New Orleans WPA Projects

May 17, 2004 2:53 PM

The New Orleans WPA Photograph Collection exclusively shows photographs of depression-era projects from Louisiana, so there's a whole set of WPA projects -- from the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge, to venerated Doubleday Field, to the beautiful but obscure Border Station in Naco, AZ -- that you just won't see here. Nevertheless, if you take the time to explore this site you will find some truly wonderful photographs. Some are more technical surveyor-style photographs, but others are akin to the realist style being carved out at the time by folks like Walker Evans, who actually did do some photography for the Farm Security Administration (another New Deal-era project).
posted by .kobayashi. (6 comments total)

Love the domain!
posted by gimonca at 3:25 PM on May 17, 2004

Wow. Thanks.
posted by yerfatma at 3:26 PM on May 17, 2004

I grew up hearing about this, and photos are available in the various museums around where I grew up - northern Minnesota. The MN Historical Society has about a dozen photos; and the Department of Natural Resources has a book for you to buy.
If you get to Chisholm, this place has a small building with a nice collection. True to form, the pictures are not online.
posted by fluffycreature at 5:49 PM on May 17, 2004

The Tempe, Arizona WPA bridge, which used to go over the dry Salt River, but now has an artificial lake under it.
posted by kablam at 6:37 PM on May 17, 2004

great stuff here--thanks!
posted by amberglow at 6:51 PM on May 17, 2004

kablam: I drive on/past that bridge all the time. I used to love driving *under* it, before they moved that road to accommodate the "lake." I had no idea this was a WPA project. That's cool; I put this post together partially because, lately, it seems like I'd been running into the legacy of the WPA everywhere.
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:30 PM on May 17, 2004