Mona Lisa of the Plains

I saw this photograph on the Library of Congress website in early December 2007. I must have stared at it for five minutes. I thought it was one of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen. I still do. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the photographer, John Vachon, or anything about Seward County, Nebraska. And, of course, I had no idea of the girl’s identity, since she was not named in the caption. I asked myself, “How can I find out?”

I emailed the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division and asked them if they had any records that might help me identify the girl. They quickly replied that they did not, but that I could contact the party responsible for Vachon’s records. So I sent off an email right away, attaching a copy of the photo. To my surprise, I received a prompt reply from Vachon’s daughter, but she told me that her father kept poor records of his work, and seldom kept track of the names of his subjects.

So I did the next best thing I could think of. I contacted the Seward County Independent and talked to Stephanie Croston, the editor. I suggested that she publish the photo and see if anyone recognizes the girl. She was excited about the idea. And so, on the morning of January 9, 2008, the article came out. I caught it on the Web.

“Do you know this girl? Who was she? What became of her?’ That was the first paragraph under the photo. Early that evening, an email popped up on my computer. It said, in part:

“We were very surprised to open our local paper today and find my mother-in-law’s picture on the front page. Claudine is now 79 years old and lives in Seward County. This picture bears a likeness to my daughter, who is almost 8. Claudine would have been about 10 in the photo. She has spent her life in Seward County, most of it on the farm. Like so many people of her era, she is a treasure trove history of what life was like back then on the farm. My husband and I live on the farm she grew up on. My name is Lonna, and my husband is Roger, Claudine’s son.”

I was stunned and excited when I talked to Roger and Lonna an hour later, and so were they. Several days later, I called Claudine and interviewed her for over an hour, her 70-year-old photo staring back at me from the coffee table. It was downright eerie. She was a delight, as were Roger and Lonna, with whom I have had many enjoyable and sometimes emotional conversations. Of course, there was a follow-up article in the Seward County Independent, and then another by Cindy Lange-Kubick, for the Journal Star in Lincoln, the state capital. And I made sure to notify Vachon’s daughter, who was pleased to know that the photo had been identified.

Roger told me that the Seward County Independent also published the photo in 1979, at the request of the Nebraska Historical Society, which was also trying to identify her. Claudine recognized herself right away, but no one ever followed up on it, and the photo, whose historical significance was not fully understood, simply became a treasured curiosity for the family.