The family of Maggie and Don Carttar of 2224 Barker Ave. were photographed on Thanksgiving Day 1961. Left to right are Mrs. Carttar, and son John, 8 weeks old, Lene, 5, Steve, 9, Peter, 6, Don Carttar and Paul, 8.

This year, the Lawrence Journal-World has elected to take a look at Thanksgivings Past.

Along with their original captions, these archive photos offer readers a look back — whether that means a trip down memory lane or a glimpse into a history they never experienced firsthand.

These families from the Lawrence Daily Journal-World of the 1960s have grown and changed over the decades, but they remember these photos.

The Carttar Family, 1961

Though Peter Carttar was only 6 years old in this 1961 photo, he still remembers how “glorious-looking” the prop turkey was.

“The photographer from the Journal-World arrived with that spectacular-looking bird, and when they left, they took the bird with them,” he said. “I remember a little bit of a sense of disappointment, because it was beautiful.”

The staged photo, taken the day before Thanksgiving, was not too far from reality for the Carttar family. Sunday dinners were always slightly formal, Peter said, and Thanksgiving was “sort of a super Sunday dinner.”

The Carttar family, clockwise from bottom left, Lene, Peter, David, Hans, Stephen and Paul, talk over drinks at Teller’s restaurant on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, during the monthly Carttar Sibling Night. Since 2001, on the second Thursday of every month, the six grown children of Maggie Carttar and the late Donald Carttar gather at a Lawrence restaurant for drinks and conversation.

“(The day before) was very much like Thanksgiving — you’d get dressed up back then,” Peter said. “Not so much nowadays; we actually are a little more casual. It was a little more Norman Rockwell back then.”

The photo was taken seven years before youngest brother David was born — and before then-baby John started going by Hans.

“Since that time, we’ve added a child and lost a parent,” Peter said.

Mom still hosts, Peter said, but dinner is now held at his house. It’s also expanded quite a bit — Thanksgiving dinner now typically includes 30 to 40 people, he said.

The Journal-World checked in with the Carttar family in 2012, reporting that each month all six siblings get together for dinner. Peter said that tradition continues.

“We’ve all moved away, and right now, we’re all back,” he said. “We come and go, but right now I’m very happy to say we’re all here (in Lawrence).”

The Scannell Family, 1964

The Scannell family had a fun fall in 1964, Susan Scannell said — they won a total of four turkeys by guessing college football games.

Susan said her father, who is now living in Philadelphia, was on a Professors’ Pigskin Picks radio show with several other Kansas University faculty members, and picked the college games like a pro.

“My dad was pretty good and my mom had a system also,” she said. “They did it very scientifically, looking at the different polls.”

The success of the two “game-pickers” was the reason the Journal-World chose the Scannell family for a photo, Susan said. She was 7, but she remembers the photo being taken.

Susan said the family misses the contest every week, but they still watch football games together on Thanksgiving. She, her mother and her two brothers still live in the area. Her sister is living in Minnesota.

“We’ve gotten a little more scattered over the years but it’s always a day we enjoy spending together, when we can,” she said.

The Johnson Family, 1966

Marcia Johnson, now 88 years old, remembers getting everything ready for this staged photo to be taken the day before Thanksgiving in 1966.

She said the photo was an exciting experience for the four children — and this year, it’s an exciting experience for her to be able to look back on the memories.

“We made a practice run of it, and I was concerned with what the children were going to wear and where they were going to sit,” she said.

Marcia said she isn’t sure why her family was selected for the photo, except perhaps that her husband, Roger, was hospital administrator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital at the time.

The family moved to Colorado shortly before the oldest daughter, Khristine, entered high school, but Marcia and Roger returned to Lawrence upon retirement. He died in 2010.

Khristine is now living in Colorado Springs, Colo; Timothy is in Denver; Laurel is in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Brian lives in Grants Pass, Ore. All are married and have children.

“They’re all doing fine, and I thank Lawrence and Hillcrest School and Avalon Road,” Marcia said.

She credits the town with a big role in her children’s upbringing, and she said one of her most prominent memories is of the children sledding down Avalon Road when it snowed.

“I’m just so thankful to Lawrence that they gave my children such a wonderful start,” she said.

She said the family still follows most of the same traditions and makes the same foods — particularly the dressing from Roger’s mother’s recipe that they had every year growing up.