ONTD_Political's PotD: July 30, 2010.
These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The FSA/OWI pictures depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with a focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.
Children on rowhouse steps, Washington, D.C. 1942.
Louise Rosskam
Children gathering potatoes on a large farm. Vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Going to town on Saturday afternoon. Greene County, Georgia, May 1941. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Chopping cotton on rented land near White Plains. White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Day laborers picking cotton, near Clarksdale, Miss. 1939 Nov.
Marion Post Wolcott | Library of Congress
Barker at the grounds at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Backstage at the "girlie" show at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Jim Norris and wife, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico - 1940 Oct.
Russell Lee | Library of Congress
Garden adjacent to the dugout home of Jack Whinery, homesteader. Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Boy building a model airplane as girl watches. Robstown, Texas, January 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
Arthur Rothstein | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Boys playing marbles, FSA ... labor camp, Robstown, Texas. 1942 Jan.
Arthur Rothstein | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Boys sitting on truck parked at the FSA ... labor camp, Robston, Tex. 1942 Jan.
Arthur Rothstein | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Distributing surplus commodities. St. Johns, Arizona, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Scene at square dance in rural home in McIntosh County, Oklahoma [1939 or 1940]
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Winner at the Delta County Fair, Colorado. 1940 Oct.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
FSA borrower? in a sugar-cane field, Puerto Rico. 1941 Dec. [or] 1942 Jan.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
FSA - T[enant] P[urchase] borrowers? by their house, Puerto Rico. 1941 Dec. [or] 1942 Jan.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Children in a company housing settlement, Puerto Rico. 1941 Dec.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Sorting and packing tomatoes at the Yauco Cooperative Tomato Growers Association, Puerto Rico. 1942 Jan.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Bayou Bourbeau plantation, a Farm Security Administration cooperative.
Vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana, August 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Marion Post Wolcott | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Llano de San Juan, New Mexico, Catholic Church - 1940 Oct.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Workman is doing the preliminary sorting, picking out the discards. Santa Fe trip - 1943 March.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Road cut into the barren hills which lead into Emmett. Emmett, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide.
Russell Lee | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
A Fourth of July celebration. St. Helena Island, South Carolina, 1939. Reproduction from color slide.
Marion Post Wolcott | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
African Americans fishing in creek near cotton plantations. Belzoni, Mississippi, October 1939. Reproduction from color slide.
Marion Post Wolcott | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
A store with live fish for sale. Vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana, July 1940. Reproduction from color slide.
Marion Post Wolcott | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Young African American boy. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942 or 1943.
John Vachon | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Boys with football at N and Union Streets S.W., Washington D.C. Autumn 1942.
Louise Rosskam
Grand Grocery Company. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
John Vachon | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Children aiming sticks as guns, lined up against a brick building. Washington, D.C.(?), between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
Photographer Unknown | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Mike Evans, a welder, at the rip tracks at Proviso yard of the Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Chicago, Illinois, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
General view of part of the South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad Chicago, Illinois, May 1943.
Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Shulman's market, on N at Union Street S.W. Washington, D.C., between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
Louise Rosskam | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Two little girls in a park near Union Station, Washington, D.C.
[ca. 1943]
Sailor and girl at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Washington, D.C. 1943 May
Collier, John,, 1913-, photographer.
An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Va. American soldiers make good grenade throwers
[between 1941 and 1945]
Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company.
Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
C. & N.W. R.R., Mrs. Dorothy Lucke, employed as a wiper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa. 1943 April.
Jack Delano | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Servicing an A-20 bomber. Langley Field, Virginia, July 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
Alfred T. Palmer | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Marine glider at Page Field. Parris Island, South Carolina, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide.
Alfred T. Palmer | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, [Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif.]
1942 or 1943.
Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, [Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif.]
1942 or 1943.
Japanese-American camp, war emergency evacuation, [Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif.]
1942 or 1943.
Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval air base, supervises Chas. Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan, Corpus Christi, Texas. After eight weeks of training he will go into civil service. Should he be inducted or enlist in the armed service, he will be valuable to mechanized units of the Army or Navy - 1942 August
Howard R. Hollem
Men of Fort Story operate an azimuth instrument, to measure the angle of splash in sea-target practice, Fort Story, Va. 1942 March.
Palmer, Alfred T.,, photographer.
Mrs. Eloise J. Ellis, senior supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Dept. of the Naval Air Base, talking with one of the men, Corpus Christi, Texas. 1942 August.
Hollem, Howard R.
A good job in the air cleaner of an army truck, Fort Knox, Ky. This Negro soldier, who serves as truckdriver and mechanic, plays an important part in keeping army transport fleets in operation. 1942 June.
Palmer, Alfred T.,, photographer.
Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide.
Alfred T. Palmer | Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Full Galleries:
- "Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943" | The PBlog | Denver Post
- "1930s-40s in Color" | Library of Congress' photostream | Flickr
- Photographers > Louise Rosskam | Shorpy.com