Flynn, Kyle

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryInquiry Journal 2009 Inquiry JournalSpring 2009Photographing the Great Depression: Recoveringthe Historical RecordKyle FlynnUniversity of New HampshireFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009Part of the Photography Commons, and the United States History CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Inquiry Journal at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Inquiry Journal 2009 by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationFlynn, Kyle, "Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record" (2009). Inquiry Journal. 5.https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009/5  UNH UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL                         SPRING 2009  feature article Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record —Kyle Flynn, Inquiry student editor (Edited by Jennifer Lee) Sometimes, a picture can evoke such strong emotions that we are compelled to discover more about the photograph, the photographer, and the period in which the photograph was taken. Photographs from the Great Depression captured Isabel Klein. The images she viewed compelled her to attempt to solve the mysteries of a 1938 photography exhibit whose existence had nearly been lost to history.  Isabel Klein, currently a senior women’s studies major, is no stranger to the power of pictures. Both her parents have  a passion for photography, and Isabel has always been interested in the subject. That interest gained intensity when, as a sophomore, Isabel enrolled in Dr. Lisa MacFarlane’s 444 seminar, “American Studies: Picturing America.” MacFarlane’s seminar focused on how American photographs from 1870 to the 1950s both reveal and shape ideas about American identity. While viewing photographs from MacFarlane’s seminar, Isabel was drawn to those taken during the Great Depression, for it was these photographs that seemed particularly eager to tell a story. The faces looking out from the black and white images vividly detailed the pain, hardship, and deprivation experienced by Americans at that period in history. With her curiosity piqued, Isabel sought to learn more about the photography of the period. Discovery and Research  As Isabel began investigating photography during the Great Depression, she and her mother came across a footnote in a book that referenced a 1938 exhibit of Depression era photography. If Isabel could have viewed the photographs from that exhibit, her curiosity may have been satisfied. But, since there was very little information available on the exhibit, Isabel’s curiosity only grew. The footnoted reference was her biggest lead, and Isabel intended to follow it up. However, the internet searches and library databases were soon exhausted, yielding few results. Isabel knew then that she would have to get her hands dirty by digging much deeper. The next two logical places to look were the Library of Congress and the University of Louisville, for the University houses an archive of documents on Roy Stryker, the man who was responsible for exhibiting the photographs of the Great Depression in the 1938 International Photographic Exhibition in New York City. Isabel (right) and her mentor, Dr. Lisa MacFarlane, discuss photographs.  The Library of Congress responded to Isabel’s request with an article that merely mentioned the exhibit in passing. The response was disappointing and frustrating, but it also served to strengthen Isabel’s resolve. She now had a true sense of purpose for her project: Not only would she research certain photographs from the Great Depression, but she would also recover information pertaining to the exhibit that had, for all practical purposes, been lost to history. As Isabel recalls, “The fact that the Library of Congress couldn’t answer my questions about the exhibit was how I knew it would be a great research project. But it proved to be quite the undertaking, too.” It’s safe to say that’s an understatement. While studying abroad in the Netherlands the next semester, Isabel scrambled to put together a proposal to the University of New Hampshire for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship grant. She submitted the proposal without much information on the exhibit; in fact, she had no idea whether she would be able to find any of the photographs. Fortunately, after submitting her grant proposal, Isabel was contacted by an archivist at the University of Louisville who told her they had found an inventory detailing the photographers and some of their photographs for the exhibit. Despite this encouraging news, Isabel’s attention was still focused on whether her grant would be approved. By the time mid–April rolled around, Isabel began to prepare herself for the worst: rejection of her grant proposal.  As it turned out, Isabel’s worries were unwarranted; her grant was approved and she was ecstatic. Shortly after returning home, she began work on her research project. The first stage was pouring through secondary sources in the library. Isabel spent the entire month of June in UNH’s Dimond Library, reading as much as she could in preparation for her trips to Washington, DC, and Louisville, Kentucky. When the time arrived, Isabel traveled back and forth for over two weeks from her home in Cleveland, Ohio, to Louisville and Washington, DC. Isabel’s study abroad experience had taught her to plan for obstacles. While she faced some logistical hurdles, such as trying to track down sources on an unfamiliar campus or communicating with a project mentor who was overseas, Isabel’s bigger concern was how best to navigate the unfamiliar territory of research. As she recalls: “When you write a paper for an English class, you generally don’t have to worry about asking permission to use names, or about copyright infringements, liability, and so on.” Isabel spent her July days in archives, sorting through primary sources: the photographs themselves and the correspondence between the photographers and their boss, Roy Stryker. Coming Into Focus  Slowly, Isabel gained a clearer understanding of an exhibit that had been lost to history. As part of the New Deal, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) had been formed in an effort to combat and chronicle poverty in rural America. Its Information Division was instrumental in distributing educational material and press information, and in establishing communications with the public at large. Part of this effort was a photography program, headed by an