Below are 20 fascinating vintage photographs capture children’s life in France, Switzerland and the United States by LIFE photographer Yale Joel from the 1940s to 1960s:
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| Small flock of chickens in Swiss farmyard being fed by girl of the farm family, Switzerland, 1947. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Elementary school music teacher playing F-Major chord on piano while corresponding keys light up on plastic keyboard model above him as do finger chart for L & R hand & notation for Treble a Bass clefs while student watch & immitate on dummy keyboards, 1947. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| A boy dancing while the French gypsies around him playing music and watching, France, 1948. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children watching circus show, Switzerland, 1948. |
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| Child actor Chet R. Allen mulls over his lines in a classroom in which boys’ choir used as a dressing room, 1952. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| A small boy playing in a tree during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953. |
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| Kids playing outdoors during springtime in Clarksville, Arkansas, 1953. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children petting on of the winning dogs of the Mutt Derby, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children petting a dog at a Mutt Derby event, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1953. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Group of boys club little league baseball players putting on their uniforms while sitting in classroom of school prior to playing a game, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1954. |
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| A boy playing catcher during a Little League baseball game, 1954. |
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| Children participating in a bicycle safety program run by the police, New York, 1954. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Fathers and their children imitating giraffes during play period of special Father’s Day at co-op nursery school owned by parents, New York, 1955. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children looking out the window of a building in the neighborhood of the Mad Bomber, 1957. |
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| A father giving his children haircuts, 1958. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children playing on a playground, 1958. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Second graders using abaci especially designed to teach them arithmetic, Columbus, Ohio, 1958. |
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| Children playing on a swing set, 1958. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| School children visiting the British aircraft carrier HMS ‘Ark Royal,’ 1961. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Children wearing Batman costumes in a New York dance class, 1966. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| Two children, both dressed in Batman capes, jump in front of a studio mirror during a dance class, New York, 1966. |
Vintage Photographs of Children’s Life Taken by Yale Joel
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| A girl playing with a clown at the ‘HemisFair’ in San Antonio, Texas, 1968. |