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3^'W)albua í^txm s -DLM j Ajglt£r £\¿&ns : P haiq^io-pVVb -fo r M. H< fass Collection s e r ie s ■+tvß- Panivi ^ecQoVvf A dyvuVi >~St \ ¿ x t ^ n ,1*135' l*fö ¿ o ? o o ? ' 0 °l SUB SERIES b o x _____ __ ïr=t FOLDER. .... .... A f Photographs for the Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938 A Catalog of Photographic Prints Available from the Farm Security Administration Collection in the Library of Congress Introduction by Jerald C. Maddox A DACAPO PAPERBACK Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Da Capo Press. Walker Evans, photographs for the Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938. (A Da Capo paperback) 1. United States—Rural conditions—Pictorial works— Catalogs. 2. Photographs—Catalogs. I. Evans, Walker, 1903- II. Maddox, Jerald C. III. United States. Farm Security Administration. IV. United States. Library of Congress. V. Title. HN57.D22 1975 779'.9'3092630973 74-23992 ISBN 0-306-80008-X First Paperback Printing 1975 ISBN 0-306-80008-X Copyright © 1973 by Da Capo Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved The copyright on this volume does not apply individually to the photographs which are illustrated. These photographs, commissioned by the Farm Security Administra'ion, U.S. Department of Agriculture, are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Published by Da Capo Press A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 227 West 17th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011 Manufactured in the United States of America Publisher’s Preface The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress is the greatest repository of visual material documenting the development of the American nation. The Division’s collection includes more than three million photographs illustrating every phase of American life since the mid-nineteenth century—portrait photographs, Civil War photographs, architectural views, pictures of rural and urban life, photographs of natural landmarks, news-agency photographs of social and political events. In addition, the Division houses the world’s largest archive of American films, as well as thousands of American posters, commercial American prints, and prints by lead ing American artists. This immense collection is made all the more valuable by its legal status as a public resource; with the exception of the films and of a small proportion of prints and photographs which remain in copy right or which, by the terms of their acquisition, bear restrictions on their use, everything is in the public domain. As a result, anyone can obtain from the Photoduplication Service of the Library of Congress high-quality copies of virtually every unrestricted item in the collec tion. The Library’s fee for providing copies, whether microfilms, pho tostats, or photographs, is reasonable, and once obtained, the copies may generally be used without restriction. Until now, relatively few individuals, generally museum curators and photographers, have taken advantage of this great resource. In part, this has been because of the very size of the collection. While the staff of the Prints and Photographs Division is always generous in responding to requests for information concerning individual items, anyone wishing to use the collection extensively must spend time in Washington delving through the Division’s files. As exciting as such work may be, few individuals are willing or able to undertake it. Beyond this, printed information sufficiently detailed to enable individuals to determine the relevance of the collection to their needs, no less to order copies of particular items, is generally not available. The present volume represents an initial attempt to cor v rect this situation by providing detailed, if selective, information concerning a small but important segment of the Prints and Photo graphs Division's collection. The seventy-five thousand Farm Security Administration photo graphs maintained in the Division’s active file are certainly a high light of the collection. Taken in the mid-thirties by such outstanding photographers as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, and Russell Lee, all working under the supervision of Roy Stryker, these photographs are unparalleled as a photo-documentary record of American life during a specific era. This book is an illustrated catalog of the photographs taken by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration. It is intended, first, as a guide to purchasing high-quality, reasonably-priced prints of some of the most compelling photographs ever taken by a great photogra pher. It is meant as well to provide insight into the overall aims of the FSA photographic project by illustrating the variety of assignments one FSA photographer was called upon to undertake. Because the photographs are reproduced in the general order in which they appear on the master FSA microfilm in the Library of Congress, where they are arranged by photographer and assignment, this catalog becomes effectively a series of photo-essays on themes relevant to the work of the Farm Security Administration, including its rehabilita tion projects, the ravages of soil erosion, the plight of flood victims, the daily lives of Alabama sharecroppers. As a result, the essentially documentary aims of the FSA photographers are underlined, while the aesthetic emphasis given their work by critics and connoisseurs in past years is placed in proper perspective. This catalog does not pretend to be complete. Fewer than one-half of Evans’ 35mm photographs for the FSA are present (although this is still approximately twice the number maintained in the active FSA file in the Library of Congress). Many of these were edited out for technical reasons as they were processed thirty-five years ago; others vary only slightly from oictures which are present; still others, known from one or another of Evans’ publications, could not be found. In addition, a small number of Evans’ view-camera photographs thought to be in the FSA files could not be located. Nevertheless, this catalog VI Introduction Walker Evans’ part of the Farm Security Administration collection as it exists today in the Library of Congress consists of several hundred photographs, of which about four hundred are cataloged in the main FSA file. The remainder are only generally described in the catalog, and only roughly counted. They are for the most part duplicates and near-duplicates, or images which were not used for technical or editorial reasons. A selection from this latter group of material has been included in this catalog, with emphasis on those images which relate to Evans’ work in the main FSA file. Evans’ contribution, when considered in light of the approximately seventy-five thousand prints that make up the present FSA file, would seem rather small, but it should be obvious that quantity is not the criterion for judging the importance of his FSA work—or that of any of the photographers associated with the project. However, it is not the purpose here to make value judgments about the overall quality of the FSA photographs. The aim instead is to describe the variety of work undertaken by Walker Evans for the FSA, and to give some in dication of its sequence and scope. In addition, some consideration will be given to the place these images have in the whole of Evans’ photographic work. Compared with that of some of the other photographers who worked on the FSA project, Evans’ tenure was rather short, occupying fairly brief periods of time between June, 1935, and the summer of 1938. Furthermore, Evans’ FSA work was rather limited geographically, being concentrated primarily in the southeastern United States, al though also taking in New York City and parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Evans’ earliest photographs for the FSA apparently date from June, July and November of 1935, when he toured the coal-mining towns of West Virginia and the industrial towns of Pennsylvania. (The gap between July and November is curious, but there is nothing in the records to explain it.). In what are assumed to be the first photographs, made in the Scott’s Run area of West Virginia. Evans estab lished the basic style for most of his FSA work—careful, direct, de tailed views of people and places, usually taken with the 8x10 camera, but sometimes supplemented by use of a 4 /5 and more frequently a 35mm, particularly for studies of people. Tne Pennsylvania photo graphs which followed in July and Novembe' are similar to the West Virginia ones, with perhaps more emphasis on the man-made en vironment. The pictures of people in both series are characterized by a direct, almost formal confrontation of the subject with the camera and the photographer. A second phase of Evans’ FSA work is to be found in photographs made between December, 1S35, and August, 1936. Judging from the dates in the file, it would appear that these were months of al most continuous activity, almost all of I t carried on in the south eastern states. In terms of quantity, the photographs taken during this period comprise the largest portion of Evans’ FSA work; and in terms of his reputation as-a photographer, they have the greatest significance—the photographs found in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men date from these months. It is difficult to be sure about the sequence of Evans’ movements during this period, but it is fairly obvious fro.-' the photographs that most of his time was spent in Alabama, with s'orter trips into Missis sippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Caro Ina. Late in 1935, he apparently went to Mississippi to document the effects of soil erosion. Between December, 1935, and February, 1935.. he spent time in New Orleans, where he photographed buildings and street scenes, and probably in Alabama as well, where he continued to devote most of his attention to studies of architecture and s ons, to the shape and texture of the human environment.

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