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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

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Va. American soldiers make good grenade throwers

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Color guard of engineers, Ft. Belvoir(?), Va.

Portrait of a farm boy

Portrait of a farm boy

Display of home-canned food

Kitchen utensils hanging below a spice rack with mint, caraway, thyme, and sage jars

F.W. Hunter, Army test pilot, Douglas Aircraft Company plant at Long Beach, Calif.

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Riveter at work at the Douglas Aircraft Corporation plant in Long Beach, Calif.

Lieutenant "Mike" Hunter, Army pilot assigned to Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees to view Allied tanks and half tracks pass through the Arc du Triomphe, after Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944

Inspecting of landing wheel of the transport planes at Willow Run

Inspecting of landing wheel of the transport planes at Willow Run

Santa Fe R.R. trains going through Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains, Cajon, Calif. On the right, streamliner "Chief" going west; in the background, on the left, a freight train with a helper engine, going east. Santa Fe trip

Electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the Muscle Shoals area, Alabama