When I saw this photo, I didn't know who Nathaniel Dial was, but it didn't take long to find out. The National Photo Company appeared to take a lot of pictures of privileged families in Washington, and the Dial family was no exception. But it makes them no less interesting, and I … [Read more...]

In the fall of 2014, 77 years after this picture was taken, and in a town 1574 miles from Wichita, I stumbled upon a box of old Associated Press photographs in a store that sells industrial artifacts, handmade goods and various curiosities. The photo caught my attention … [Read more...]

Marion Post Wolcott caption: FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrower and two of his children. Laredo, Montana, August, 1941. On June 23, 1938, according to National Weather Service records: “More than five inches of rain fell in the Gravelly Coulee watershed in one hour, … [Read more...]

Russell Lee caption: Storekeeper and his wife in front of their store at section 30. "Bust" iron mining town near Winton, Minnesota, August 1937. Section 30 was a community formed by an iron ore mine. According to information on the website of the Minnesota Humanities … [Read more...]

Dorothea Lange caption: Wife and baby of president of Ola self-help sawmill co-op in doorway of their home. Gem County, Idaho, October 1939. This is one of my favorite Dorothea Lange photos. She took many at the Ola Self-Help Sawmill in the small village of Ola, in 1938. Three … [Read more...]

Dorothea Lange caption: Daughter of migrant Tennessee coal miner. Living in American River camp near Sacramento, California, November 1936. In 2008, I saw this sad, beautiful, empathetic Dorothea Lange picture of a young woman with no name. Lange seldom identified her … [Read more...]

Dorothea Lange caption: Young mother, twenty five, says “Next year we'll be painted and have a lawn and flowers.” Rural shacktown, near Klamath Falls, Oregon, September 1939. General caption number 47. “Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it … [Read more...]

Arthur Rothstein caption: Coal miner and daughter. Bush, Illinois, Jan 1939. Arthur Rothstein was one of the Farm Security Administration photographers. He was born in New York in 1915, and had been a student of Roy Stryker at Columbia University in the early 1930s. Stryker … [Read more...]

There are nine photos of this family on the Library of Congress website. Many of the family members still reside in Vermont. They have copies of the photos, having discovered them only several years ago. One of the sons in the family still lives in the same farmhouse where he was … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: Mr. and Mrs. William Gaynor, FSA (Farm Security Administration) dairy farmers, near Fairfield, Vermont, September 1941. Jack Delano caption: The Gaynor family at dinner on their farm. Fairfield, Vermont, September 1941. There are 67 photos of this … [Read more...]

Jack Delano caption: Children of Warren Franklin, FSA (Farm Security Administration) dairy farmer near Guilford, Vermont, Aug 1941. On the Library of Congress website, there are over 700 photos taken in the summer of 1941 by Jack Delano, for the Farm Security Administration. … [Read more...]

Ben Shahn caption: Newsboy, Newark, Ohio, 1938 Summer. In the summer of 1938, Ben Shahn, then a photographer for the Farm Security Administration, made a long trip through the Midwest. He stopped in the small town of Newark, Ohio, and snapped a few pictures of ordinary street … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: The Lansing family, FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrowers. Ross County, Ohio, October 1940. "My parents probably used the money to buy the house and the land. I don't know what would have happened to them if they hadn't been able to do that." … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: H.C. Richardson, Ozark farmer, with goat skin which has been bleached and washed. He sells these in town, three dollars. Oregon County, Missouri, November 1940. "When I was growing up in Thayer, Missouri, Granddad Richardson lived with his son Jack in a … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: The Misch family, tenant purchase borrowers. Labette County, Kansas, November 1940. "I remember Mom and Dad laughing about it. The photographer dropped by one morning and wanted to take a picture of the kitchen cabinets we had just put in. My brothers were … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: Bettenhausen children. McIntosh County, North Dakota. November 1940. "Oliver Jr., Neil and I always seemed to be working with Dad's tools in the workshop. Even after many reminders not to get into ‘my tools,' we managed to go to the tool shop and try to … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: Michigan, North Dakota, October 1940. "I miss talking to him. He was always interested in what we did. He took the time to listen. He didn't pass judgment. He taught me about responsibility. You do the best job you can do whatever it is you want to be. You … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: Nat Williamson with wife and one child. Guilford County, North Carolina, April 1938. In April and May of 1938, John Vachon was in his second full year as a traveling photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). While on the road in Georgia, he … [Read more...]

John Vachon caption: Wife and child of FSA (Farm Security Administration) tenant purchase borrower, Crawford County, Illinois, May 1940. According to the Library of Congress: “The photographs in the Farm Security Administration…form an extensive pictorial record of American … [Read more...]