Bound for Glory: America in Color 1939-43 [Hardcover]

 

 

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The Library of Congress archives held a hidden treasure for over thirty years. The vast collection of photographs commissioned by the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information between 1935 and 1943 were filed away, loosely cataloged, and it was not until 1978 that a historian discovered 700 color transparencies among the 160,000 black-and-white photos. Those 700, along with the 965 images from 1942 and '43 when the OWI ran the project, are a startling legacy. Startling--because there are so few color images of the Depression years that we often overlook the vibrancy and lightheartedness of the time. As author Paul Hendrickson writes in the Foreword, these luminous photographs "...can only add to, not detract from, the black-and-white Movietone reel that's long been running in your head."

Kodachrome film was first marketed in 35mm rolls in 1936; by the time of the earliest known FSA color shots in 1939, the earlier problems with stability of the yellow dyes had been resolved. The 175 pictures in BOUND FOR GLORY: AMERICA IN COLOR 1939-43 are amazingly color-true and crisp. The majority were developed onto 2 x 2 Kodachrome slides in cardboard mountings.

The images pull you in. How to describe them? School children studying a world globe in Texas; an aproned craftswoman displaying her quilt of the States; a homesteader couple against a turbulent sky (reproduced on the dust cover); mines, ranches, cotton pickers, Main Streets; a farm in the green mountains of Vermont; a stark geometric scrap and salvage yard; parades, coal docks in Pennsylvania, steel furnaces in Detroit, a steel mill in Utah with snowy mountains seemingly an arm's reach away in the background; a guitar-playing girl in Oklahoma with a flowered hat and solemn expression; a series of real-life Rosie-the-Riveters from Texas to California. There are many photographs from fairs: barefooted families eating barbeque from paper plates; girls from the girly show on a break; children gaping at the wonders of the fair; and the placard quoted in my subject line but not, unfortunately, the bear itself.

Of course I looked for my own state, and found a starch factory deep in the potato country of Northern Maine. And an unexpected pleasure: two street corners in Brockton, Massachusetts that I recognized from my years living in that city four decades later.

A particular pleasure is the series from Pie Town, New Mexico. Photographer Russell Lee went there to take pictures--well, who wouldn't go there, having learned that a place called Pie Town exists?

This collection of color photographs is a legacy too little known by those of us who own it. Browse the FSA-OWI archives on line and by all means get your hands on this gorgeously presented treasure trove. BOUND FOR GLORY--highly recommended.

Linda Bulger, 2009

In Paul Hendrickson's introduction to this wonderful book he suggests that many people (including himself) sort of believe the Great Depression existed only in black and white. I'll agree with him because having collected a few dozen books devoted to FSA photos it is strange to see color photos taken by the same small group of brilliant photographers who took thousands of monochrome images that defined the Nation's view of the Depression. He also mentions the important observation that most color photos used in print media at the time were for decorative or flamboyant editorial use, in other words color for colors sake and of course color was used extensively for advertising.

With 175 photos the book starts with an FSA view of the countryside and then merges into urban, city and railroads shots and finally images of war production, mostly dealing with aircraft. I don't think the last photos have the emotional punch of the earlier FSA work, they seem more photos of record. Of the FSA section of the book (with sixty or so photos) there are eighteen beautiful shots by Russell Lee taken in Pie Town, New Mexico, he had already taken many photos here, which are now considered some of his greatest work.

The color film used for all the work in the book was the newly developed Kodachrome and perhaps this explains why many photos have an overdeveloped darkness but when mixed with the greens and browns of the countryside, city and factory it gives all these pictures an authentic texture.

I think this is a wonderful book of photos and the addition of color, especially to the FSA ones, reveals an intriguing new look and feel to a black and white vision of the past.

The Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information photographically recorded American life in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The very best of the photographic images taken in full color have been selected for presentation to a new generation of Americans in Bound For Glory: America In Color 1939-43. Featuring an informed and informative introduction by Paul Hendrickson, these photos taken from the FSA/OWI Collection in the Library of Congress document a yesteryear America that ranges from 32 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Here chronicled and showcased are scenes from the the American countryside and city, farms and factories; Americans at work and at play. This coffee table book is an impresive memorial tribute to pioneering work in color photography and a welcome addition to any personal, academic, or profession photography book collection.

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