#FSA/OWI

[jwood718]

"Jelna likes sciences, is going to be a doctor. For Christmas her parents bought her this chemistry set. Ida B. Wells Housing Project, Chicago, Illinois," by Jack Delano, 1942 (minor processing by Jake Wood, 2023).

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection

[harvardfineartslib]

Gordon Parks (1912–2006)

“I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.” – Gordon Parks

One of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century, Gordon Parks used his camera “as a weapon of choice” to shine a light on his experiences growing up Black in segregated America. Born in segregated Fort Scott, Kansas in 1912, Parks bought his first camera at a pawnshop in Seattle and taught himself how to use it. He then moved onto working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Office of War information (OWI), and for Life magazine in 1949 as the first African American staff photographer.

Parks created an exceptional body of work that documents American life and culture from the early 1940s into the 2000s, with a focus on the social and economic impact of poverty, racism, and other forms of discrimination.

This publication entitled “Gordon Parks : the new tide, early work, 1940-1950“ brings together photographs and publications made during the first and most formative decade of his 65-year career. During the 1940s Parks' photographic ambitions grew to express a profound understanding of his social, cultural and political experiences. From the first photographs he published in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and his relationship to the Chicago Black Renaissance, to his mentorship with Roy Stryker and his breakthrough work for America's influential picture magazines - including "Ebony" and "Life" - this book traces Parks' rapid evolution from an accomplished, self-taught practitioner to a groundbreaking artistic and journalistic voice. (from the publisher’s note)

Image: Front cover image: “Langston Hughes, Chicago” December 1941

Gordon Parks : the new tide, early work, 1940-1950 Washington [D.C.] : Natrional Gallery of Art ; Pleasantville, N.Y. : The Gordon Parks Foundation ; Göttingen, Germany : Steidl, 2018. English HOLLIS number: 99153723466203941

[libraryofcongress]

Marjory Collins, New York, N.Y. Children’s Colony, a school for refugee children administered by a Viennese. German refugee child, a devotee of Superman, 1942 October.

Photographic print. Part of FSA/OWI Collection (Library of Congress).

[simonh]

Activity in the Santa Fe R.R. yard, Los Angeles, Calif. All switch lights, head lights and lamps have been shaded from above in accordance with blackout regulations. The heavy light streaks are caused by paths of locomotive headlights and the thin lines b by The Library of Congress Via Flickr: Delano, Jack,, 1914-1997,, photographer. Activity in the Santa Fe R.R. yard, Los Angeles, Calif. All switch lights, head lights and lamps have been shaded from above in accordance with blackout regulations. The heavy light streaks are caused by paths of locomotive headlights and the thin lines by lamps of switchmen working in the yard. Santa Fe R.R. trip 1943 March 1 transparency : color. Notes: 12002-3. Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944. Title from FSA or OWI agency caption. Subjects: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad World War, 1939-1945 Railroad shops & yards Night United States--California--Los Angeles Format: Transparencies--Color. Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information color slides and transparencies collection (Library of Congress) (DLC) 93845501 General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34703 Call Number: LC-USW36-693

[capturingtime]

Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in acti by The Library of Congress via Flickr: Palmer, Alfred T.,, photographer. Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions  1942 Oct.  Notes: Title from FSA or OWI agency caption. Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944. Published in: American women : a Library of Congress guide ... Washington : Library of Congress, 2001, p. 388. Subjects: Douglas Aircraft Company Airplane industry Women--Employment World War, 1939-1945 Bombers Assembly-line methods United States--California--Long Beach Format: Transparencies--Color Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection 12002-39 (DLC) 93845501 General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp.fsac.1a03058 hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.03058 

[kecobe]

Men on Main Street, Saturday Afternoon, Hagerstown, Maryland, October 1937 Arthur Rothstein (American; 1915–1985) Nitrate negative Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

[iihbki3]

Picture This: A Slice of American Life from the FSA/OWI Photograph Collection https://t.co/pJx8XY5GKq https://t.co/9ZXyAcJnVu

[fashionbooksmilano]

Les Photographies de la FSA Farm Security Administration

Archives  d’une Amerique en crise 1935-1943

Gilles Mora et Beverly W.Brannan

Seuil, Paris 2006, 356 pages, 24.9 x 3.2 x 31.3 cm, ISBN  978-2020554107

euro 75,00

email if you want to buy :booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Entre 1935 et 1943, une équipe de photographes exceptionnels sillonne les Etats-Unis, avec pour mission d'enregistrer les méfaits de la plus terrible crise économique qu'ait jamais connue le pays, et qui se conjuguera avec les débuts de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Engagés par la Farm Security Administration (FSA), une agence fédérale dirigée par Roy E. Stryker, qui est devenue, à partir de 1942, l'Office of War Information (OWI), ces opérateurs ont d'abord pour mission de rallier l'opinion américaine au programme économique du président Roosevelt, le New Deal. Ils ont reçu pour instruction de " photographier, partout sur le sol américain, tout ce qui paraît intéressant et vital ". Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Russell Lee, John Vachon et quelques autres, qui deviendront de talentueux photojournalistes ou d'incomparables artistes, vont ainsi mener l'archivage sans précédent d'une Amérique en crise, bien au-delà d'un travail de propagande. Il n'existait pas à ce jour d'ouvrage aussi complet que celui que nous présentent ici Gilles Mora et Beverly W. Brannan. Refusant l'illustration nostalgique d'une décennie trop souvent réduite aux clichés, les deux auteurs ont reconstitué l'esprit de ce travail photographique collectif. Pour la première fois, chaque photographe est présenté par le biais souvent complexe de la documentation par séries, comme le souhaitait Roy E. Stryker, privilégiant un ensemble cohérent d'images, plutôt que le tirage isolé. Choisies parmi les quelques 177 000 négatifs produits dans le cadre de ces missions, les illustrations de cet ouvrage sont, pour un grand nombre d'entre elles, inédites. Elles constituent le témoignage unique d'une méthode documentaire, devenue référence pour la photographie contemporaine. Ce livre est aussi un inestimable outil sociologique, qui exprime la grandeur d'un pays, représenté dans son humanité quotidienne.

