by Ned Stihm ©2005
Photographs taken near Erin, New York
September 1940 by Jack Delano
Delano's image notes at bottom
I found these photographs at the American Memory site of the Library of Congress. What were they? What did they mean? Who was Jack Delano? He wasn't from Erin.
In September 1940, a man and a women in a beat up car arrived in Erin, New York. Of course, the townspeople were interested in the strangers, but in the spirit of upstate New York - were interested "from a distance." The strangers made some friendly inquiries at the general store, got back in their car and drove off in an easterly direction toward Rumsey Hill Road. The strangers were Jack and Irene Delano representing the United States Farm Security Administration.
Jack Delano graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts earlier that year. After graduating, he applied and was hired by the Farm Security Administration as one of a team of photographers to travel the United States and photograph the Depression's devastating effects on people, and the impact of wartime mobilization.
Roy Stryker was the head of the FSA photographic department. He did not instruct his team of photographers to bring back any particular photographs, but rather wanted them to roam about freely. Roy wanted them to observe Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life, the effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, increasing farm mechanization, displaced people migrating West or to big cities, and mobilization for World War II.
Jack was assigned to travel the east coast. He and his wife, Irene, certainly had a knack for meeting people and made friends with strangers easily. Irene, also an artist, made drawings that supplemented the photographs taken by her husband. One morning in September 1940 the Delanos arrived in Erin, New York and looked around. They found the people and places in the photographs here on the Rumsey Hill Road (between Erin and Van Etten). About 1o more photographs of this area exist - please visit the Library of Congress website to see the others.
The FSA was a reorganized version of the 1935 Resettlement Administration that granted low-cost loans and assistance for poor farmers, created camps and settlements for migrant workers, controlled river pollution, and fixed areas of soil erosion. The RA also had an Historical Section whose purpose was to produce photographic records of rural life. In 1937 the RA was renamed the “Farm Security Administration” or FSA. While working for the FSA, Delano delivered a substantial review of eloquent photographic portraits, home interiors, and landscapes in rural areas.
Jack Delano worked for the FSA from 1939 to 1943 then went on to do many other things. He chronicled life in Puerto Rico - loved Puerto Rico so much that he and Irene moved there - worked as a military photographer, a filmmaker, a composer, and an illustrator of children's books designed in collaboration with his wife.
All the FSA photographers contributed 164,000 black-and-white film negatives, 107,000 black-and-white photographic prints, and 1,610 color transparencies into the FSA/ Office of War Information (FSA /OWI) Image Collection. The vast collection depicts Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life, the adverse effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization, displaced people migrating West or to industrial cities in search of work, and America's mobilization for World War II. The FSA was renamed four times between 1937 and 1946, and continues today as the Farm Service Agency under the United States Department of Agriculture.
Writer’s note: I had an idea. Is the little girl in these photos alive? Do these families still live there? It's been 65 years. So I checked the telephone book. Sure enough! There were several families today on the same rural road with the same last name. I thought how perfect is this, so I contacted the families. The families did claim to have always lived there but do not/did not know anyone from the photos or their names.
Resources:
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=about&subject=landing&topic=ham-ah
http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibit_main.asp?id=41
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Photographs are from the Library of Congress American Memory
Notes are Jack Delano's
Image info from top to bottom
1. Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28847]
2. Small daughter of Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28866]
3. Mrs. Morrison farms in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28829]
4. Mrs. Ben [Anna] Harris [age 58], feeding her goats outside her house in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03141]
5. Small daughter of Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28863]
6. Mrs. Ben [Anna] Harris [age 58] preparing the evening meal. The Harrises come from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. They have goats and sell goats milk. Live in submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03113]
7. Mr. Miller, farmer and minister. He is the only Negro farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. He came about seven years ago after having farmed in Tennessee and New Jersey. His farm is on the very crest of the hill and he is doing a little better than most of his neighbors. His two boys go to high school and his wife works in town. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03173]
8. Mr. Ben Harris [age 56]. He comes from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Has goats and sells goats milk. Does hardly any farming. Lives in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c0314]
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