Photos: Rare Color photos from Depression Era, Part 2
May 19, 2011 09:49 AM EDT
These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944.
The FSA/OWI pictures depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with a focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working.
The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches. They complement the better-known black-and-white FSA/OWI photographs, made during the same
period.
See part 1 of the series by clicking here
Grain elevators, Caldwell, Idaho. 1941 Jul
Source: US Library of Congress
Delta County Fair, Colorado 1940 Oct.
Source: US Library of Congress
Delta County Fair, Colorado 1940 Oct.
Source: US Library of Congress
Sugar cane workers resting at the noon hour, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 1941 Dec.
Source: US Library of Congress
Boy looking at store window display of toys [between 1941 and 1942]
Source: US Library of Congress
Santa Fe R.R. locomotive shops, Topeka, Kansas 1943 March
Source: US Library of Congress
Hammering out a draw bar on the steam drop hammer in the blacksmith shop, Santa Fe R.R. shops, Albuquerque, N[ew] Mex[ico)
Source: US Library of Congress
Mrs. Viola Sievers, one of the wipers at the roundhouse giving a giant "H" class locomotive a bath of live steam, Clinton, Iowa. Mrs. Sievers is the sole support of her mother and has a son-in-law in the Army 1943 April
Source: US Library of Congress
Santa Fe R.R. locomotive shops, Topeka, Kansas 1943 March
Source: US Library of Congress
Manufacture of self-sealing gas tanks, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio 1941 Dec.
Source: US Library of Congress
Woman working on an airplane motor at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in Calif. 1942 June
Source: US Library of Congress
Drilling a wing bulkhead for a transport plane at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas
Source: US Library of Congress
Fueling a plane at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas 1942 August
Source: US Library of Congress
P-51 "Mustang" fighter in flight, Inglewood, Calif. The "Mustang", built by North American Aviation, Incorporated, is the only American-built fighter used by the Royal Air Force of Great Britain 1942 Oct.
Source: US Library of Congress
Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee 1943 Feb.
Source: US Library of Congress
Barrage balloon, Parris Island, S.C. 1942 May
Source: US Library of Congress
Rural school children, San Augustine County, Texas 1943 April
Source: US Library of Congress
Girl inspectors at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company make a careful check of center wings for C-47 transport planes
Source: US Library of Congress
Seed and feed store, Lincoln, Nebr. [1942]
Source: US Library of Congress
Houses and factories between 1941 and 1942
Source: US Library of Congress
After seven years in the Navy, J.D. Estes is considered an old sea salt by his mates at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas
Source: US Library of Congress
An M-3 tank in action, Ft. Knox, Ky.
Source: US Library of Congress
A carpenter at the TVA's new Douglas dam on the French Broad River, Tenn. This dam will be 161 feet high and 1,682 feet ong, with a 31,600-acre reservoir area extending 43 miles upstream. With a useful storage capacity of approximately 1,330,000 acre-feet, this reservoir will make possible the addition of nearly 100,000 kw. of continuous power to the TVA system in dry years and almost 170,000 kw. in the average year
Source: US Library of Congress
Dr. Schreiber of San Augustine giving a typhoid innoculation at a rural school, San Augustine County, Texas 1943 April
Source: US Library of Congress
Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees to view Allied tanks and half tracks pass through the Arc du Triomphe, after Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944
Source: US Library of Congress
