Collection: Marjory Collins - FSA/OWI Jan 1942 - June 1943

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial record of American life between 1935 and 1944. Photographer Marjory Collins was hired by the Office of War Information to photograph American life and support of the war effort. Across some 50 assignments, Ms. Collins captured iconic images of workers, families, and children all along the eastern part of the U.S. Her photos span January 1942 - June 1943 In 1944 Collins worked freelance for a construction company in Alaska before travelling to Africa and Europe on government and commercial assignments. Thereafter she worked mainly as an editor and a writer covering civil rights, the Vietnam War and women's movements. In the 1960s she edited American Journal of Public Health.[1] In the 1980s she moved to San Francisco where she obtained an M.A. in American Studies at Antioch College West. She died in 1985 at the age of 73.[1]

831 photos

Washington, D.C. Salvage drive, Victory Program. "Cleaning" metal by hammering off parts to separate kinds of metal

Washington, D.C. Salvage drive, Victory Program. Restaurant scales among objects stored in warehouse of District wholesale junk company

Washington, D.C. Salvage drive, Victory Program. Artificial leg, kettle and gas tank among objects stored in warehouse of District wholesale junk company

Washington, D.C. Salvage drive, Victory Program. Miscellaneous metal scrap in warehouse of District wholesale junk company. Man in background is "cleaning" metal objects

Washington, D.C. Salvage drive, Victory Program. Bales of scrap paper stored in yard of District retail junk company are loaded onto truck headed for the wholesaler

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. People bring their junk to a retail junk yard in everything from a pushcart to a limousine

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. This wagon has been used to collect scrap. It is parked outside a retail junk yard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Powerful hydraulic press for pressing metal scrap into blocks in the yard of a wholesale junk company

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Crane loads blocks of scrap metal onto a freight car in yard of wholesale junk company

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Using acetylene torch to break up metal scrap before shipment from a wholesale junk yard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. "Old Ironsides" is written on this stove found in warehouse of wholesale junk dealer

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. After saleable parts are removed from old cars, the cars are burned in order to strip them of useless materials and to obtain metal skeleton for scrap

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Opening up hydraulic press showing paper ready for baling

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Wholesale junkyard beside siding in rear background. Truck in right foreground is being weighed on platform scale before unloading

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Motor which runs hydraulic press for metal in a wholesale junkyard. Outside, blocks of metal can be seen

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Rubber scrap in a wholesale junkyard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Large cutter which breaks up metal parts for shipment from a wholesale junkyard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Metal skelton of an old car which has been burned in order to get rid of useless materials after being stripped of saleable parts at the wholesale junkyard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Car headlights glare up among objects in wholesale junkyard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Pieces of glass and porcelain which are useless for scrap were found among other obejcts unloaded in wholesale junkyard

Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Electro-magnet loads metal scrap onto freight car in wholesale junkyard