Color photos of rural life late 1930's.

[aceplace57]

I love these photos of life during my mom and dad’s childhood. She was born in 1932. My dad was born in 1927. Very interesting to see the clothing worn by the men in this photo. All the men in the same green shirts. I remember hats like that in my older relative’s closets. They weren’t worn anymore but they still kept them.

Amazing how much has changed in only a couple generations.

Stunning color photos of the Great Depression

Now the Library of Congress has released stunning new photographs that show the period in vivid color, showcasing the strength of families, the recovery of farming and the joys of state fairs as the nation emerged from a dark time.

The photographs stretch out across the USA, with boys fishing and cotton pickers in the South to a starch factory in the East and a corn harvest in the West.

Taken from 1939 to 1941, the pictures show an America just beginning to pull itself out of a financial disaster that sent nearly 15 million Americans into unemployment by 1933.

The photos are a selection from a joint project between the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information to document American life through pictures taken between 1935 and 1944.

[aceplace57]

Just noticed the farmer eating dinner (2nd photo) hand is bandaged.

I love the carnival ride in the last photo. Plain, unpainted boards that the wheeled rides traveled on.

There’s so much history captured in these photos.

[stillownedbysetters]

My great-grandfather was a professional photographer. He took wedding pictures, pictures for the local rural paper, pictures of farm animals and equipment for insurance purposes, just about anything that might require a pictorial record. When he passed away, all of his inventory of pictures in his studio was packed into boxes, stacked in my grandmother’s attic and forgotten. When my grandmother died, we found them. Over an entire summer afternoon, my family and I went through these pictures, marveling at the stories they told of the times and the people. Funeral pictures of Civil War veterans, dressed hat to toe in their military gear - even buried with their sword or weapon. Family portraits where everyone looked angry, because getting your picture taken was serious business and it was considered disrespectful to smile. Young farm brides and their nervous-looking grooms in home-sewed dresses and ill-fitting borrowed suits. Pictures of cars when cars were new and a novelty. Pictures of people driving cars with crowds of children running behind them down the street. Just one marvelous gem after another.

We discussed what to do with them and finally offered them to the county museum which was thrilled to get them.

[Dorjan]

Are these photos from color film or are they colorized?

[Drunky_Smurf]

@stillownedbysetters

We discussed what to do with them and finally offered them to the county museum which was thrilled to get them.

Good for you. History needs to be documented.

@Dorjan

Are these photos from color film or are they colorized?

I would like to know this too.

EDIT: According to wiki they had color photography at the time and the wiki page has some examples from the late 1800s to the 19teens.

Color photography

Neat pictures.

[romansperson]

@Dorjan

Are these photos from color film or are they colorized?

Color film. Kodachrome was introduced in 1935.

The Library of Congress has a whole collection of color photos from the 1930s and 40s on Flickr.