Back to Collections

Collection: FSA/OWI Color Transparencies

Photographers working for the U.S. government's Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) between 1939 and 1944 made approximately 1,600 color photographs that depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The pictures focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working. The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches. They complement the better-known black-and-white FSA/OWI photographs, made during the same period

606 photos

Amarillo, Texas, general view, Santa Fe R.R. trip

Amarillo, Texas, general view, Santa Fe R.R. trip

Amarillo, Texas, general view, Santa Fe R.R. trip

Santa Fe R.R. streamliner, the "super Chief," being serviced at the depot, Albuquerque, N.M. Servicing of these diesel streamliners takes five minutes. Santa Fe R.R. trip

West bound Santa Fe R.R. freight train waiting in a siding to meet an east bound train, Ricardo, New Mexico

Automatic dumper at the co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe trip

Co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Workman is doing the preliminary sorting, picking out the discards. Santa Fe trip

Grading oranges at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe trip

Grading oranges at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe trip

Loading oranges into a refrigerator car at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe R.R. trip

General view of part of the south Water street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago, Ill. A C and O R.R. caboose. the C and O is one of the railroads that lease terminal facilities from the I.C.R.R

General view of part of the South Water street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal, Chicago, Ill.

General view of part of the South Water street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal, Chicago, Ill.

General view of part of the South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago, Ill.

Illinois Central R.R., freight cars at the South Water Street freight terminal, Chicago, Ill. The C & O and Nickel Plate Railroads lease part of this terminal from the I.C.R.R.

Daniel Anastazia, blacksmith's helper, Rock Island R.R., Blue Island, Ill.

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading iron ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hulett" unloader, Cleveland, Ohio

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hulett" unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hulett" unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hulett" unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading iron ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hulett" unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio

Coast Guardsman standing watch over 78-foot torpedo boat. Continual watch is kept. Higgins Industries, Inc., New Orleans, La.

Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval Air Base, supervises Chas. Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan; Corpus Christi, Texas

Jesse Rhodes Waller, A.O.M., third class, tries out a 30-calibre machine gun he has just installed in a Navy plane, Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas