Look: Library of Congress early color photographs (1939-43)

Rare color photographs from the Depression, taken by photographers who worked for the Farm Security Administration/ Office of War Information (seen here via the Denver Post). Below are some of my favorites. The human studies taken during the Depression are always powerful, but I really love just seeing the vibrant color, text, advertisements, and patterns that pop so vividly in many of these photographs, stark contrasts to how we normally envision life in crisis.

The photographers below include Russell Lee (1903–1986), Jack Delano (1914–1997), and John Vachon (1914–1975).

School children singing. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

At the Vermont state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Grand Grocery Company. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Barker at the grounds at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Rural school children. San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. 

Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress