Color Photographs from the FSA

December 13, 2005 1:27 PM

Bound For Glory: Color Photographs from the FSA The first major exhibition of The little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II. --- Taken from when Kodachrome Film was just being developed, the pictures document life in color during the depresssion era US. We're so used to seeing FSA photos in black and white; seeing them in color is just surreal.
posted by virga (52 comments total)

Extraordinary.
posted by punkfloyd at 1:32 PM on December 13, 2005

Some of these are as good as any Shore, Meyerwitz, or Eggleston. Thanks so much for posting this!
posted by xammerboy at 1:35 PM on December 13, 2005

This has been up here before in the last year, but I think it's always worthy of viewing.
posted by spicynuts at 1:39 PM on December 13, 2005

[monumentally awesome]
posted by killdevil at 1:40 PM on December 13, 2005

Thanks. Best of the web indeed.
posted by internal at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2005

Interesting.
posted by Cranberry at 1:44 PM on December 13, 2005

Check out the "girlie" show at the state fair. I wonder which got the blue ribbon.
posted by dr_dank at 1:53 PM on December 13, 2005

Excellent find, virga, thanks.
posted by jonson at 2:02 PM on December 13, 2005

Similar to the coloring of WWII photographs posted once somewhere on teh blue. Very interesting concept.
posted by iamck at 2:04 PM on December 13, 2005

Thanks, virga, a great post. And there's even a real "Rosie."
posted by deborah at 2:06 PM on December 13, 2005

These are great!

Some highlights:

Rosie the Riveter.

Children in DC.

Schoolchildren.

Family at the County Fair.

Boy in Cincinnati (amazing photograph).

Mike Evans, a welder (amazing photograph).
posted by nobody at 2:08 PM on December 13, 2005

hey, nobody, I second that Mike Evans photo, very cool. I also liked the sideshow, and the two store fronts.
posted by jonson at 2:12 PM on December 13, 2005

These are flippin' amazing.
posted by iamck at 2:22 PM on December 13, 2005

It's nice that the LOC pulled selections for this very attractive gallery, but the last MF post about this material made it easier to get to the mother lode, which includes hundreds more photos and all the (gorgeous) uncompressed hi-res files. Hurrah!
posted by MaxVonCretin at 2:27 PM on December 13, 2005

Whoops. I linked the last two to the same image.

The Boy in Cincinnati is correct.

This is the amazing Mike Evans.
posted by nobody at 2:28 PM on December 13, 2005

It is like exploring a lost world. Thanks so much. (And a good addition, MaxVonCretin).
posted by LarryC at 2:29 PM on December 13, 2005

This must be why nobody sings songs about the fair ladies of Vermont.
posted by soiled cowboy at 2:31 PM on December 13, 2005

Construction work at the TVA's Douglas Dam
Tennessee, June 1942
posted by LarryC at 2:35 PM on December 13, 2005

This must be why nobody sings songs about the fair ladies of Vermont.

Them be travelling Carnie gals - not townies. Those three probably have on more makeup than all the local ladies combined.
posted by MaxVonCretin at 2:40 PM on December 13, 2005

great stuff!

best viewed while listening to woody guthrie, i think.
posted by RockyChrysler at 2:54 PM on December 13, 2005

What I find oddly startling is how my impressions of those times (I was born in 1961) are all in black and white. That's all I know of what things really looked like back then - aside from paintings, but that is hardly the same. It's a bit tricky to reconcile that by looking at these scenes taken with color film. I keep looking for something that will prove these aren't authentic: a more recent advertisement, too many stars on a flag, or shoes that are a bit too modern for 1942. But, of course, these ARE real. I imagine my father remembers well how the world was back then -- and, of course, he recalls his life in color. But even the earliest photos of myself are in b&w. The b&w images of ordinary scenes that I've seen until now are almost like manufactured memories. To imagine that world in color requires -- for me -- a near suspension of disbelief. It's a strange feeling. I have really enjoyed this post. I'm amazed at the trueness of the color. Thanks!
posted by Lockjaw at 3:00 PM on December 13, 2005

I'm with you there Lockjaw, my parents and their parents grew up in those times and looking at their photos of the period, even some of the later color ones (badly faded) it's hard to wrap color around those images. Still though, it warms the heart somehow to see these people in flesh and blood color, almost as if they stepped out of a time machine, rather than the black and white that was used so often back then.
posted by mk1gti at 3:13 PM on December 13, 2005

Beautiful thanks.
posted by scheptech at 3:33 PM on December 13, 2005

It's amazing how color brings the images out of the realm of just "history", and makes you think: Hey, these are real people!
posted by VanRoosta at 3:36 PM on December 13, 2005

Newsfilter, circa December 1940.

(The earthquake referred to must be this one.)

Great, great stuff.
posted by thirdparty at 3:46 PM on December 13, 2005

I hate to sound disposed to a progressivist view of history — doesn't jibe with my innate pessimism! — but these look so similar to the photos of my grandparent's parents who grew up in the Deep South during the Depression, and I can well imagine their astonishment at how I, near kindred, live now. Stainless appliances, wireless routers, clean floors & high ceilings, hot water, etc. In no way am I enswaddled by wealth and leisure; but the distinction is nonetheless overwhelmingly clear.

