinessQueasy4999

    5 Comments

    1. Thomas Cave. He died in 1980. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3895107/thomas-ursel-cave

      His wife Ann died in 2000.

      >Notably, two early tattoo artists, Red Gibbons and Sailor Walter, were catering to this growing trend.

      >Operating out of their shop on Burnside Street in Portland, they reported in 1937 that they were working overtime, tattooing Social Security numbers “on the arms and legs of folks who didn’t want to be caught without their numbers,” as mentioned in a local newspaper.

      >Below is a hand-lettered sign advertising Social Security number tattoo styles (from 1936).

      From this article: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/unemployed-worker-social-security-number-tattoo/

    2. KeyNefariousness6848 on

      That tattoo is probably the difference between your corpse going to your family or to the unmarked grave.

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