Starting in 1935, photographers with the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration began documenting life in the United States during the Great Depression and, later, World War II.
More than 170,000 photos were taken, and a few of them became famous, including Dorothea Lange’s now-iconic image of a migrant mother. Although the vast majority of images were digitized and put online by the Library of Congress, it wasn’t always easy to search for them.
But a team from Yale University created Photogrammar, an interactive map using a 1937 atlas where you can see the photos sorted by county or by photographer. Don’t be surprised if you spend a few hours surfing the images, as I did.
Naturally, I followed Route 66’s path and posted some of the most striking photos here. One could spend days on the Chicago collection, which contains hundreds of images from the city’s black South Side neighborhoods and the railroad yards. Dozens of photos document a black farming family’s life in Creek County, Oklahoma. Another large batch of images show squatters’ camps in Oklahoma City during the Depression. And in Los Angeles, you see Japanese-Americans rounded up (“evacuated” is what they called it then) to be transported to internment camps and workers toiling in warplane factories.
The photographers didn’t get everywhere, and the map contains a flaw for St. Louis County in St. Louis. But odds are you’ll find some fascinating images from the past from your home region.
Seating now in all parts of the house at the Chicago Theatre. Chicago, Illinois. Photo by John Vachon. July 1941.
Sign at Union Station, Chicago. Photo by Jack Delano. January 1943.
Santa Fe R.R. freight train about to leave for the West Coast from Corwith yard, Chicago. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
General view of part of the South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago. Photo by Jack Delano. May 1943.
“For the union makes us strong.” UCAPAWA (United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America) meeting. Photo by Russell Lee. Bristow, Oklahoma. February 1940.
Downtown Tulsa filling station. Photo by John Vachon. October 1942.
Armed guard at the railroad bridge in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s the 11th Street Bridge in the background. Photo by John Vachon. October 1942.
Cleaning an engine at the roundhouse at the Frisco railroad in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photo by John Vachon. October 1942.
Gas station converted into a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photo by John Vachon. October 1942.
Part of Mays Avenue camp under the bridge. Oklahoma City, Photos by Russell Lee. July 1939. The bridge’s structure is a dead ringer for the Lake Overholser Bridge that carried Route 66.
Roadside stand “The Derrick.” Oklahoma City oil field. Photo by Russell Lee. August 1939.
Negroes waiting for streetcar at terminal in Oklahoma City. Photo by Russell Lee. July 1939.
Negro drinking at “Colored” water cooler in streetcar terminal, Oklahoma City. Photo by Russell Lee. July 1939.
Dust storm in Amarillo, Texas. Note heavy metal signs blown out by wind. Amarillo, Texas. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, April 1936.
Deaf Smith County, Texas. “It is reliably estimated that not less than 40,000 families have moved away from the Great Plains drought area since 1930.” From the report of the Great Plains Committee, 1936. Photo by Dorothea Lange. June 1938.
Downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo by John Collier. February 1943.
Marker of accident on highway in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Photo by Russell Lee. July 1940.
Hanging up chili peppers for drying, Isletta (sic), New Mexico. Photo by Russell Lee. September 1940.
The Hotel Franciscan, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo by John Collier. February 1943.
Kimo Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photo by John Collier. February 1943.
Santa Fe R.R. streamliner, the “Super Chief,” being serviced at the depot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Servicing these diesel streamliners takes five minutes. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
A street scene in Flagstaff, Arizona, on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
Railroad men lounging in the lobby of the Harvey House in Seligman, Arizona, near the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad yard. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
A street scene in Kingman, Arizona, along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
A general view showing the Harvey House and depot in the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad yards in Needles, California. Photo by Jack Delano. March 1943.
The evacuation of Japanese-Americans from West Coast areas under U.S. Army war emergency order. Waiting for train in Los Angeles to take them to Owens Valley. Photo by Russell Lee. April 1942.
A neon sign. Hollywood, California. Photo by Russell Lee. April 1942.
(Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan and Gizmodo)
Amazing photos and information…..so glad you shared so many of the Tulsa area! Thank you!