Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and Women
The other day, I was looking for photographs of poverty (for reasons I may write about here in the future), so of course, I went looking for the amazing photographs taken by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange during the First Great Depression. Even if you don’t know who shot them, you’ll recognize some of these photos when you see them; they’re some of the most iconic representations of the toll of the Depression. I found a wealth of pictures, which to be honest kind of surprised me, until I realized that they shot many of their photographs for the US government. Specifically, they worked for the Farm Security Administration. So the photos belong to the government, and the Library of Congress’ remarkable American Memory Project has a section of their site devoted to the work of all the photographers who worked for the FSA and their remarkable photographs. The fruits of their labors are just astounding, and will break your heart.
Posted at 10:08 PM