Vintage Thanksgiving photos from the 1910s to the 1940s show turkeys bought straight from the shed, a Red Cross kitchen in France, and family tables in 1940 and 1942. These nine come from the Library of Congress. Below is what we see in each one and why it is worth a look.
Published November 11, 2026.
I was raised on holiday traditions, and I have loved old photographs for as long as I can remember. Where I live in the Midwest, Thanksgiving still means pie on the counter and a game playing in another room. These pictures feel like that same day, seen from a long way off.
A phone full of holiday pictures usually has somebody blinking in every other shot. These are different. Working photographers took them for newspapers, the Red Cross and the federal government, and none of them has any known restriction on use, so you can share them too.
Vintage Thanksgiving photos at a glance
| Photo | Year | Place | Photographer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buying the turkey | About 1910 to 1915 | Not recorded | Unnamed news photographer |
| A boy and his turkey | About 1910 to 1915 | Not recorded | Unnamed news photographer |
| Cooks with turkeys | 1918 | Blois, France | Not recorded |
| A quiet dinner table | About 1923 | Not recorded | Unnamed stereograph maker |
| Dinner waiting | 1940 | Connecticut | Jack Delano |
| A full family table | 1940 | Connecticut | Jack Delano |
| Saying grace | 1942 | Lancaster County, Pennsylvania | Marjory Collins |
| Carving the turkey | 1942 | Lancaster County, Pennsylvania | Marjory Collins |
| The after-dinner walk | 1942 | Lancaster County, Pennsylvania | Marjory Collins |
Buying the Thanksgiving turkey, 1910s
If you want to see where the holiday dinner began, start here. A man in a brimmed hat lifts a turkey by its feet beside a hanging scale. A boy in a cap stands close to watch, and more birds hang in the dark shed behind them. A wagon wheel waits at the right edge. Nobody is posing, and that is the charm.
The Library’s record gives no town, only a date range, so we cannot say where this stall stood. We do know it was made for the papers. George Grantham Bain started one of the first news photo services in New York in 1898, and this negative comes from his files. Look at the boy. That is the face of a kid waiting at a meat counter for his number to be called. Best for anyone who loves market scenes. Skip it if you came for the dinner table.
A boy and his turkey, 1910s
This is the picture that made me grin. A boy in a floppy hat carries a turkey over his back, its tail fanned out behind him and its head poking out at his side. He smiles as if he knows exactly how good the photo is. The bird is nearly as big as he is.
The words “Thanksgiving Turkey” are lettered across the top of the negative itself. These glass plates were made for newspaper desks and labeled by hand. It comes from the same group and the same date range as the market scene, so the two make a pair. Set it beside a modern grocery-store turkey and you can see how the holiday has changed. Best for when you want a smile more than a lesson. Skip it if you want a real place and date, because the record has neither.
Thanksgiving turkeys in France, 1918
Four cooks in white jackets and tall caps stand shoulder to shoulder, each holding turkeys by the legs. A Red Cross flag hangs behind them on a truck. The negative is soft and ghosted, almost like a double exposure, and somehow that makes it feel like a memory. These men look proud, and they should.
The caption card says these cooks prepared the turkeys the American Red Cross gave to soldiers for Thanksgiving dinner at Blois, France, in November 1918. The Armistice had been signed on November 11, and Thanksgiving fell on the 28th. Best for anyone who wants the holiday at its most grateful. Skip it if you want a sharp print, since the negative is soft.
A quiet Thanksgiving table, about 1923
Here is the one picture where nobody is in a hurry, because nobody is in it. A round table wears a white cloth, with a turkey on a platter at the far end, a bowl of fruit in the middle and a candle on each side. A lace-curtained window lets in soft light. It is the calm minute before the doorbell rings.
This is a stereograph card, a pair of nearly identical views made to be seen through a viewer so the room seems to have depth. Cards like this sold by the thousands in the 1920s, and this one dates to about 1923. It reads like a scene arranged for the camera, and I like it for that, because it shows one publisher’s idea of a perfect Thanksgiving. Skip it if you want real faces.
Dinner waiting in Connecticut, 1940
Every Thanksgiving has an hour like this one. A young man sprawls in an armchair with the comics page open across his knees. An older man in round glasses reads the news across the room, with potted plants on the sill behind him. Dinner is coming, and for now the house is quiet. Of all nine, this is the one I would hang on a wall.
