the story-tellers, part 33

musicians playing accordion & washboard in automobile, new iberia, louisiana by russell lee,  october 1938

folk musicians, verecke bereg county, 1895

blind musician, abony, hungary, 1921 by andré kertész

two gentlemen, one playing the banjo, ca. 1860s

two children listen to a farmer playing guitar on their front porch, near natchitoches, louisiana by marion post wolcott,  june 1940

gypsy man plays the accordion surrounded by a woman and several children, by e.o. hoppe,  ca. 1930

fsa photography

walker evans. allie mae burroughs. alabama. 1935-1936

arthur rothstein. farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm. cimarron county, oklahoma. april 1936

jack delano. william london has been a railroad worker 25 years, now working at the roundhouse at the proviso yards of the chicago & northwestern railroad. melrose, illinois. 1943

dorothea lange. florence owens thompson & her child. nipomo, california. february/march 1936

marion post wolcott. an elderly man and a child during the great depression. near camden, alabama. may 1939

russell lee. fortune teller, state fair. donaldsonville, louisiana. october 1938

sheldon dick. man sleeping in a fish market. baltimore, maryland. july 1938

the farm security administration or fsa hired photographers to document and report on the plight of the farmer from 1935 to 1944. roy stryker, an economist from columbia university, was hired to head the "historical section" of the fsa and his job was to "show the city people what it's like to live on the farm." he hired photographers like dorothea lange, walker evans, arthur rothstein, marion post wolcott, russell lee, ben shahn, john vachon, john delano, carl mydans, john collier, jr & gordon parks. for nine years they would travel the u.s.a. to produce a "visual encyclopedia of american life."

there are more than 100,000 photographs of america during the depression in the collection-many of them would become iconic photographs that were published in newspapers and publications such as life magazine & look magazine. the library of congress has 164,000 photographs available to view online here. there are some truly amazing photographs and just seeing the day to day life of americans during the depression is heart breaking and breathtaking.