When historian Anne Firor Scott shared some vintage photographs with us for use with her essay “My Twentieth Century: Leaves from a Journal” [Spring 2003], we discovered among them many hidden treasures. We especially liked one striking snapshot that captured 1921 downtown Athens street life, which we made our cover photo. She was kind enough to write us a short letter telling more about the picture.

The children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the man on the cover of the Spring 2003 issue are delighted by it. Perhaps a word of explanation is in order: the man in question is John William Firor Sr., who was, in the early 1920s, county agricultural agent for Clarke County, Georgia. Later he was invited to establish a department of agricultural economics and rural sociology at the University of Georgia, a post which he held until retirement. His lifelong concern with the needs of Georgia farmers is reflected in the photograph: he had initiated a farmers’ market (called a “curb market”), which took place every Saturday on the main street of Athens, Georgia. The photograph was taken on the day the market opened, and as its father, so to speak, he had the privilege of buying the first ear of corn.