The Library’s title is simply “Dinner waiting.” It belongs to a series Jack Delano made in Connecticut in November 1940, and the caption cards describe the host family as Quakers. Delano was one of the staff photographers on the federal photo project that ran from 1935 to 1944. He had an eye for the ordinary moment between the big ones. Best for anyone who remembers being told to stay out of the kitchen. Skip it if you want food in the frame.
A full family table in 1940
Count the faces and you will lose track around a dozen. Grandparents, parents, teenagers and little ones crowd one table, forks in motion, with a bowl of grapes in the middle and a November 1940 calendar on the wall. Nobody looks at the camera. They are busy.
The caption calls it the family’s annual Thanksgiving dinner and adds that “a twenty-pound turkey was dispensed with in short order.” That line is half the reason we chose this frame. It is also a quiet history lesson. In 1939 the president moved the holiday up a week, and the National Archives says 32 states followed while 16 kept the old date. Families in 1940 were still sorting out which Thursday to celebrate. Congress settled it in December 1941. Best for big-family nostalgia. Skip it if crowded tables make you tired just looking.
Saying grace before the turkey, 1942
This is the photo at the top of this page, and it is our favorite. A long table runs away from us, set with flowers, silver dishes and dark glass tumblers, and every head is bowed. A man at the far end waits with his eyes down, while a boy near us studies his plate. Sunlight pours through three tall windows. It is the stillest moment of the holiday, caught before anyone picks up a fork.
Marjory Collins made it in Neffsville, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in November 1942. The Library’s title says the family is saying grace before carving the turkey. America had been at war for less than a year, and the federal photo project was then run by the Office of War Information. Show this one to anyone who thinks old photographs feel stiff. I find it deeply moving. Skip it only if you want action, because nothing moves here.
Carving the turkey, 1942
Same table, and now the room is loud. The man in the vest has the knife in hand behind a bank of pale flowers. A woman in the foreground holds a full plate out toward the table. Two older women at the left smile at something we will never hear, and a small boy in a bib waits his turn. This one rewards slow looking.
Compare it with the picture of grace and you can see how much one minute changes a room. The Library’s title for this frame is plain, “Thanksgiving dinner,” and it is one of several Collins made in the same home. Best for anyone who likes pictures with a lot going on. Skip it if you prefer one clear subject. Hunt for the centerpiece, the bib and the plates that are already full.
The after-dinner walk, 1942
We end outdoors, which feels right. Four people in dark coats stroll across a lawn dotted with evergreens, with bare trees rising behind them and low light on the grass. Two older men walk side by side, and two women follow a few steps apart. Nobody is rushing back inside.
The Library’s caption says the guests took a walk in the woods behind the house after a large dinner. It is the walk you take so you can face dessert. It is the part of the holiday that rarely gets photographed, which is why we wanted it here. Best for anyone whose favorite part of Thanksgiving is the quiet after it. Skip it if you want the turkey in every shot.
Share your own Thanksgiving photos
We would love to see yours too. Do you have a family picture from a Thanksgiving table, a busy kitchen or a long walk after dinner? Tell us in the comments where and when it was taken, and what is in the frame that nobody else would notice. If you disagree with our favorite, we want to hear that as well.
For something to watch once the dishes are done, our classic Thanksgiving movies list has eight picks. If the turkey pictures made you hungry, our classic holiday dishes cover the whole table. And for another walk through old photographs, try our vintage Coney Island photos.
Frequently asked questions about vintage Thanksgiving photos
When was the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade?
It was held on November 27, 1924, and it was first called the Macy’s Christmas Parade. The Library of Congress says it included animals from the Central Park Zoo, and balloons did not join until 1927, when Felix the Cat led the way.
Where can I find vintage Thanksgiving photos for free?
Start with the Library of Congress photo collection at loc.gov and search “Thanksgiving dinner.” Read the rights line on each record before you use a picture. Many say there are no known restrictions, but some do not, so it pays to check every time.
Why is Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
The National Archives says Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation made it a yearly holiday on the last Thursday. In 1939 the president moved it a week earlier to protect the Christmas shopping season, which split the country. Roosevelt signed a resolution on December 26, 1941, fixing the fourth Thursday. That is why the 1940 photo above is such a nice time capsule.
What was the photo project behind the 1940 and 1942 pictures?
It ran from 1935 to 1944 under the Resettlement Administration, the Farm Security Administration and then the Office of War Information. The Library of Congress holds about 175,000 black-and-white negatives from it. If you enjoy these tables, browse the rest, because ordinary life is what that project did best.