The Photographs of Marion Post Wolcott

Providing a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War, each volume in the Fields of Vision series focuses on a single photographer whose vision helped shape the collective identity of America and influenced the way we look at photographs in the 21st century. All of the images in each volume are chosen from the Library of Congress’s renowned collection of Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographs.

Marion Post Wolcott (1910–1990) broke gender barriers as a newspaper photographer before joining the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in 1938. Fueled by social concerns and an artistic vision, Wolcott produced more than 9,000 photographs for the FSA while challenging prevailing attitudes about the propriety of a young woman traveling on her own. Although she worked professionally for only a few years, her photographs created a lasting record of American life on the eve of World War II.