Date of Award

Summer 1985

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Humanities

Committee Director

Peter C. Stewart

Committee Member

Alf J. Mapp, Jr.

Committee Member

Douglas Greene

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H85J63

Abstract

During the years 1935 to 1943 photographers employed by the Farm Security Administration documented America struggling through the Great Depression and its subsequent entry into World war II. Originally conceived as a way to provide information about problems in the rural areas of the country and to help sell the New Deal. The director, Roy Stryker, transformed the project into more than just a bureaucratic exercise in propaganda. Instead, Stryker consciously attempted to create a photographic portrait of the American culture.

The majority of the 159 photographs on which this thesis is based have not been seen outside of the Library of Congress. The author has selected these images from approximately two thousand Virginia photographs. The author has conducted interviews with three of the photographers who worked on the project and has used first person accounts by those involved who are now deceased.

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DOI

10.25777/p5yw-t839

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