MetaChat - Color photos of America from 1939-1943:

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27 July 2010

Color photos of America from 1939-1943: These are absolutely stunning.

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

post by: BoringPostcards at: 06:30 | 20 comments

Wow! Love the colours!

posted by Betony 27 July | 06:58

Those are fantastic. About 10 times as I scrolled through them I said to myself "THAT'S my favorite one". They're all great, but I do really love the "Hay stack and automobile of peach pickers" and the "Central Railroad Chicago with the PBR sign". Oh, and the "Headlines posted in street-corner window of newspaper office". And the....

posted by Slack-a-gogo 27 July | 07:42

These are some of my favorite photos ever. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be in DC while these were on view at the Library of Congress. As stunning as they are on the digital screen, they are incredibly compelling when seen as large format prints. The colors are saturated and rich, and the subjects moving.

posted by Miko 27 July | 08:07

Oh, also, a lot of the same images are up on the LoC's Flickr, and the comments are sometimes amazing - IDing people,places, sharing memories, etc.

posted by Miko 27 July | 08:12

I fell in love with some of these people.

posted by rainbaby 27 July | 08:12

These are so wonderful. Thanks so much for posting this.

posted by LoriFLA 27 July | 08:31

Thank you for sharing this. I loved every one.

posted by toastedbeagle 27 July | 09:56

Those are beautiful. A lot of these pictures make me feel sad. I don't know why.

posted by JanetLand 27 July | 10:34

Amazing.

posted by gaspode 27 July | 10:39

Super cool. Wow.

posted by richat 27 July | 12:09

Wonderful and amazing!

posted by serazin 27 July | 13:58

Wow.

posted by Specklet 27 July | 14:44

These are awesome. The one of the family group in their shack is pure Grapes of Wrath.

posted by Senyar 27 July | 14:53

Shorpy's has tossed up some of them too. I was intrigued by the DC street scene one and tried to map it only to find that the street didn't exist anymore. Conversation in the comments told me what happened.

posted by jessamyn 27 July | 15:35

Oh, please, please post this on the blue. These are incredible.

posted by bearwife 27 July | 16:09

Another wow. Thanks for posting, BP!

posted by deborah 27 July | 16:13

These were actually posted on the blue in 2005, from the original Library of Congress site.

posted by netbros 27 July | 19:21

And, more recently.

posted by box 27 July | 22:12

I plan on using prints of photos from the LoC site to decorate my house with old images of my neighborhood like this one.

posted by octothorpe 28 July | 10:36

octothorpe, that's a cool pic and a brilliant idea.

posted by BoringPostcards 28 July | 12:26

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