economist named Roy Stryker, who was put in charge of creating the Great Depression exhibit for the 1938 International Photographic Exhibition. According to Stryker, the exhibit’s theme was “people.” Isabel explains that the exhibit chronicled the hardships faced by Americans in both rural and urban settings during the Depression, “but with an emphasis on the plight of the rural poor—mostly white Americans.” The exhibit would be shown to the American public to, as Stryker himself put it, “introduce America to Americans.” The program and the exhibit employed many household names in the photography world, such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee. Arthur Rothstein. Eroded land on tenant’s farm. Alabama, 1937. Library of Congress, LC–USF346– 025121–D  For Isabel, research on the exhibit was interesting on two levels. First, she was able to recover many of the photographs that were part of the exhibit, seeing first–hand the hardships suffered by Americans during the Depression. Second, the primary documents consisted not only of photographs, but also of correspondence between Roy Stryker and his photographers as well as comment cards by patrons who attended the exhibit. Isabel found this part particularly interesting for the comments revealed public sentiment. Comments ranged from a “waste of taxpayer money” to “excellent—a real living example of conditions in the U.S.” to three individuals wishing for a public leader like Hitler. Even the language used on the comments and correspondence was indicative of the time period: “cool” wasn’t the cool word yet; it was “swell.” Not only did Isabel find parts of the missing exhibit, but she also found everyday details of the work that went into producing it. Notes from Roy Stryker to his photographers included instructions on what to shoot as well as warnings to cut down on the amount of film they used. The photographers would send their responses on hotel stationary, sometimes with inside jokes or silly doodles. But what some of these notes revealed to Isabel was that within the microcosm of the Farm Security Administration’s photography program, there was a battle to keep people employed, just as the FSA sought to do for the community at large. Roy Stryker lived and breathed the photography project. When funding was threatened to be cut, which it was on several occasions, Stryker fought to keep the program in place so that his photographers would keep their jobs.   Isabel was quick to recognize that Roy Stryker was meticulous in his management style. He would send shooting scripts to his photographers, telling them what subjects to photograph and in what settings. Stryker also went to painstaking lengths to keep track of inventories and expenditures, such as how much film was used and how much transportation and hotels would cost. However, amidst all these detailed instructions and records, there is nothing about    This observation has led to several questions: why were people photographed the way they were? Was it to portray something specific, or was it spur–of–the–moment artistic license by the photographers? What was the decision–making process that led to certain photographs being chosen out of hundreds of others? (Isabel notes that “women and children [were] important subjects [for the exhibit], particularly images of sick, dirty and malnourished children.”) Finally, how much of this photography exhibit was a documentary effort and how much of it was possibly for a political agenda that stretched beyond the FSA’s mission to chronicle poverty?  Russell Lee. Christmas dinner in home of Earl Pauley. Iowa, 1936. Library of Congress, LC–USF34– 006326–D  Arthur Rothstein. Mountain people. Maryland, 1936. Library of Congress, LC–USF34– 005574–E  It was almost as if Isabel had come full circle, for the ideas discussed in Dr. MacFarlane’s seminar certainly had an application here. Did these photographs of the Great Depression reveal ideas about the American identity? Or were they meant to shape ideas on the suffering of the Great Depression—perhaps to the extent of shaping and justifying public policy? Or, was it a combination of both?  Following a trail that started with an obscure footnote, Isabel’s research solved the mystery of what this 1938 exhibit was and where the photographs were. In fact, through her relentless work, Isabel was able to recover and compile into a slideshow many photographs that would otherwise have been lost. She has given a voice to those almost lost photographs that seemed so eager to tell a story.  Yet, while Isabel Klein can, and should, derive a great deal of satisfaction knowing she has brought to light an important part of our nation’s historical and pictorial record, one suspects the questions that arose after Isabel solved the first part of her mystery are still looking for an answer.     Dorothea Lange. Mother of family camped near a creek bed, panning for gold. California, 1935. Library of Congress, LC–USF341– 009474–C   Ben Shahn. Mother and child. Arkansas, 1935. Library of Congress, LC–USF33– 006055–M2  Note: A bound copy of all the photos, “How American People Live, April 1938”: A Recreation of the Photography Exhibit, can be viewed in the Women’s Studies Office in room 203 of Huddleston Hall on the UNH campus, Durham. Office hours are Monday through Thursday 9-5 and Friday 9-4. Call ahead to verify: 603-862-2194. In the fall of 2009, Isabel Klein entered the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland to obtain a Master of Library Science with a specialization in Archives, Records and Information Management.   Copyright 2009 Kyle Flynn Arthur Rothstein. Sharecropper’s child suffering from rickets and malnutrition. Arkansas, 1935. Library of Congress, LC–USF33–002002–M2 Author Bio  Kyle Flynn, of Nashua, New Hampshire, is a junior philosophy major and French/economics minor in his first year at Inquiry. Currently residing in Dover, Kyle is an Honors Program student who chose to attend the University of New Hampshire after correspondence with a UNH philosophy professor while still in high school. He adds that getting a scholarship made the choice easy. Kyle joined Inquiry because he enjoys writing and wanted the experience of being on the editorial board. Interested in philosophy as well as economics, Kyle is the only philosophy major working with the Atkins Investment Group as an economic analyst. With that experience he hopes to attend graduate school to further his study of economics. Kyle spends his free time reading, skiing, and playing soccer. 

Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record

University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository
Inquiry Journal 2009 Inquiry Journal
Spring 2009
Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering
the Historical Record
Kyle Flynn
University of New Hampshire
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009
Part of the Photography Commons, and the United States History Commons
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Inquiry Journal at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been
accepted for inclusion in Inquiry Journal 2009 by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more
information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.
Recommended Citation
Flynn, Kyle, "Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record" (2009). Inquiry Journal. 5.
https://scholars.unh.edu/inquiry_2009/5
  
UNH UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL                         SPRING 2009 
 
feature article 
Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record 
—Kyle Flynn, Inquiry student editor (Edited by Jennifer Lee) 
Sometimes, a picture can evoke such strong emotions that we are compelled to discover more about the 
photograph, the photographer, and the period in which the photograph was taken. Photographs from the Great 
Depression captured Isabel Klein. The images she viewed compelled her to attempt to solve the mysteries of a 
1938 photography exhibit whose existence had nearly been lost to history.  
Isabel Klein, currently a senior women’s studies major, is 
no stranger to the power of pictures. Both her parents have  
a passion for photography, and Isabel has always been 
interested in the subject. That interest gained intensity 
when, as a sophomore, Isabel enrolled in Dr. Lisa 
MacFarlane’s 444 seminar, “American Studies: Picturing 
America.” MacFarlane’s seminar focused on how American 
photographs from 1870 to the 1950s both reveal and shape 
ideas about American identity. While viewing photographs 
from MacFarlane’s seminar, Isabel was drawn to those 
taken during the Great Depression, for it was these 
photographs that seemed particularly eager to tell a story. 
The faces looking out from the black and white images 
vividly detailed the pain, hardship, and deprivation 
experienced by Americans at that period in history. With 
her curiosity piqued, Isabel sought to learn more about the 
photography of the period. 
Discovery and Research  
As Isabel began investigating photography during the Great Depression, she and her mother came across a 
footnote in a book that referenced a 1938 exhibit of Depression era photography. If Isabel could have viewed 
the photographs from that exhibit, her curiosity may have been satisfied. But, since there was very little 
information available on the exhibit, Isabel’s curiosity only grew. The footnoted reference was her biggest lead, 
and Isabel intended to follow it up. However, the internet searches and library databases were soon exhausted, 
yielding few results. Isabel knew then that she would have to get her hands dirty by digging much deeper. The 
next two logical places to look were the Library of Congress and the University of Louisville, for the University 
houses an archive of documents on Roy Stryker, the man who was responsible for exhibiting the photographs of 
the Great Depression in the 1938 International Photographic Exhibition in New York City. 
Isabel (right) and her mentor, Dr. Lisa MacFarlane, 
discuss photographs. 
 
The Library of Congress responded to Isabel’s request with 
an article that merely mentioned the exhibit in passing. The 
response was disappointing and frustrating, but it also served 
to strengthen Isabel’s resolve. She now had a true sense of 
purpose for her project: Not only would she research certain 
photographs from the Great Depression, but she would also 
recover information pertaining to the exhibit that had, for all 
practical purposes, been lost to history. As Isabel recalls, 
“The fact that the Library of Congress couldn’t answer my 
questions about the exhibit was how I knew it would be a 
great research project. But it proved to be quite the 
undertaking, too.” 
It’s safe to say that’s an understatement. While studying 
abroad in the Netherlands the next semester, Isabel 
scrambled to put together a proposal to the University of 
New Hampshire for a Summer Undergraduate Research 
Fellowship grant. She submitted the proposal without much information on the exhibit; in fact, she had no idea 
whether she would be able to find any of the photographs. Fortunately, after submitting her grant proposal, 
Isabel was contacted by an archivist at the University of Louisville who told her they had found an inventory 
detailing the photographers and some of their photographs for the exhibit. Despite this encouraging news, 
Isabel’s attention was still focused on whether her grant would be approved. By the time mid–April rolled 
around, Isabel began to prepare herself for the worst: rejection of her grant proposal.  
As it turned out, Isabel’s worries were unwarranted; her grant was approved and she was ecstatic. Shortly after 
returning home, she began work on her research project. The first stage was pouring through secondary sources 
in the library. Isabel spent the entire month of June in UNH’s Dimond Library, reading as much as she could in 
preparation for her trips to Washington, DC, and Louisville, Kentucky. When the time arrived, Isabel traveled 
back and forth for over two weeks from her home in Cleveland, Ohio, to Louisville and Washington, DC. 
Isabel’s study abroad experience had taught her to plan for obstacles. While she faced some logistical hurdles, 
such as trying to track down sources on an unfamiliar campus or communicating with a project mentor who was 
overseas, Isabel’s bigger concern was how best to navigate the unfamiliar territory of research. As she recalls: 
“When you write a paper for an English class, you generally don’t have to worry about asking permission to use 
names, or about copyright infringements, liability, and so on.” Isabel spent her July days in archives, sorting 
through primary sources: the photographs themselves and the correspondence between the photographers and 
their boss, Roy Stryker. 
Coming Into Focus  
Slowly, Isabel gained a clearer understanding of an exhibit that had been lost to history. As part of the New 
Deal, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) had been formed in an effort to combat and chronicle poverty in 
rural America. Its Information Division was instrumental in distributing educational material and press 
information, and in establishing communications with the public at large. Part of this effort was a photography 
program, headed by an economist named Roy Stryker, who was put in charge of creating the Great Depression 
exhibit for the 1938 International Photographic Exhibition. According to Stryker, the exhibit’s theme was 
“people.” Isabel explains that the exhibit chronicled the hardships faced by Americans in both rural and urban 
settings during the Depression, “but with an emphasis on the plight of the rural poor—mostly white 
Americans.” The exhibit would be shown to the American public to, as Stryker himself put it, “introduce 
America to Americans.” The program and the exhibit employed many household names in the photography 
world, such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee. 
Arthur Rothstein. Eroded land on tenant’s farm. 
Alabama, 1937. Library of Congress, LC–USF346– 
025121–D 
 
For Isabel, research on the exhibit was interesting on two 
levels. First, she was able to recover many of the 
photographs that were part of the exhibit, seeing first–
hand the hardships suffered by Americans during the 
Depression. Second, the primary documents consisted not 
only of photographs, but also of correspondence between 
Roy Stryker and his photographers as well as comment 
cards by patrons who attended the exhibit. Isabel found 
this part particularly interesting for the comments revealed 
public sentiment. Comments ranged from a “waste of 
taxpayer money” to “excellent—a real living example of 
conditions in the U.S.” to three individuals wishing for a 
public leader like Hitler. Even the language used on the 
comments and correspondence was indicative of the time 
period: “cool” wasn’t the cool word yet; it was “swell.” 
Not only did Isabel find parts of the missing exhibit, but she 
also found everyday details of the work that went into producing it. Notes from Roy Stryker to his 
photographers included instructions on what to shoot as well as warnings to cut down on the amount of film 
they used. The photographers would send their responses on hotel stationary, sometimes with inside jokes or 
silly doodles. But what some of these notes revealed to Isabel was that within the microcosm of the Farm 
Security Administration’s photography program, there was a battle to keep people employed, just as the FSA 
sought to do for the community at large. Roy Stryker lived and breathed the photography project. When funding 
was threatened to be cut, which it was on several occasions, Stryker fought to keep the program in place so that 
his photographers would keep their jobs.  
 
Isabel was quick to recognize that Roy Stryker was meticulous in his management style. He would send 
shooting scripts to his photographers, telling them what subjects to photograph and in what settings. Stryker 
also went to painstaking lengths to keep track of inventories and expenditures, such as how much film was used 
and how much transportation and hotels would cost. However, amidst all these detailed instructions and records, 
there is nothing about  
 
 
This observation has led to several questions: why were 
people photographed the way they were? Was it to portray 
something specific, or was it spur–of–the–moment artistic 
license by the photographers? What was the decision–making 
process that led to certain photographs being chosen out of 
hundreds of others? (Isabel notes that “women and children 
[were] important subjects [for the exhibit], particularly 
images of sick, dirty and malnourished children.”) Finally, 
how much of this photography exhibit was a documentary 
effort and how much of it was possibly for a political agenda 
that stretched beyond the FSA’s mission to chronicle 
poverty?  
Russell Lee. Christmas dinner in home of Earl 
Pauley. Iowa, 1936. Library of Congress, LC–
USF34– 006326–D 
 
Arthur Rothstein. Mountain people. Maryland, 1936. 
Library of Congress, LC–USF34– 005574–E 
 
It was almost as if Isabel had come full circle, for the ideas discussed in Dr. 
MacFarlane’s seminar certainly had an application here. Did these 
photographs of the Great Depression reveal ideas about the American 
identity? Or were they meant to shape ideas on the suffering of the Great 
Depression—perhaps to the extent of shaping and justifying public policy? 
Or, was it a combination of both?  
Following a trail that started with an obscure footnote, Isabel’s research 
solved the mystery of what this 1938 exhibit was and where the photographs 
were. In fact, through her relentless work, Isabel was able to recover and 
compile into a slideshow many photographs that would otherwise have been 
lost. She has given a voice to those almost lost photographs that seemed so 
eager to tell a story.  
Yet, while Isabel Klein can, and should, derive a great deal of satisfaction 
knowing she has brought to light an important part of our nation’s historical 
and pictorial record, one suspects the questions that arose after Isabel solved 
the first part of her mystery are still looking for an answer.  
 
 
 
Dorothea Lange. Mother of 
family camped near a creek bed, 
panning for gold. California, 
1935. Library of Congress, LC–
USF341– 009474–C  
 
Ben Shahn. Mother and child. Arkansas, 1935. Library of 
Congress, LC–USF33– 006055–M2 
 
Note: A bound copy of all the photos, “How American People Live, April 1938”: A Recreation of the 
Photography Exhibit, can be viewed in the Women’s Studies Office in room 203 of Huddleston Hall on the 
UNH campus, Durham. Office hours are Monday through Thursday 9-5 and Friday 9-4. Call ahead to verify: 
603-862-2194. In the fall of 2009, Isabel Klein entered the College of Information Studies at the University of 
Maryland to obtain a Master of Library Science with a specialization in Archives, Records and Information 
Management. 
 
 
Copyright 2009 Kyle Flynn 
Arthur Rothstein. Sharecropper’s 
child suffering from rickets and 
malnutrition. Arkansas, 1935. 
Library of Congress, LC–USF33–
002002–M2 
Author Bio 
 
Kyle Flynn, of Nashua, New Hampshire, is a junior philosophy major and French/economics minor in his first 
year at Inquiry. Currently residing in Dover, Kyle is an Honors Program student who chose to attend the 
University of New Hampshire after correspondence with a UNH philosophy professor while still in high school. 
He adds that getting a scholarship made the choice easy. Kyle joined Inquiry because he enjoys writing and 
wanted the experience of being on the editorial board. Interested in philosophy as well as economics, Kyle is 
the only philosophy major working with the Atkins Investment Group as an economic analyst. With that 
experience he hopes to attend graduate school to further his study of economics. Kyle spends his free time 
reading, skiing, and playing soccer. 


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Photographing the Great Depression: Recovering the Historical Record

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