Great Depression Photos

Pictures of the Great Depression offer insight into the devasting effects on Americans’ lives and the disruption of communities throughout America due to the economic unraveling of early 20th century America. Great Depression images offer a raw beauty taken in the format of black and white photographs by a group of young photographers on behalf of the FSA (Farm Security Administration). This U.S. government photography project was headed by Roy Stryker, who transitioned the program through a succession of government agencies, those being the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937), the Farm Security Administration (1937–1942), and the Office of War Information (1942–1944). Under Stryker, this group of FSA photographers comprised of Jack Delano, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott, and Sheldon Dick.

These images are raw provocative. Each photo tells a story of an America torn and battered by the fall and collapse of the American Stock market and the greater economy. The photos from the FSA photographs document the aftermath of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Many iconic images from this collection portray displaced farmers who migrated West or migrated to industrial cities searching for work only to often not find it. These black and white photographs of the Great Depression document more than works a difficult time in American history. Our collection of Greet Depression images for sale come from a range of sources from rare institutional and publisher collections and private single-owner collections of early 20th-century American photographs.