Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
March 1937. Migratory Mexican field worker's home next to pea field. Imperial Valley, California. View full size. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.
I'll second the comment that this is a scene that you can still see today.
The car will be different. The looks on the faces can be the same. There are shacks, still to this day.
The children attend school only sporadically as they migrate with the location of the crops and different picking seasons. It's still a very, very hard life for them.
Today, if you drive the back roads of Imperial and Coachella Valleys, you will see dilapidated trailers and homes that do not look too much improved from this scene.
That little girl peeking out is the real star of this shot. The dark doorway draws you in, and the sweet face child keeps you there. Dorothea had such and eye for composition.
Thanks, Shorpy, for introducing me to her.
Today's Top 5