June 1940. Pie Town, New Mexico. Wife of a homesteader with her WPA (Work Projects Administration) music class. These children walk eight miles for their music lessons. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Russell Lee.

October 1938. Fire station at Greenhills, Ohio, a planned community built by the federal government (Suburban Division of the Resettlement Administration) during the Depression. The image, scanned from a print, is a composite, with the utility pole and fire alarm superimposed; the asphalt was retouched with an airbrush. View full size. The fire station photo is by John Vachon.

July 1940. "Under the elevated railway, Chicago, Illinois." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

May 1940. Parked cars in Des Moines, Iowa. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

Lunch wagon in Washington, D.C., circa 1919. On the box: "Leoffler's Liberty Lunch 20¢" View full size. 4x5 glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. The Liberty Lunch street address was 100 Florida Avenue NE.

June 1942. Fort Knox, Kentucky. "A good job in the air cleaner of an Army truck. This Negro soldier, who serves as truck driver and mechanic, plays an important part in keeping Army transport fleets in operation." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

January 1942. Bantam, Connecticut. "Defense homes. The heating unit is in the kitchen of Fred Heath's four-room apartment in the new federally-financed homes for 80 families just a few minutes from the Warren McArthur factory in Bantam. The well-insulated coal fire puts steam in the radiators and provides the heat for cooking. The tenants are well-pleased although on several nights when the temperature dropped to 10 degrees below zero they were forced to replenish the fuel every two or three hours. That cigarette Fred Heath holds is not tailor-made, by the way -- he likes to roll his own." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Howard Hollem for the Office for Emergency Management.