Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Written Records: Selected Documents
Introduction | Shooting Scripts | Caption Sheets | General Guidance | Research in the FSA/OWI Written Records | Related Resources
Introduction
The Farm Security Administration Historical Section (and the unit’s predecessor in the Resettlement Administration and successor in the Office of War Information) produced many written records in the course of the photography work it conducted on behalf of its parent agencies. The written records that came to the Library of Congress are grouped in LOT 12024 (for more information on the written records, see: //www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/written.html).
Researchers often request to see “shooting scripts"--outlines of intended photographic coverage. We include here all the documents that we found referred to as "shooting scripts," as well as other documents that lay out proposed photographic coverage. Secondary sources mentioning the shooting scripts sometimes imply that Roy Stryker, the head of the FSA photo unit, routinely devised the scripts, but the variety of scripts found in the written records suggest that Stryker often encouraged others to develop the scripts. For suggestions on other sources of shooting scripts, see "Related Resources," below.
Photographers prepared photo captions that headquarters staff subsequently edited. The written records contain many--but by no means all--of the sheets of captions for the negatives taken by members of the photographic unit. Folders for "general captions," contain text that provided the background or summary of an assignment. Included below are the general captions associated with LOTs 344 and 345, the group of photographs by Dorothea Lange in which the well-known "Migrant Mother" series appears, although Lange's comments on those particular photographs are sparing, at best.
Additional documents convey the general guidance Stryker provided to photographers and FSA field staff and offer a glimpse of how the photographic unit operated.
In some cases, the author or date of documents in the written records went unrecorded. Many of the documents are carbon copies on thin paper. The quality of the digital versions reflects the flaws in the originals found in the written records.
Shooting Scripts and Arrangements for Specific Photography Coverage
Longview Homesteads
Pare Lorentz to Wilbur D. Staats, 1935 August 15
[PDF file, 1 p., 168 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1935
Description of associated LOT (group of photographs)
Dorothea Lange Itinerary, California and Southwest
Roy Stryker to Frederick P. Soule, 1935 Dec. 6
[PDF file, 1 p, 117 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1935
Arkansas - Families Moving
Roy Stryker to M.C. Blackman, 1936 Jan. 6
[PDF file, 1 p., 113 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1936
Alabama
Roy Stryker to William L. Lowry, "Subject: Photographer," 1936, March 17
[PDF file, 1 p, 187 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1936.
Note: Original text is not sharp.
Drought
Edwin Locke to Arthur Rothstein, 1936 July 14
[PDF File, 1 p., 36 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 8, Travel, Rothstein, 1936
Dust Storms in Texas
Roy Stryker to Ralph G. Bray "Subject: Photographs," undated [1936?]
[PDF file, 1 p., 69 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1936
Michigan shackers - Russell Lee
Roy Stryker to Leo Nicholas, 1937 Feb. 16
[PDF file, 1 p., 148 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 1, Correspondence, General, 1937
Associated group of photos: LOT 1044
Wisconsin
R. I. Nowell to W. W. Alexander, 1937 May 13
[PDF file, 2 p., 153 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 1, Correspondence, Field, 1937
Original is poor quality
Coal Town, Shenandoah, PA
Roy Stryker to Sheldon Dick, 1938 Oct. 17
[PDF file, 2 p., 383 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Dick, Sheldon, 1938-1940
African American Communities, Arkansas and Texas
Phil Brown to Roy Stryker, undated [1938]
[PDF file, 1 p., 169 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1938
Alabama - Photography Assignment for Marion Post
[PDF file, 2 p., 69 kb]
William H. Dent to W.L. McArthur, 1939 March 16
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1939
Cotton
- Roy Stryker to George Wolf, 1939 Sept. 29
[PDF file, 1 p., 131 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field 1939, 1941
- Roy Stryker to George Wolf, 1939 Oct. 25
[PDF file, 2 p., 275 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 7, Requisitions, Field, 1939
The Small Town
Author not recorded, "Notes for Discussion with Mr. Odum and staff"; "Shooting Script for 'The Small Town'"; "Notes for Study on Subregional Area," 1939 Oct.
[PDF file, 20 p., 1 mb]
LOT 12024, Box 30, Supplementary Reference Files, LOT 2237
Tobacco - North Carolina
- Author not recorded [Margaret Jarman Hagood, Univ. of North Carolina?], "Processes and Events to be Photographed within Definite Time Periods," 1939 Oct. 12
[PDF file, 1 p., 51 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 26, Supplementary Reference Files, LOT 1503
- Harriet L. Herring, "Notes and Suggestions for Photographic Study of the 13 County Subregional Area," undated [1939?]
[PDF file, 6 p., 356 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 26, Supplementary Reference Files, LOT 1503
Description of associated LOT (group of photographs)
Farm Debt Adjustment
Author not recorded, "Shooting Script of Farm Debt Adjustment," undated [between 1936 and 1939?]
[PDF file, 1 p., 149 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 4, Film Strips (Slide Films), Undated
Rehabilitation
Author not recorded, "Shooting Script for Rehabilitation Strip Film," undated [between 1936 and 1939?]
[PDF file, 1 p., 57 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 4, Film Strips (Slide Films), Undated
Consumer Division in Action
Memo, Frances G. Knight, Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense, to Robert Collyer, 1941 March 25
[PDF file, 2 p., 137 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 1, Click Magazine 1941-1943
NYA Resident Training
Memo, Barbara Wright to Orren H. Lull, 1941 July 14
[PDF file, 5 p., 926 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, General, 1939-1941
Live At Home
Leslie Sorensen, "Suggested Pictures for 'Live at Home' Film Strip, undated [between 1939 and 1941?]
