In this week’s throwback journey, let’s explore living in poverty, featuring scenes of shantytowns and more offered in the photographic archives from The Commons.

February 2, 1924: Three generations of a family pose beside their “home” at Alexander Street, Waterford, Ireland.

Mother and child in front of their so-called tent in 1946.

Between Weedpatch and Lamont, Kern County, California. Children living in camp… Rent $2.75 plus electricity. Taken on April 12, 1940.

Peddler on Broadway [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915].

Taken sometime in 1914: Photograph taken to demonstrate some of the worst housing conditions in British Antigua. The island was in the process of carrying out slum clearance. The file reads “I believe I am correct in stating that, nowhere in the British West Indies, are the working people more wretchedly housed and more detached from the land than in Antigua.”

Taken in February 1973: Modern Buildings Tower over the Shanties Crowded Along the Martin Pena Canal, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

To join this series, tweet @flickr with your favorite photos, and include the hashtag #ThrowbackThursday. And if you’d rather not tweet, simply include the same hashtag in your Flickr photo title, or tag it with ThrowbackThursday. We can’t wait to see what time period and subjects show up next in pictures. From old scans to new photos of throwback memories, we like them all. In the meantime, you can also find inspiration in The Commons on Flickr.

Last Thursday: Throwback Thursday: Maritime