Farm Security Administration Collection (#4)

SQUATTER CAMP, 1935. Squatter shelter of migrant farmers in California. Photograph, 1935 by Dorothea Lange

SQUATTER SHELTER, 1935. Squatter shelter of migrant farmers in California. Photograph, 1935 by Dorothea Lange

AUTOMOBILE, 1939. Detail of an automobile of a migrant family, with a sack of salt on the running board and leather-laced tires. Photograph, June 1939, at Fort Gibson Oklahoma Administration

SQUATTER CAMP, 1935. Squatter shelter of a group of migrant farmers in Indio, California. Photograph, March 1935 by Dorothea Lange

MIGRANT FARMERS, 1935. Migrant farmers brushing tomato plants near Indio, California. Photograph, March, 1935 by Dorothea Lange

COUNTY FAIR, 1938. Sideshow attraction at a county fair in central Ohio. Photograph by Ben Shahn in 1938

MIGRANT VILLAGE, 1941. Houses which had been condemned by the Board of Health, but still used by African American migrant workers in Belle Glade, Florida. Photograph, January 1941

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1936. Florence Thompson, a 32-year-old migrant worker, photographed with her children in Nipomo, California, 1936. Part of the Migrant Mother series by Dorothea Lange, 1936

MIGRANT CHILD, 1939. Daughter of a migrant family clutching trailer connections, at Edinburg, Texas. Photograph by Russell Lee, February 1939

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1936. Drought refugees from Oklahoma camping by the roadside on their way to California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, February 1939

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1939. African American family from Texas outside their home in California. The husband is now employed by the Works Progress Administration

MIGRANT CHILDREN, 1939. Migrant children in the back seat of their family car, east of Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Oklahoma. Photograph by Russell Lee, June, 1939

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1939. The lunch of a migrant family with a map as a tablecloth, east of Fort Gibson, Muskogee County, Oklahoma. Photograph by Russell Lee, June 1939

MIGRANT WORKERS, 1935. A family of migrant farmers with their truck carrying all of their belongings, at San Joaquin Valley, California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, 22 February 1935

NEW YORK CITY: BREAD LINE. Unemployed workers in a New York City bread line beside the Brooklyn Bridge approach. Photograph, c1930-1935

EMPLOYMENT AGENCY, 1937. Scene outside an employment agency on Sixth Avenue in New York City, December 1937. Photographed by Arthur Rothstein

MUSKRAT TRAPPER, 1941. A Spanish muskrat trapper in the doorway of his marsh camp on Delacroix Island, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Photographed by Marion Post Wolcott, January 1941

DROUGHT, 1934. Dust clouds over Lamar, Colorado, during the height of the great drought of 1934

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1937. A migrant family from Missouri halts on a California highway, February 1937. Photographed by Dorothea Lange

MIGRANT WORKERS, c1930. A family of fruit pickers from Oklahoma en route to Arkansas. Photograph, c1930

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1940. Wife of migrant worker from Arkansas preparing a meal at a roadside camp for migrant workers in rural California. Photograph, 1940 by Dorothea Lange

JITTERBUGGING, 1939. In a juke joint on a Saturday night, Clarksdale, Mississippi. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott, 1939

TEXAS: SHACK, 1939. Shack of a World War I veteran near Nueces Bay, Corpus Christi, Texas. Photograph by Russell Lee, 1939

MIGRANT WORKER, 1939. A migrant workers shack in a shanty town, near Canal Point, Florida. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott, 1939

FARMER MOVING, 1937. A tenant farmer moving his household goods to a new farm in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Photographed by Arthur Rothstein, 1937

Three members of a Texas family of seven camped near Exeter, California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, November 1936
DROUGHT REFUGEE, 1936. Three members of a Texas family of seven camped near Exeter, California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, November 1936

GEORGIA: YOUNG GIRL, 1941. A young girl inside her grandmothers house in Greene County, Georgia. Photograph by Jack Delano, June 1941

MIGRANT FAMILY, 1937. The family of a Tennessee migrant fruit worker at their camp in a field near a fruit-packing house in Winter Haven, Florida. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, January 1937

