Rare color photographs from the Depression

[Cheap_Trick]

http://extras.denverpost.com/archive/captured.asp

I couldn't get one to show up. It's well worth the trip over to the site.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. These are amazing. I am only halfway through so far and found 2 from Maine. :^)

[WillParkinson]

2. You were right...

Those were some amazing pictures!

[KittyWampus]

3. They remind to Norman Rockwell paintings. I especially like the Carnival Barker

and the Tenement Children (reminds me of Little Rascals)

[Warpy]

4. Everybody but the kids in Pie Town, NM, had shoes in public

so it seems the recovery was under way in all but the most depressed areas of the country, even if they still weren't getting enough to eat to make them look sleek and healthy again.

That part of NM is still hardscrabble country, the central west near the Arizona border, hard to make a living but a beautiful place to live.

[Auggie]

5. Amazing photos. Thanks for the link.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. As soon as I saw the title of your post,

I knew they were talking about the work of Jack Delano and the other Farm Security Administration photographers. The original pictures were on 4 by 5 Kodachromes. The resolution is still phenomenal. Let's go to Shorpy, the first place I go to see these pictures.

Shorpy

Look over on the right-hand side of the page. Under the category "Photographers," click on Jack Delano, or Lewis Hine, or Russell Lee, or Walker Evans. They were all active back then.

Jack Delano at Shorpy

Marcella Hart, 1943

I just love this picture:

Marcella and Elibia: 1943

You feel as if you could step into the pictures, don't you?

[Cheap_Trick]

7. That was my thought, too

The pictures were so evocative and so vivid you could almost feel the crisp autumn air, or the dirt crunching under your feet.

[patrice]

8. They're beautiful! Does that make sense?

[pscot]

9. Stunning!

The glories of kodachrome.

[Arugula Latte]

10. So amazing

A couple things that struck me:

-- The people attending a farm auction are dressed up

-- No obesity (just a few slightly overweight folks)

[ThomWV]

11. Did you see the one near the bottom - the real Rosy the Riveter?

Notice that in real life she is a black woman.

http://denverpost.slideshowpro.com/albums/001/496/album-125171/cache/color066.sJPG_950_2000_0_75_0_50_50.sJPG?1281011080

[SoxFan]

12. Amazing. Thank you for posting this.

What I found interesting is the extent to which color makes the scene so much more tangible and real. So often, we see black and white or sepia pictures, and things seem as distant as a medieval tapestry or a Gilbert Stuart painting. In these pictures, the people are our friends, our neighbors, our family members. Ordinary people who lived through an extraordinary time.

[Baclava]

13. Fantastic pics!

I hav mad skillz to make them appear...


Not much has changed in Idaho

http://denverpost.slideshowpro.com/albums/001/496/album-125171/cache/color027.sJPG_950_2000_0_75_0_50_50.sJPG

http://denverpost.slideshowpro.com/albums/001/496/album-125171/cache/color026.sJPG_950_2000_0_75_0_50_50.sJPG

[murielm99]

14. Beautiful and nostalgic.

The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad photos bring back memories. My father is retired from that railroad. My brother still works at the Proviso yards.

[blm]

15. wow...collectors will be dreaming....

.

[progressoid]

16. WWII era stuff my Parents will love to see.

Thanks for the link.

[DeschutesRiver]

17. I have dialup, so it has taken awhile to load some of these - but wow

I love this kind of thing, and these were simply awesome. I have never seen a Depression era photo in color, and it changes my perspective a bit, makes things more real than when only witnessed via black and white photos (saw some color photos from old Russia awhile back, and was equally amazed). Actually, some of these photos look like they could have been taken yesterday of some of my neighbors in this rural ranching area.

Thanks so much for the link - going to show dh when he gets home tonight.

[JI7]

20. this one links to the Russia ones at the bottom

i love seeing how people lived in different times and places. we can go to museums and see buildings and things but to see real images of people in those days is even more fascinating. it's one thing to read about them but when you see them it's something else.

[Quantess]

18. Fascinating!

[JI7]

19. great pics, i would love to know what became of the people in the pics, especially the kids

who could still be alive.

and before and after pics of the places .

[Hekate]

21. These are marvelous. Thanks!

[leveymg]

22. KNR. Hope we never see such hunger and desperation in America again.

In the pre-World War Two photos, half the kids have no shoes, everyone looks beaten down, worn out, and hungry. Remarkable transformation in the images after 1941 - seems the photographers changed their subject matter, or did the national mobilization really improve the standard of living of ordinary people that much?

[DirkGently]

23. Great photos. +1