1930s-40s in Color

These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944.

We invite your tags and comments! Also, more identification information. (The current titles come from the agency's original documentation, which was sometimes incomplete.)

The FSA/OWI pictures depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with a focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working.

The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches. They complement the better-known black-and-white FSA/OWI photographs, made during the same
period.

The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division preserves
the original photographs and offers the digital copies to ensure their wide availability.

For more information about the collection and to see the approximately 171,000 black-and-white photos, visit: lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/fsacabt.html

1,615 photos | 1,017,025 views

items are from 1940.