RA/FSA, selections

19;Some of the best-known documentary photographs came out of the photographic divisions of two government agencies, established in response to the Depression: the Resettlement Administration (1935 - 1937) and the Farm Security Administration (1937 - 1942). These agencies employed a number of photographers whose work would become an extensive archive of rural America and the effects of government programs created to lessen the impact of poverty. The permanent collection at ICP contains photographs that Theodor Jung, Dorothea Lange, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, and Ben Shahn took around the country while employed by the RA and FSA.
View the finding aid for this collection.
56 Items
  • Trische home, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
  • Church at Natchez, Mississippi
  • Painting class in school, Westmoreland Homesteads, Pennsylvania
  • Painting class in school, Westmoreland Homesteads, Pennsylvania
  • Painting class in school, Westmoreland Homesteads, Pennsylvania
  • Miners at Calumet, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
  • Sharecroppers, Pulaski County, Arkansas
  • [Unidentified Man, Pulaski County, Arkansas]
  • Poverty on the march, a destitute Ozark family, Arkansas
  • Rehabilitation client, Arkansas
  • Wife of sharecropper, Pulaski County, Arkansas
  • Natchez, Mississippi
  • [Unidentified Group, Natchez, Mississippi]
  • Negro quarter, Natchez, Mississippi. The home of a Negro family with a Negro man and a woman looking out a window.
  • West Memphis, Arkansas
  • [Unidentified Levee Worker, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana]
  • [Unidentified Levee Workers, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana]
  • Street scene, Natchez, Mississippi
  • Scene in Natchez, Mississippi
  • Church in Louisiana
  • Tomb painter in cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana
  • Liberty, unincorporated, Scotts Run, West Virginia. Negro family living in Moose Hall.
  • Liberty, unincorporated, Scotts Run, West Virginia. Negro family living in Moose Hall.
  • Striking miners, Scotts Run, West Virginia
  • Cattle dealer in western West Virginia
  • Omar, West Virginia
  • Typical folk art, Middlesboro, Kentucky
  • Maynardville, Tennessee
  • Railroad yard at Williamson, West Virginia
  • Maynardville, Tennessee
  • Railroad yard at Williamson, West Virginia
  • [Unidentified Children, Hammond, Louisiana]
  • Car belonging to strawberry picker, Hammond, Louisiana
  • Picking cotton on Alexander plantation, Pulaski County, Arkansas
  • Omar, West Virginia
  • Omar, West Virginia
  • Omar, West Virginia
  • Men loafing in Crossville, Tennessee
  • Horse and wagon, Crossville, Tennessee
  • Post Office, Crossville, Tennessee
  • Bus station, Crossville, Tennessee
  • Puppets for the show, Red House, West Virginia
  • Puppets for the show, Red House, West Virginia
  • Medicine show, Huntingdon, Tennessee
  • Puppeteers, Red House, West Virginia
  • Imperial Valley, California, Mexican. He tells his story: he helped drive the French out of Mexico, fought against Maximilian, and he has, by serving the crops for many years, help build up Imperial Valley.
  • [House, Marysville, California]
  • [Backyard]
  • Client whose property has been optioned by the government, Brown County, Indiana
  • Prospective clients whose property has been optioned by the government, Brown County, Indiana
  • CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) boys at work, Prince George's County, Maryland
  • [Backyard, Cincinnati, Ohio]
  • [Children of John Wilson]
  • Rehabilitation client, Washington County, Arkansas
  • Young farmer who has been resettled, Penderlea, North Carolina
  • Russ Nicholson, grandfather of all the Nicholsons in Nicholson Hollow, Virginia