22 Color Photos of Small-Town America at the Dawn of WWII (23 photos)

This collection features color photographs taken across small-town America during the Great Depression era (1929–1940), offering a rare look at everyday life across the country.





The images were commissioned by the Farm Security Administration (FSA), a U.S. government agency created to combat rural poverty. Tasked with documenting the toll of the crisis on farm communities, the agency dispatched professional photographers across the nation. However, many of them became swept up in their craft, capturing serene pastoral scenes alongside the stark reality of hardship.



1. Neighborhood children, Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress).





2. A coastal town on Long Island Sound, Connecticut, November 1940. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress).



3. Farm auction in Derby, one of Connecticut's smallest municipalities, September 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



4. Trucks outside a starch factory in Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



5. News headlines displayed in the window of the Brockton Enterprise building, Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



6. Heading to town on a Saturday afternoon, Greene County, Georgia, May 1941. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



7. Cultivating a cotton field on tenant farm land near White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



8. A carnival barker inviting fairgoers to a circus show, Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Jack Delano, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



9. Homesteader Jack Whinery and his family, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



10. Faro Caudill having dinner with his family in their dugout home, Rutland, New Mexico, October 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



11. Garden outside homesteader Jack Whinery's dugout home, Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



12. Mill at the prosperous Camp Bird Gold Mine, Ouray County, Colorado, October 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



13. Surplus commodity distribution, St. Johns, Arizona, October 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



14. Hauling peaches from orchards to a packing house, Delta County, Colorado, September 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



15. Haystack and cars belonging to peach pickers, Delta County, Colorado, 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



16. Main Street in the town of Cascade, Idaho, July 1941. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



17. The road to Emmett winding through barren hills, Idaho, July 1941. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



18. Construction of Shasta Dam across the Sacramento River, California's longest waterway, June 1942. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Russell Lee, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



19. Grand Grocery Company store, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by John Vachon, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



20. Young African American boy, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942–1943. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by John Vachon, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



21. The town of Wisdom, Montana, April 1942. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by John Vachon, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)



22. General store, bar, juke joint, and gas station at a rural crossroads near a cotton plantation, Melrose, Louisiana, June 1940. Color slide reproduction. (Photo by Marion Post Wolcott, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress).