How to make a living as a photographer in the 1930s. Probably the last thing people were looking for in the 1930s were photos, and photography studios found this out rather quickly. Dick Smith of Rosebud Photo of Gregory and Winner owned the studios continuously from 1923 to 1969. During the bleakest time of the Depression, Smith was getting requests of dust bowl photos by the Eastern newspapers. They said people there had no clue what it was like out in the dust bowl. Smith hit on the idea of making a series of dust bowl postcards to market to the eastern markets. I am not sure really how many there were in the series, but the postcards were numbered in the high teens. And always marked “Rosebud photo”. The one post card shows a dust storm rolling into Gregory – notice the old sale barn in back. In effect he probably made the largest collection of dust bowl photos of that period of time. You can still find many on EBay and post cards sites. And would guess any of the older folks in the area have a few tucked in the desk drawers. My uncle Ed Chocholousek had many stories of the dust bowl times. He stated 1934 was the worst not a drop of rain all summer. Nothing ever greened up, and you could hear the anguish in their voice as they talked about it. You talk to any doctor that treated people of that era and they will tell you they had the strongest will to live than any other period of time. But Dick Smith persisted and kept the studio going till better times returned.

Author Richard Papousek, October 2023