16/05/21

orders to:     booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

ordini a:        booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

twitter:         @fashionbooksmi

instagram:   fashionbooksmilano, designbooksmilano tumblr:          fashionbooksmilano, designbooksmilano

[marmarinou]

Retiring a locomotive driver wheel in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway locomotive shops, Shopton, near Fort Madison, Iowa. The tire is heated by means of gas until it can be slipped over the wheel. Contraction on cooling will hold it firmly in p by The Library of Congress Via Flickr: Delano, Jack,, photographer. Retiring a locomotive driver wheel in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway locomotive shops, Shopton, near Fort Madison, Iowa. The tire is heated by means of gas until it can be slipped over the wheel. Contraction on cooling will hold it firmly in place. Santa Fe R.R. 1943 March 1 transparency : color. Notes: Title from FSA or OWI agency caption. Transfer from U.S. Office of War Information, 1944. Subjects: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad World War, 1939-1945 Railroad construction & maintenance Tires United States--Iowa--Fort Madison Format: Transparencies--Color Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection 12002-4 (DLC) 93845501 General information about the FSA/OWI Color Photographs is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsac Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34708 Call Number: LC-USW36-647

[dasjungeding]

Gordon Parks, Dinner time at the home of Mrs. Ella Watson, a government charwoman, Washington, D.C., August 1942. Credit Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection

[jwood718]

Steelworker’s family: “Wife of Steelworker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania” by Arthur Rothstein, 1938 (minor processing by Jake Wood, 2023).

Five of the several photographs taken by Rothstein during his visits to Pittsburgh’s “slum” neighborhood above the Mon River.

Only the first two of these were considered worthy of publishing by Roy Stryker, the head of the photographic division of the Farm Security Administration.  Stryker had the unfortunate habit of taking a hole punch to images he did not like, rendering them unusable, at least at the time.  Someone today could probably reasonably reconstruct the missing portion of the image with an editing program, with or without AI,  but it would take a considerable effort in 1940 to do so. 

What impresses me about these is that this steelworker’s wife wants to keep a clean home, if not as happy a home as might be had.  The area around this porch has been swept to a fare-thee-well, and the child (one might suppose the steelworker’s daughter) is about as immaculate as can be.  While the child might have been put into “Sunday Best” for the photos, I’d imagine that the rest of the tenement is depicted as it was; there’s even a potted plant in the window!

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection

[vintageoculus]

Penasco, New Mexico. High school supported by the state but administered by the Catholic church (LOC) by The Library of Congress Via Flickr: Collier, John,, 1913-1992,, photographer. Penasco, New Mexico. High school supported by the state but administered by the Catholic church 1943 Jan. 1 negative : nitrate ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller. Notes: Annotation on original negative jacket. This image in a jacket marked "Killed" Title and other information from print in lot. Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944. Subjects: United States--New Mexico--Taos County--Penasco. Format: Nitrate negatives. Rights Info: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information photograph collection (Library of Congress) (DLC) 2002708960 More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d24806 Call Number: LC-USW3- 015191-E

[nonetheless]

A map that geolocates and serves up 90,000 FSA photos from the Great Depression and World War II (Plus- Minnie the Moocher) “Turn left at Greenland”*…

Look and see: https://bit.ly/2XuKTlf

[calochortus]

Florida tomato wrapper at work on a farm near Westover, Maryland (LOC) by The Library of Congress Via Flickr: Delano, Jack,, photographer. Florida tomato wrapper at work on a farm near Westover, Maryland 1940 July. 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches or smaller. Notes: Title and other information from caption card. Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944. Subjects: United States--Maryland--Somerset County--Westover. Format: Safety film negatives. Rights Info: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) (DLC) 2002708960 More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c02841 Call Number: LC-USF34- 040973-D

[clarencewardartlibrary]

Gordon Parks & Kendrick Lamar Team Up

Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s music video for ELEMENT – a single off his album DAMN – features beautiful, often haunting imagery drawn from the work of 20th century photographer Gordon Parks. Check it out below!

Gordon Parks (1912-2006), a self-taught, multi-talented artist, was a prolific author, poet, photographer, musician, composer, and filmmaker. 

A famous pioneer among black filmmakers, Parks was the first African American to produce and direct major motion pictures. His films related the experience of slaves, struggling black Americans, and he created the "blaxploitation" genre.  His is best known as the director of the 1971 film Shaft.

Parks was also the first African American photographer to work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and for the Office of War Information (OWI), as well as for Life and Vogue magazines.  He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s, and for his photographic essays for Life magazine. The themes of civil rights, poverty, and the experience of Black Americans are found throughout his work. 

The following portraits taken by Parks are referenced in the ELEMENT. video.

Boy with June Bug, 1963

Ethel Shariff in Chicago, 1963

Untitled, 1956

The Allen Memorial Art Museum has a photograph by Gordan Parks:

Portrait of a Workman, Ben Wright. 1944

Want to learn more?  Check out the many books about Gordon Parks in the Oberlin College Libraries.

[kecobe]

Woman Shopper, Salem, Illinois, February 1940 Arthur Rothstein (American; 1915–1985) Nitrate negative Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.