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Laneia’s Team Pick: America in Color 1939-1943

Laneia

Posted by

on September 5, 2010

YOU GUYS. I was listening to Belle & Sebastian because obvs it's Feelings Weekend and I thought, "I wonder if there's a catastrophewaitress.tumblr.com. If there isn't, I would like very much to make that a thing. I would post photos of both catastrophes (and Katastrophe, holler) and waitresses. Possibly even clips from the movie Waitress, which I kinda liked." So I checked and OF COURSE there's a catastrophewaitress.tumblr.com. Jesus.

But! But! Look what the owner of catastrophewaitress.tumblr.com linked to!

Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943 is a collection of some of the only color photos from the Great Depression. These were originally part of the exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color from 1939-1943 via the Library of Congress, etc.

I just want to scream into these photos and say I SEE YOU OH MY GOD THERE YOU ARE. YOU LOOK JUST LIKE US, BUT A LITTLE BIT DIRTIER. I LOVE YOU. These people are real people! And I knew that, logically, but seeing them here, in their red floral dresses against that dusty brown road and the souls behind their full-color eyeballs, makes me have brand new feelings. Their skies look bluer than ours.

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16 responses to “Laneia’s Team Pick: America in Color 1939-1943”

  1. kate.
    kate.
    September 5, 2010 at 4:42 am Reply

    I’ve been having these weird sensations all weekend and didn’t know what it was but now I know it was Feelings Weekend. Thanks for letting me in on that.

    Also, wonderful photos. Thank you for caring and sharing.

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    1. Roxy2
      Roxy2
      September 7, 2010 at 3:11 am Reply

      Oh, Feelings Weekend? Why yes of course! It is all making sense now. I have had so many feelings and have randomly started crying at several songs, not knowing if I was happy or sad. Thank you Laneia, for clearing it all up. & of course, also what kate said “Thank you for caring and sharing.”

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  2. Cadence
    Cadence
    September 5, 2010 at 6:12 am Reply

    Wow. How bony are those kids?

    These photos are beautiful.

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  3. bfc
    bfc(member)
    September 5, 2010 at 7:22 am ReplyReport user

    wow. those photos blew my mind. thanks for that Laneia.

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  4. e
    e
    September 5, 2010 at 9:44 am Reply

    amazing photos. i feel like re-reading to kill a mockingbird. thanks laneia

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  5. riese
    riese(member)
    September 5, 2010 at 11:11 am Reply

    i am so glad you included the one of my spirit animal in this post. i look so pissed in that picture with my hand all on my hip and shit, i’m getting ready to write a comment in my next life.

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    1. Laura
      Laura(member)
      September 5, 2010 at 11:53 am ReplyReport user

      that 1/4 face looks exactly like riese!

      this is really fascinating, laneia. color pictures make thing feel like that actually happened and are not illustrations from a book about starving.

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  6. merryweather
    merryweather(member)
    September 5, 2010 at 11:26 am ReplyReport user

    Great link! I came across a similar article a few weeks ago on The Big Picture entitled “Russia in color”. The photos were taken between 1909 and 1912 by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Color photography wasn’t around at the time, but he invented a special three filtered camera to capture his images. Every time I look at the photos, I want to cry because normally, this is a world/era pictured in black and white in our minds and it’s so beautiful to see the actual color of the time.

    Some photos look very contemporary and some look as though they belong in Life magazine.

    Here’s the link to the photos: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html

    Here’s a link explaining the initial process and then the process used to enhance them today: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/making.html

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    1. Laneia
      Laneia(member)
      September 5, 2010 at 2:33 pm Reply

      whoa aaaaahhhhh those are crazy! they’re like movie stills but NOT.

      SO AMAZING THANK YOU.

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    2. Ziggy Hreins
      Ziggy Hreins(member)
      September 5, 2010 at 3:08 pm ReplyReport user

      I love old colour photos.
      here are some from the first world war
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/3460206/The-first-colour-photographs-from-the-German-front-line-during-World-War-One.html

      they almost look like paintings. And they are so sorrowful.

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    3. Soy Sauce
      Soy Sauce
      September 5, 2010 at 10:31 pm Reply

      This is UH-MAY-ZING!..!!

      I can’t get over it.

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  7. Emily
    Emily(member)
    September 5, 2010 at 4:08 pm ReplyReport user

    the history buff in me (like 95%) is soooo excited right now. i love this x a million. one cent oranges!!!

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  8. Jules
    Jules(member)
    September 5, 2010 at 8:44 pm ReplyReport user

    I came upon those photos of America a few weeks ago. Absolutely amazing to see everything in color, never saw those Russian ones, very interesting.

    Just looking at the gritty life back then makes our recession pale in comparison. It’s as if we have no idea what ‘hard life’ means.

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  9. Elle
    Elle
    September 5, 2010 at 9:13 pm Reply

    OMG these are amazing.

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  10. bfc
    bfc(member)
    September 6, 2010 at 4:11 am ReplyReport user

    Holy serious FUCK! Those pics from Russia are some of the most amazing things i’ve ever seen. Dear God. They both thrill and terrify me.

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  11. Sally
    Sally(member)
    September 6, 2010 at 6:02 am ReplyReport user

    These are magnificent.

    I used a load to shuffle through as desktop background.

    Then I stared at my desktop for a few hours.

    Was a really productive weekend.

    Anyway, I think the line “they look just like us but dirtier” is pertinent. So many old photos you look at, people’s faces look different from ours now, look old, like they were carved out of the land they worked.

    I’m guessing that the farther back you go, the more distinct the facial characteristics, because communities were, in general, more isolated, leading to less reproductive variety. Whereas now we’re rapidly becoming one big facial mush, sacrificing individuality for the greater heterogeneity.

    Anyway, I think what I really wanted to say was that the modernity of the faces in these photos heightens their impact, while also giving you a surreal disquiet, a suspicion they might be atmospherically-shot stills from a period drama.

    Great link, thank you.

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