"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God."

-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dec. 8, 1941

March 1942. Washington, D.C. "Construction of temporary war emergency buildings on the Mall, near 16th and 17th Streets N.W., seen from the top of the Washington Monument." Acetate negative by John Ferrell for the Office of War Information. View full size.

August 1941. Warren, Michigan. "Tank manufacture (Chrysler). These are partially completed M-3 tanks, 28-ton steel giants being turned out at the huge Chrysler tank arsenal near Detroit. The camera was directed toward the end of the three main assembly lines. Mass assembly methods developed in automobile manufacture are used. Note overhead cranes for heavy parts." Photo by Alfred Palmer for the Office for Emergency Management. View full size.

October 1942. "I'll carry mine. -- Delivery vans, 1942 style, line up outside a Greenbelt, Maryland, grocery store awaiting customers. Tire scarcity and gasoline rationing have placed such service at a premium, and these youngsters who are using their express wagons to carry home Mrs. America's purchases are doing their country a real service." Medium format nitrate negative by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information. View full size.

August 1941. "Conservation. Scrap iron and steel. An automobile graveyard outside Baltimore. Scrapped cars are collected in such yards in every state. Usable parts are stripped from the chassis and the remainder of the car is sent to scrap iron dealers for processing and shipment to steel mills." Acetate negative by "Danish," Office for Emergency Management. View full size.

October 1942. Washington. D.C. "Clerical workers processing forms for production requirement plan -- Priorities Division, War Production Board." Medium format acetate negative by Howard Liberman for the Office of War Information. View full size.

August 1941. Coffee County, Alabama. "Josh Smart family participates in the FSA Food for Defense program. Mrs. Eulia Smart says: 'I never had a pressure cooker before, an' when I got this one, I canned everything in sight' -- 264 quarts since spring." Medium format nitrate negative by John Collier for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

February 1943. Washington, D.C. "Preparation for point rationing. While Mother keeps handy her War Ration Book Two, daughter examines the frozen foods which require removal of point stamps." 4x5 acetate negative by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information. View full size.

December 1940. Radford, Virginia. "Hercules Powder Plant employee going upstairs. Mrs. Pritchard's boardinghouse. Eighteen men board here." One of the gents last seen here. Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

December 1940. Radford, Virginia. "Influx of construction workers to build Hercules Powder Plant -- new arrivals in town. They've come by bus from West Radford." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

January 1943. "Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Girl welder in the National Youth Administration school." Photo by Gordon Parks, Office of War Information. View full size.

March 1941. "Sailor's wife living in trailer camp for construction workers near Navy yard. Portsmouth, Virginia." The lady last seen here. Photo by John Vachon. View full size.

December 1941. "Telephone operators at Aberdeen proving grounds. They live in dormitory for defense workers. Aberdeen, Maryland." Acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.

March 1941. Newport News, Virginia. "Shipyard workers going home at 4 p.m." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

June 1941. "Wife of defense worker ironing clothes in utility building at FSA trailer camp. Erie, Pennsylvania." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

December 1940. Radford, Virginia. "Construction workers in room at Mrs. Jones's boardinghouse. Six men live in this room. Three beds, pay eight to ten dollars a week rent. Most of them have families they left behind in Bluefield, West Virginia; Bristol, Tennessee; or High Point, North Carolina. They are carpenters, carpenters' assistants, riggers and laborers. They make sixty cents to $1.25 per hour." Acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.