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Historic Photography Project Dusted Off And Digitized By The NYPL
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 8, 2012
Modified Jun 8, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 8, 2012
Modified Jun 8, 2012
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Recently the New York Public Library released over 40,000 images digitally from the Great Depression, including some shot in New York City, and over 1,000 that have not been published in other collections documenting the era. The photos are from the Farm Security Administration’s photography project aimed at visually preserving "the plight of poor farmers."
This week The NY Times explained how the photos finally got dusted off for their digital debut: "None of the prints were cataloged until Stephen Pinson, a photography curator, came to the New York Public Library in 2005. He hired two catalogers and they discovered that some 1,000 photos in the New York collection were not among the negatives in the Library of Congress collection. Some of the New York Public Library prints don’t seem to appear in the Library of Congress online catalog at all."
Click through for photos of Manhattan in 1936, a time when Hoovervilles were popping up all over the city.
Tagged
Farm Security Administration
flashback
great depression
history
nypl
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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