Some of these shots have an almost Rembrandt glow to them; such character and individuality in each face, the humanist divinity apparent. A documentary distance makes them all the more affecting.
posted by Haruspex at 3:50 PM on December 13, 2005

This has been up here before in the last year

Doesn't seem likely -- the physical exhibit doesn't even open until next month.
posted by jjg at 4:28 PM on December 13, 2005

These are amazing. Thank you.
posted by cmyk at 4:44 PM on December 13, 2005

I love it, and you beat me to it. I found it it a most unlikely place and left it there! Ha, so thank you for sharing the find!
posted by snsranch at 4:45 PM on December 13, 2005

Wonderful wonderful things!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:10 PM on December 13, 2005

Thank you.
posted by Afroblanco at 5:32 PM on December 13, 2005

Surely this is impossible. My parents always told me everything was black and white then.

Amazing link. Thanks.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:36 PM on December 13, 2005

This has been up here before in the last year

Doesn't seem likely -- the physical exhibit doesn't even open until next month.

Ahh you may be right I think it may have been the WPA's color archives that were up before.
posted by spicynuts at 6:27 PM on December 13, 2005

Oh

my

God.

Fabulous link!
posted by Asparagirl at 6:33 PM on December 13, 2005

A related book came out about a year and a half ago, with many of the same photos. It's great.

(And iamck: These aren't b&w photos that were colorized; they were shot in color. You're also likely thinking of these color photos from World War I (not II), which got a lot of attention last year -- they were also shot in color, using a pre-Kodachrome process that was patented around 1907.)
posted by lisa g at 7:00 PM on December 13, 2005

Asparagirl
Thanks for the linkage, anyone else out there who is able to find any others?
posted by mk1gti at 7:17 PM on December 13, 2005

The world was in color back then?

Really excellent post.
posted by Smedleyman at 8:15 PM on December 13, 2005

Gorgeous, virga [and lisa b.] Excellent post.
posted by ubersturm at 8:49 PM on December 13, 2005

To imagine that world in color requires -- for me -- a near suspension of disbelief

And yet -- even the idea that it was ever black and white was a temporary, mass illusion caused by media limitations. For an entire few generations of people to be capable of ever having imagined a world without color -- now, that's unique in human history. That's worthy of disbelief.

Great link, thanks.
posted by Miko at 8:56 PM on December 13, 2005

Fantastic stuff. Thank you!
posted by vacapinta at 9:06 PM on December 13, 2005

Does anyone know what kinda camera equipment they were using for these photographs? The sharpness is amazing.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 9:32 PM on December 13, 2005

Does anyone know what kinda camera equipment they were using for these photographs? The sharpness is amazing.

Yeah, the image quality is outstanding. I'm sure these were taken with large-format view cameras, though I wouldn't venture beyond that. I think a common film sheet size for view cameras is 4" x 5", which certainly offers incredible sharpness as compared to 35mm.
posted by Miko at 9:52 PM on December 13, 2005

?? Link problem. Wikipedia on view cameras.
posted by Miko at 9:53 PM on December 13, 2005

Extraordinary - thank you very much
posted by cmacleod at 6:20 AM on December 14, 2005

Thanks Virga! V. cool.
posted by shoepal at 6:48 AM on December 14, 2005

This has been up here before in the last year

yes, here, I think
posted by verstegan at 9:29 AM on December 14, 2005

What an excellent post. I get so overwhelmed at the LOC, there is so much to look at and I never seem to see it all. I always tell myself I'll go back and really look, but then I don't until I see another link to it.

Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 10:20 AM on December 14, 2005

I get so overwhelmed at the LOC

The LoC is my favorite example of our tax dollars at work. Particularly the American Memory collection: as far as I'm concerned, it's our greatest national treasure.

This won't work for photos, but one way I have found to deal with the overwhelmingness of the LoC is to bookmark the index page for audio files. I'll then choose a page that has audio files alphabeticallly listed. When I'm working at my desk, I listen to the audio files one at a time, working my way down the list. It involves a lot of clicking, but I do at least feel that I'm getting familiar with the collection.
posted by Miko at 10:43 AM on December 14, 2005

Good suggestion, thanks Miko.
posted by OmieWise at 10:49 AM on December 14, 2005

I have always loved the FSA photographs (Migrant Mother etc) so these colour photos were a real find.

Some beautifully romantic images, probably masking the real poverty being experienced. My favourite is probably the two boys fishing at the pond, which seems to encapsulate every image of rural America in one marvellous image.
posted by ibanda at 11:51 AM on December 14, 2005

If you search creatively for the photo ID numbers, you can find the pages with metadata and links to 100MB uncompressed TIFFs. Unfortunately the site is designed so that permalinks are impossible.

That Boy

The 42MB tiff
posted by blasdelf at 8:26 PM on December 14, 2005

The Welder

His TIFF, 98 MB

Use this search engine to find photos. Be careful, all pages generated by the search are temporary and unlinkable.
posted by blasdelf at 8:34 PM on December 14, 2005