<russell lee="" was="" born="" in="" ottawa,="" illinois,="" 1903="" and="" did="" not="" take="" up="" photography="" until="" his="" thirties,="" after="" studying="" chemical="" engineering.="" joining="" the="" photographic="" section="" of="" farm="" securities="" administration="" fall="" 1936,="" began="" to="" travel="" frequently="" photograph="" rural="" urban="" communities="" midwest="" southwest,="" such="" as="" pie="" town,="" new="" mexico,="" san="" augustine,="" texas.="" fsa's="" longest="" employed="" most="" productive="" photographer,="" he="" worked="" diligently="" for="" agency="" its="" closure="" 1942.="" war="" photographed="" coal="" miners="" department="" interior="" oil="" industry="" standard="" oil.="" following="" a="" 1965="" retrospective="" exhibtiion="" university="" austin,="" texas,="" took="" teaching="" position="" at="" university,="" where="" remained="" retirement="" 1973.
Phillips, Christopher, and Vanessa Rocco, eds. Modernist Photography: Selections from the Daniel Cowin Collection. New York: International Center of Photography and Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2005, pp. 111.
References:
Brannan, Beverly, and Carl Fleischhauer. Documenting America, 1935–1943. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988.
Hurley, F. Jack. Russell Lee, Photographer. New York: Morgan and Morgan, 1978.
