--- title: Portraits of a Small World: LIFE at the School Bus Stop, 1971 description: As the school year begins, LIFE.com fondly recalls a 1971 photo essay that captures the 'bouncy little society' of the school bus stop. canonical: https://time.com/3877936/portraits-of-a-small-world-suburban-school-bus-stop/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-09-04T16:13:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:50.648Z og:title: Portraits of a Small World: LIFE at the School Bus Stop, 1971 og:description: As the school year begins, LIFE.com fondly recalls a 1971 photo essay that captures the 'bouncy little society' of the school bus stop. og:url: https://time.com/3877936/portraits-of-a-small-world-suburban-school-bus-stop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28cc4dba62b39d35/69884a9be20a871268a8ac40/117085880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: School Bus Stop, New Jersey, 1971 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Portraits of a Small World: LIFE at the School Bus Stop, 1971 twitter:description: As the school year begins, LIFE.com fondly recalls a 1971 photo essay that captures the 'bouncy little society' of the school bus stop. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28cc4dba62b39d35/69884a9be20a871268a8ac40/117085880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Portraits of a Small World: LIFE at the School Bus Stop, 1971 > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 4, 2013 4:13 PM UTC  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 4, 2013 4:13 PM UTC In 1971, LIFE magazine published a special double issue called, simply, “Children.” In the issue, LIFE’s editors sought to peer into what they characterized as “a secret world”—the world of childhood. One of the sweetest features in the entire issue was a series of pictures by Ralph Morse chronicling the goings-on at school bus stops near his home in northern New Jersey. As LIFE put it to the magazine’s readers, when introducing Morse’s photographs: --- > “” --- Here, LIFE.com fondly recalls Morse’s photo essay, and the images that capture the intense, singular, “bouncy little society” of the suburban school bus stop, circa 1971.  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  School bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. Ralph Morse—TIme & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Moms wave to their kids at a school bus stop, New Jersey, 1971. 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