Picturing MINNE The MHS library has three microfilm rolls of FSA images of Minnesota, origi- nally produced in 1944. Included are rarely seen views of farming (including farm auctions and machinery), haying, small towns (for example, Milaca, Litch- field, Hibbing, and Winton), people, and city views. Also available are 14,000 captioned Midwest (Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) microfiche images and a printed index. About 55,000 black-and-white FSA photos may be viewed online at the Library of Congress’s American Memory site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ fsowhome.html. To date some 1 million items in 43 collections have been digi- tized for online viewing. The information in this article is taken from the website and from Robert Reid’s book, Picturing Minnesota, 1936 –1943: Photographs of the Farm Security Administration, published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1989 and available from the MHS Press. All photographs, including the back- ground image of the Bendix schoolhouse, 1936, by Paul Carter, are courtesy of the Library of Congress. MINNE During the late 1930s and early 1940s, photographers on assignment from the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration fanned out across America to document the daily life and activities of the nation’s people. More than 164,000 black-and- white prints taken by FSA photo- graphers such as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans between 1935 and 1943 are now preserved in the Library of Congress. At least 1,500 of the captioned images capture mostly unfamiliar Min- nesota scenes, places, and faces. FSA programs targeted rural rehabilitation and resettlement, and northern Minnesota in par- ticular received its share of attention. One well-documented region was the cutover, a vast acreage of scrub forest, strug- gling homesteads, and tiny towns dying along with the once lucrative lumbering industry. Six government photographers— John Vachon (a Minnesota native), Russell Lee, Paul Carter, Marion Post Wolcott, Jack Delano, and even Roy E. Stryker, the administrative genius behind the FSA Historical Section’s
Transcript
PicturingM I N N E
The MHS library has three microfilm rolls of FSA images of Minnesota, origi-nally produced in 1944. Included are rarely seen views of farming (includingfarm auctions and machinery), haying, small towns (for example, Milaca, Litch-field, Hibbing, and Winton), people, and city views. Also available are 14,000captioned Midwest (Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri,Ohio, and Wisconsin) microfiche images and a printed index.
About 55,000 black-and-white FSA photos may be viewed online at theLibrary of Congress’s American Memory site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html. To date some 1 million items in 43 collections have been digi-tized for online viewing.
The information in this article is taken from the website and from RobertReid’s book, Picturing Minnesota, 1936–1943: Photographs of the FarmSecurity Administration, published by the Minnesota Historical Society in1989 and available from the MHS Press. All photographs, including the back-ground image of the Bendix schoolhouse, 1936, by Paul Carter, are courtesy ofthe Library of Congress.
M I N N EDuring the late 1930s andearly 1940s, photographers onassignment from the New Deal’sFarm Security Administrationfanned out across America todocument the daily life andactivities of the nation’s people.More than 164,000 black-and-white prints taken by FSA photo-graphers such as Dorothea Langeand Walker Evans between 1935and 1943 are now preserved inthe Library of Congress. At least1,500 of the captioned imagescapture mostly unfamiliar Min-nesota scenes, places, and faces.
FSA programs targeted ruralrehabilitation and resettlement,and northern Minnesota in par-ticular received its share ofattention. One well-documentedregion was the cutover, a vastacreage of scrub forest, strug-gling homesteads, and tinytowns dying along with the oncelucrative lumbering industry. Sixgovernment photographers—John Vachon (a Minnesotanative), Russell Lee, Paul Carter,Marion Post Wolcott, JackDelano, and even Roy E. Stryker,the administrative genius behindthe FSA Historical Section’s
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County FSA supervisor visiting the family of an FSA borrower, Lake of the Woods County, 1939. John Vachon
Photographers sent to theGreat Lakes cutover region weretold, according to Robert L.Reid’s Picturing Minnesota,1936–1943: Photographs of theFarm Security Administration, todocument “the people, the waythey live, their isolation” and“the look of the country.” Theywere to capture, Stryker wroteLee in 1937, what was “left
vision—found their way to orthrough the state.
Early FSA images dramatizedthe needs for government assis-tance to the nation’s rural poor,the “lower third” of the country,as they were called inside theorganization. Later assignmentsshifted to photographing lessneedy inhabitants of farms, smalltowns, and cities.
behind after the empire buildershad taken the forest, the ore,and the topsoil.”
What follows is a sampling ofMinnesota cutover images thatcomplement the people andplaces described in the preced-ing account of the 1937 timberworkers’ strike. The captions arebased on the photographers’original field notes.
S O T A ’ S C U T O V E R
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A man at the bar on Saturday night, Craigville, 1937. Russell Lee
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FSA photographer being pulled out of the mud by a tractor
near Little Fork, 1937. Roy Stryker
Lumberjacks in a bunkhouse, logging-camp near Effie, 1937. Russell Lee
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Steam baths are very popular among the lumberjacks, Craigville (vicinity), August 1937. Russell Lee
Woman entering home
that she and her daughter
built on cutover in Aitkin
County, 1939. John Vachon
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Card game in the Northern Minnesota Pioneer Home, established by the government
to care for the former squatters and lumberjacks displaced from their homes in the
Beltrami Island reforestation area, Spooner, September 1939. John Vachon
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Family of an FSA borrower in the cutover area, Itasca County, August 1941. John Vachon
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Children ready to leave for school in an old wagon, Beltrami Island reforestation
project of the Minnesota state forest service, July 1936. Paul Carter
Lumberjack turning handspring,
Little Fork (vicinity), June 1937.
Russell Lee
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