Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943

[Standifg]

Neat website with some wonderful old photos. Makes you really appreciate a photographer's work back then without the luxury of today's digital processing.

From the website -- 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 photographs and captions are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured...rom-1939-1943/

[earlofoxford]

Very cool, Gail!

[ValerieP]

Those are fantastic, we are just finishing up a photography unit in my AP class on Monday, I will share these and some of the Vivian photos!
Thanks for the link-

[anke]

Those are wonderful, thanks Gail! They remind me of the Hipstamatic on my Iphone

[lindapiersma]

Very interesting. I noticed from the Brockton Press building photo that Mass had 2 earthquakes in Dec of 1940. That's very unusual. I also noticed that the people, including children, didn't look very happy in those years - at least not the ones in those photos. Even the square dancers and the musicians playing for them looked depressed. How can a group of people look so somber when they're in the middle of a square dance and making music?! Or going to a fair? I'd think they'd have at least a smile on their faces when they're out for a good time. The only happy looking guys were the 3 pilots standing by their plane. The photography was exceptional but, boy, there were some unhappy folks there. Life must have really been tough from the Crash until WW II for many. Don't think there was much of a middle class then. Makes me sad just to look at them.

[Standifg]

Linda, I thought the same .. no smiles, no shoes, dirty feet, hard labor jobs, etc. Life was tough for so many back then .. made me sad.

Originally Posted by lindapiersma

Very interesting. I noticed from the Brockton Press building photo that Mass had 2 earthquakes in Dec of 1940. That's very unusual. I also noticed that the people, including children, didn't look very happy in those years - at least not the ones in those photos. Even the square dancers and the musicians playing for them looked depressed. How can a group of people look so somber when they're in the middle of a square dance and making music?! Or going to a fair? I'd think they'd have at least a smile on their faces when they're out for a good time. The only happy looking guys were the 3 pilots standing by their plane. The photography was exceptional but, boy, there were some unhappy folks there. Life must have really been tough from the Crash until WW II for many. Don't think there was much of a middle class then. Makes me sad just to look at them.

[readstoomuch]

These are amazing, Gail. I grew up in the 1940's too . . . our photos were happier looking than these, but there weren't many cameras. I think sometimes children and adults were a little daunted by the lens and didn't smile . . . not always because they were unhappy . . . just unused to having their photos made.

Thanks for posting this link . . . I have loved seeing the shots. One of our grandchildren has recently studied mining in school . . . and was moved by the last shot of the face of the miner.

[tylertooo]

I totally enjoyed looking through all of those fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing these with us.

[dfwest]

just wonderful! i especially enjoyed the brockton enterprise building photo and the one of the women on their lunch break. thank you, gail, for sharing!

[maureenreynolds]

Thanks for a wonderful link Gail.

I think we forget just how hard life was for so so many people back in those days. Having a plate of food or dance to attend wasn't something to take for granted. I think the strain of day to day living is reflected in a lot of those faces. Hardscrabble lives is the phrase that always comes to mind when I see faces like these.

btw, this contrasts with the obit I read yesterday for Consuela Vanderbilt who had a personal income in her 20s of $1M during this same era.