FAMILY SUPPER, 1941. A family saying grace before afternoon supper at home in Carroll County, Gerogia. Photograph, 1941, by Jack Delano

CLOSED BANK, 1936. A closed Kansas bank in rural America. Photographed by Arthur Rothstien, 1936

MIGRANT CHILDREN, 1939. Bean pickers children in Marin County, California, originally from Kansas, California, South Dakota, Oregon, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, 1939

PAUL BUNYAN. The legendary lumberjack of the American Northwest. The statue of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, at Bemidji, Minnesota. Photographed by John Vachon, September 1939

BILLBOARD CAMP, 1938. Three families camped behind a Southern Pacific Railway billboard on U. S
BILLBOARD CAMP, 1938. Three families camped behind a Southern Pacific Railway billboard on U.S. Highway 99 in California. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, 1938

BARBERSHOPS, 1936. A row of African American barbershops in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Photograph, by Walker Evans, 1936

BERRY PICKER, 1938. Girl picking cranberries in Burlington County, New Jersey. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, October 1938

MIGRANT WORKER, 1940. A Migrant Texan farm worker at Belcross, North Carolina, July 1940

MIGRANT WORKERS, 1939. Beet field workers in Adams County, Colorado, October 1939

MIGRANT WORKERS, 1934. Migrant workers farming. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, 1934

MISSISSIPPI: VICKSBURG. Street scene in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Photograph by Walker Evans, 1936

SUPERMARKET, 1938. Shoppers at a grocery store in Newark, Ohio. Photograph, 1938, by Ben Shahn

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 1937. An elementary classroom for migrant children at Skyline Farms, Alabama. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February, 1937

STREET MUSICIANS, 1935. African American street musicians in rural America. Photograph, 1935, by Ben Shahn

DUST BOWL, 1936. Farmland in Texas eroded by dust storms as a result of overgrazing, 1936

FARM BOY, 1940. Child of a former sharecropper eating at a table in southeast Missouri. Photographed in August, 1940

MIGRANT CAMP, 1939. A laundry unit at a mobile camp for migrant workers in Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon. Photograph by Dorothea Lange, October 1939

ROADSIDE CAMP, 1939. Migrant worker playing his guitar at a roadside camp for migrant workers, Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Photograph by Russell Lee, 1939

COTTON PICKERS, 1937. Cotton hoers in Memphis, Tennessee, preparing to depart for a days work in Arkansas. Photographed by Dorothea Lange, June 1937

MIGRANT WORKER, 1930s. Migrant strawberry picker in Berrien County, Michigan: photographed by John Vachon in the 1930s

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"Capturing the Struggles and Resilience: The Farm Security Administration" The Farm Security Administration (FSA) played a crucial role in documenting the hardships faced by Americans during the Great Depression. Through powerful photographs, such as Dorothea Lange's iconic "Migrant Mother, " we are transported to a camp for migrant workers in Nipomo, California, where Florence Thompson and her seven children epitomize the resilience of those seeking better lives. In 1936, Arthur Rothstein's lens captured a haunting image of a dust storm engulfing the Texas panhandle—a stark reminder of the devastating impact of drought on farmers' livelihoods. Meanwhile, coal miners sitting in a mining car in West Virginia symbolize both their arduous labor and their contribution to powering America. The FSA also shed light on environmental challenges like drought and grasshoppers through images like that of a man fleeing these calamities in Montana. Similarly, African American migrant workers' shacks in Belle Glade, Florida—photographed by Russell Lee—highlighted racial inequalities prevalent at that time. Bud Fields and his family from Hale County, Alabama became symbols of sharecroppers struggling to make ends meet amidst economic hardship. A field filled with Burley tobacco serves as an example of agricultural practices during this era while Francis Grose's portrait represents one individual among many affected by these circumstances. Furthermore, an image capturing a farmer opening gates to allow water into fields from irrigation ditches showcases efforts made towards sustainable farming practices even during challenging times. Coal miner's child using a hole in the door to enter depicts how adversity seeped into every aspect of life for working-class families. Even Christmas Day was not spared from poverty; Earl Pauley's home in Smithfield, Iowa witnessed meager celebrations with potatoes, cabbage, and pie being served as dinner—an enduring testament to resourcefulness amidst scarcity.