FSA Photo Galleries

The cooperative store at Transylvania, Louisiana, spring 2005

Satellite images of FSA projects in the Mississippi Delta. June-July 2007

Transylvania Details

Trumann Farm altitude 2.35 km

Trumann Farm, Poinsett County, Ark from 5.61 km

Trumann Farm altitude 2.35 km

1/14

1. (10) Children of Negro sharecropper who will be resettled at Transylvania Project. Louisiana. LC-

2. (12) Children of Negro sharecropper who will be resettled on Transylvania Project. Louisiana. LC-

18. (2) Children of Negro sharecropper pumping water. Family will be resettled at Transylvania Proje

1. (10) Children of Negro sharecropper who will be resettled at Transylvania Project. Louisiana. LC-

1/18

Wolcott Details

Cotton Row Street in Leland, Mississippi Delta. LC-USF34- 052506-D

Staple Cotton Cooperative Association. Leland, Mississippi Delta. LC-USF34- 052507-D

Jitterbugging in Negro juke joint, Saturday evening, outside Clarksdale, Mississippi. LC-USF34- 0525

Cotton Row Street in Leland, Mississippi Delta. LC-USF34- 052506-D

1/24

Russell Lee took a series of 19 photographs of one black family as they were preparing to move from Transylvania in January 1939. It is not obvious that the disparate photos were taken in the same homestead, and of the same people, because the images are scattered throughout his coverage of Transylvania. When ordered by their call numbers, they are separated by other photos from Transylvania, as well as photos from Laurel, Mississippi, Chicot Farms, Arkansas, Jerome, Arkansas, Westlaco, Texas. When studied carefully, these photos can be seen to be photos of one unnamed family. (The contiguous call numbers are: USF33-011924-M2 through USF33-011924-M4; USF33-011929-M1 through USF33-011929-3; USF33-011937-M4 through USF33-011937-5; USF34-031931-D, -03933-D through -03939-D. View them in call number order). When viewed in the context of the resisted removal from Transylvania Plantation, they tell quite a different narrative than they do when viewed singly.

The captions and call numbers of the photos are listed left to right, top to bottom. The number in parentheses indicate the photographs in call-number sequence.

Photographs by Marion Post Wolcott documenting what we would now call the "cotton commodity chain". Shot October and November, 1939 unless otherwise noted. This series demonstrates her careful documentation of the process of making oil from cottonseed, a selection of her shots of classing cotton, and a selection of her photos of black pickers enjoying their earnings. She has many other photos of people picking cotton in the fields, of cotton pickers, of workers being recruited and trucked to the fields, riding bosses, weighing cotton, etc. Over 300 of her photos directly deal with "cotton" in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Memphis.

Nurse Marguerite White treating a patient. La Delta Project, Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053873-D

Old home and a new home on La Delta Project. Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053819-D

School and community buildings on La Delta Project. Thomastown, Louisiana Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053858-D

Nurse Marguerite White treating a patient. La Delta Project, Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053873-D

1/5

Thomastown FSA Project

General FSA Pictures

8c12164rHomedemomtg

teaching

8c12422rboy-canned-goods

8c12164rHomedemomtg

1/268

Transylvania FSA Project, East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Photos from the 116 captioned images in the FSA/OWI collection at the Library of Congress. Russell Lee's 51 captioned photos, shot in January 1939, show black residents who have refused to leave, and white FSA recipients who are arriving to houses recently vacated by their African American residents. Marion Post Wolcott's 73 captioned photos, taken in June 1940, show a developed project. This set includes some of the "killed" photos that were not captioned. Because there are so many images, I have not labeled them, except to note the photographer.

Sunflower Plantation

Thomastown FSA Project, also called La Delta Farms, Louisiana. May have included Thomastown and Mounds in Madison Parish, and Henderson Loop and Lakeview in West Carroll Parish. Selection of the 49 captioned photos made by Marion Post Wolcott, June 1940

Lakeview FSA Project

School and community hall. Lakeview Project, Arkansas. Russell Lee, Dec. 1938 LC-USF34- 031869-D

Barn with farmer and livestock. Lakeview Project, Arkansas Russell Lee, Dec. 1938 LC-USF34- 031865-D

Children in nursery school drinking orange juice. This is given to them every morning at school. Lakeview Project, Arkansas. Russell Lee, Dec. 1938 LC-USF34- 031847-D

School and community hall. Lakeview Project, Arkansas. Russell Lee, Dec. 1938 LC-USF34- 031869-D

1/6

Negroes returning home after cotton picking, Sunflower Plantation, FSA (Farm Security Administration) project, Merigold, Mississippi. Marion Post Wolcott Oct? 1939

