History
What was the Farm Security Administration photography project?
A government photo unit created an extensive record of rural and urban American life from the mid-1930s through wartime.
The Farm Security Administration and its predecessor, the Resettlement Administration, supported a major documentary photography project during the Great Depression. Photographers recorded agricultural hardship, migration, city life and later aspects of wartime mobilization. The surviving collection is a coordinated archive, not a set of unrelated famous images.
A government unit with changing scope
The Library of Congress identifies Roy Stryker as head of the photographic section from 1935 to 1942. The project moved through successive agencies: the Resettlement Administration, the Farm Security Administration and then the Office of War Information. Its subject matter expanded as the institutions and national circumstances changed.
Evidence: Library or organization history
Photographs with records attached
The archive includes negatives, prints, captions and related records. LOC describes a photographic section that produced tens of thousands of black-and-white images and later color photographs. These records help researchers connect a picture to a date, location, assignment and original caption rather than treating a digitized image as context-free.
Evidence: Library or organization history
Portraits within a public archive
Some FSA photographs are intimate portraits, while others show work, landscape or community. A booth print usually belongs to an individual or family; an FSA image also sits within a publicly funded documentary project. Comparing these formats clarifies how photographic purpose and archive structure shape the meaning of a portrait.
Evidence: Library or organization history
Sources & further reading
Sources for the specific facts and product descriptions above. Our worked examples, interpretations and practical suggestions are original editorial guidance.
- Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information — Library of CongressLibrary or organization history