Take a 1920s open-top, add two parents and kids times 13, minus road safety and what do you get? This!

Anyone who has kids knows that the most basic of activities need to be planned with military precision; even those with one child need to be prepared for snack times, diaper-changes and boredom on long journeys. But multiply that by 13 little people, and factor in the simpler times of the 1920s, and you get something like this…

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

And while “how many people can fit into a 1920s convertible?” may sound like the set-up to a bad joke – or an impossible world record challenge – for one family of the era it was their daily reality. These pictures are proof of the fact.

Image: Digital Commonwealth/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

But to show how extraordinary this was, in 1925 the number of children per household averaged around 2.3. It was understandable, then, that one family in the Boston, Massachusetts area started to pick up attention when they welcomed their 13th infant.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Their names have been lost to the annuls of time, sadly, but a series of photographs released by the Boston Public Library illustrates their story. And it’s one that still echoes for large families in the 21st century.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

As well as mom and dad, the family consists of ten daughters, two sons and an infant of unspecified gender. And, by the looks of this line-up, they range in age from infancy to their late teens.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

A lot of kids, then, naturally means an awful lot of shoes; equally it takes plenty of elbow grease to keep them polished. Here dad buffs each pair in turn, going from his own down to the little booties for the newborn.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

It would have been hard enough for the members of this family to fight for space in front of the bathroom mirror but when it came to piling into the car for road trips, a little more order would have been called for. And a little more chaos too, no doubt.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Of course, owning a car in the 1920s was the height of luxury in itself. With the addition of 13 mouths to feed, this family could likely ill-afford the extravagance of multiple vehicles to transport its members.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Here, the family demonstrates the well-rehearsed order in which they file into the car, ready to hit the road. Their methods, it’s fair to say, would break many of the road safety standards in place today.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

In 2016, for instance, the NHTSA requires that all infants ride in child safety seats. With far fewer cars on the road – traveling at much lower speeds – road safety laws in the 1920s were practically non-existent.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

In 1925, though, it was evidently no big deal to sit four-wide and four deep. The only thing close to resembling a child safety harnesses here is the grasp of mom or big sister’s loving arms. But, then again, no one is actually driving the vehicle in this photo.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

These incredible photos were released by the Boston Public Library in 2009. They were taken by photographer Leslie Jones, who worked for the Boston Herald-Traveler from 1917 until 1956.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Born in 1886, Jones worked in a factory as a pattern-maker until he lost two fingers in the machinery. It was then that he turned to his hobby of photography in order to earn a living.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

So modest was Jones about his profession that he preferred to call himself a camera-man rather than a photographer. This humility made him no less prolific during his tenure at the Boston Herald-Traveler, however.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Jones was such an asset to the newspaper that he built up a collection of around 34,000 photos during his time there. All the photographic plates are now held in an archive in the Boston Public Library.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Jones specialty was to document the everyday lives of the people of Boston, from the ordinary to extraordinary. And he saw plenty of both in 39 years working at the paper, including regular street vendors and the inspiring Charles Lindbergh touring the U.S.

Image: Flickr/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

Sadly, one of the subjects he photographed the most was car crashes; as cars became more popular through the 1930s, so too came a rise in auto accidents. Jones would quickly be on the scene, recording the aftermath.

Image: Digital Commonwealth/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

While his shoot of this 15-strong family is a happier story, the subject is no less fascinating. The challenges of raising a large family are as apparent then as they are today.

Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

It was rare to see a car on the roads in 1925, never mind a couple with a brood of 13. To see them all piled into an open top car must have been mind blowing, and it still would be more than 90 years later.

Image: Digital Commonwealth/Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection — Image: Boston Public Library/Leslie Jones Collection

In a lighthearted touch, the collection includes a photo of the whole family sheltering beneath an umbrella. But while the car proved no challenge, this shelter clearly isn’t big enough to hold the whole clan.