Pecan grove with soybeans. Sunflower plantation, just optioned by Resettlement Administration. Near Sunflower, Mississippi. The grove was still standing in 1939, along Drew-Merigold Road Carl Mydans June 1936

8a41528r (1)

Negroes returning home after cotton picking, Sunflower Plantation, FSA (Farm Security Administration) project, Merigold, Mississippi. Marion Post Wolcott Oct? 1939

1/37

Sunflower Plantation, Sunflower County between Drew and Merigold, Mississippi. Photos of the plantation when optioned by the RA by Carl Mydans, June 1936, and theFSA project by Marion Post Wolcott, fall 1939. FSA/OWI collection, Library of Congress. The collection here includes both captioned and uncaptioned images. Not all images were downloaded.

Southeast Missouri Farms, La Forge, MO

Lakeview FSA Project, Phillips County, Arkansas. Selection of the 47 captioned images in the FSA/OWI collection at the Library of Congress.

Dyess Colony, Arkansas

Community canning, Dyess Colony, Arkansas. Ben Shahn, Sept. 1935 FSA/OWI LC-USF33- 006047-M4

Dyess Then and now. D. Gorton 2006

Resettled farmer and family. Dyess Colony, Arkansas. Arthur Rothstein, Aug. 1935. FSA/OWI LC-USF34- 000429-D

Community canning, Dyess Colony, Arkansas. Ben Shahn, Sept. 1935 FSA/OWI LC-USF33- 006047-M4

1/3

Dyess Colony, Arkansas. Resettlement Administration Projects. Two of ten captioned photos by Ben Shahn and Arthur Rothstein.

White FSA house, 2006 D. Gorton

Composite view of Southeast Missouri Farm, 1936-2006 D. Gorton

African American house, 2007 D.Gorton

White FSA house, 2006 D. Gorton

1/7

Southeast Missouri Farms, La Forge, MO. FSA project near New Madrid, Missouri. Russell Lee shot 560 captioned photos (plus numerous untitled) of the project as it was being built Spring-Summer 1938. These photos, shot by D. Gorton in 2005-2006, show some of what remains of the project.

Plum Bayou FSA

House at Plum Bayou, Arkansas D. Gorton, 2005

Plum Bayou 1937 and 2005 D. Gorton

House at Plum Bayou, Arkansas D. Gorton, 2005

1/12

Plum Bayou FSA Project, Jefferson County, Arkansas. Selection of the 23 captioned photos in the FSA/OWI collection at the Library of Congress, and photos by D. Gorton in 2005.

Greenfield Plantation

Part of Greenfield with Glen Allan, Mississippi, Terraserver, 2003 2003

FSA house, white section, 2003 D. Gorton

African American section of Greenfield Plantation 2003

Part of Greenfield with Glen Allan, Mississippi, Terraserver, 2003 2003

1/8

Thomastown FSA Project

Old home and a new home on La Delta Project. Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053819-D

Home demonstration club meeting has games and refreshments after discussion. La Delta Project, Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053829-D

FSA (Farm Security Administration) borrower's son getting some canned goods for dinner out of the pantry in his home. La Delta Project, Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 054130-D

Old home and a new home on La Delta Project. Thomastown, Louisiana. Marion Post Wolcott. June 1940 LC-USF34- 053819-D

1/5

Thomastown FSA Project, also called La Delta Farms, Louisiana. May have included Thomastown and Mounds in Madison Parish, and Henderson Loop and Lakeview in West Carroll Parish. Selection of the 49 captioned photos made by Marion Post Wolcott, June 1940

Transylvania

African American church at Henderson Loop, south end of Transylvania Project D. Gorton 2006

African American house in Henderson Loop, south end of Transylvania Project. D. Gorton 2005

Old school building in Transylvania D. Gorton 2005

African American church at Henderson Loop, south end of Transylvania Project D. Gorton 2006

1/11

Greenfield Plantation, FSA project, Washington and Issaquena Counties, Mississippi. This was was a subdivided plantation, without the cooperative enterprises established in the earlier years of the FSA. It was not documented by the FSA photographers. These images are by D. Gorton, 2003.

Transylvania FSA Project, East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. Photos by D. Gorton, 2006 and 2007

Lake Dick Cooperative Farm

Picking cotton, members of Lake Dick Cooperative Association working together. Russell Lee, September 1938 LC-USF33-011674-M1

1/28

Lake Dick Cooperative Farm, Jefferson County, Arkansas, 4 miles south of Altheimer. RA/FSA project. Selection of the 177 captioned photos in the FSA/OWI files at the Library of Congress, and photos made in 2005 by D. Gorton.