OWI/FSA Photographs

OWI/FSA Documentary Photographs

Roy Stryker's documentary unit of FDR's New Deal--the Farm Security Administration--made some of the most important photographs of all time. In 1943, the FSA was transfered to the Office of War Information (OWI). The photographs presented here were salvaged from a waste paper basket by Paul Vanderbilt, after a new numbering system was introduced. They remained rolled up in a shoe box for 50 years, until we were able to acquire them. Some have notations in Stryker's hand. We rewashed and flattened the photographs, and began a 2 year process of combing through photographer's microfilm notes to identify the images.