[PDF file, 4 p., 318 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 4, Film Strips (Slide Films), Undated
Defense Housing
Memo, Shelby Thompson to Roy Stryker, "Pictures of Defense Housing," 1942 Jan. 23
[PDF file, 1 p., 47 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 6, Requests for Photographs, 1942-1943
Coal
Author not recorded [John Collier, Jr.], "Coal," undated [1942 Oct.]
[PDF file, 1 p., 73 kb]
(Attribution and date based on draft of another copy dated 1942 Oct. 13)
LOT 12024, Box 1, Clearances, 1942-1943
Rail Transportation - Jack Delano
- Outlines
- Author not recorded [Jack Delano], undated [1942?],
[PDF file, 10 p., 1.6 mb]
LOT 12024, Box 1, Clearances, Army, 1942-1943.
Includes 3 documents (originals are somewhat fuzzy):
- An Outline for a Photographic Story on Rail Transportation in the Chicago Terminal District (3 p.)
- Outline for a trip aboard a fast freight from Chicago Illinois to San Bernardino, Calif. (3 p.)
- Brief Outline of a Photographic Study of Railroads (4 p.)
- Roy Stryker to L.I. McDougle, 1942 October 12
[PDF file, 1 p., 134 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 1, Clearances, 1942-1943
The Farm Security Photographer Covers the American Small Town
Author not recorded, 1940 June 13,
[PDF file, 2 p., 273 kb]
(Notation on first page: "Exhibit Ansel Adams, San F. Fair" )
LOT 12024, Box 3, Exhibits 1941
Women in Industry
D.H. Davenport to Roy Stryker, 1942 Aug. 25
[PDF file, 2 p., 625 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Department of Labor, 1942-1944
Collecting Scrap
Majory Collins, "Shooting Script for Junk Story" undated [1942, April 26]
[PDF file, 3 p., 132 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 17, Supplementary Reference File for LOT 24
Description of associated LOT (group of photographs)
United Nations Flag Day
Author not recorded, United Nations Flag Day celebration: Oswego, New York, undated [1943]
[PDF file, 4 p., 270 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 22, Supplementary Reference File for LOT 769
Description of associated LOT (group of photographs)
England
Roy Stryker to Philip Bonn, 1943 June 17
[PDF file, 1 p., 180 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 5, Office of Education, 1942-1943
Caption Sheets
Dorothea Lange's captions for photos in LOTs 344-345 (LOT includes the "Migrant Mother" series)
[PDF file, 20 p., 2.5 mb]
LOT 12024, Box 20, Supplementary Reference File for LOT 344-345
Description of associated LOTs (groups of images)
General Guidance and Procedures
Skills Required to be an FSA Photographer
Author not recorded, "The F.S.A. Photographer" undated [1935?]
[PDF file, 4 p., 817 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 5, Personnel, Undated
Eudora Welty job application
G.E. Falke to T. Roy Reid, "Subject: Information Applicant" 1936 July 31 (original fuzzy)
[PDF file, 1 p., 88 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, Field, 1936.
Improving Photographic Coverage
- Roy Stryker to Theodor Jung, 1936 April 6
[PDF file, 2 p., 141 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 7, Travel, Miscellaneous, 1935-1937
- Roy Stryker to Theodor Jung, 1936 April 13
[PDF file, 3 p., 246 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 7, Travel, Miscellaneous, 1935-1937
Berenice Abbott Photo Selection (for her teaching purposes?)
Roy Stryker to Berenice Abbott, 1938 May 19
[PDF file, 1 p., 91 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 2, Correspondence, General, 1938
How to Draft a Shooting Script
Memo: Roy Stryker to John Fischer, "Request from Region 12 for the services of a photographer and suggestion on a proposed film strip," 1938 Jan. 14 (original is fuzzy)
[PDF file, 2 p., 412 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 4, Film Strips (Slide Films), 1938
Slide Films [i.e., Film Strips]
Roy Stryker to Gordon Sessions, 1939 June 1
[PDF file, 1 p., 114 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 4, Film Strips (Slide Films), 1939.
Office Assignments and Developing Photographic Skills
Memo: Roy E. Stryker to David M. Myers, 1939 March 13
[PDF file, 2 p., 267 kb]
LOT 12024, Box 5, Personnel, 1939.
Poster Campaign in Factories
Memo: Ed Rosskam to Roy Stryker, 1942, Feb. 14
[PDF file, 2 p., 160 kb] (print quality uneven in the original)
LOT 12024, Box 6, Posters, 1941-1942
Research in the FSA/OWI Written Records (LOT 12024)
The FSA/OWI Written Records consists of 45 boxes of material. The contents of all but two boxes were copied onto 23 reels of microfilm and were summarized in a finding aid. The finding aid is available online, with links to scans from the microfilm: Written records in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Collection. The microfilm can also be viewed in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room (LOT 12024) or can be purchased from the Library's Duplication Services (order number P&P 12024). The pamphlet on which the finding aid was based Farm Security Administration, Historical Section: a Guide to Textual Records in the Library of Congress is available online as a pdf file [PDF, 27 p. (double page spreads), 6 MB].
Related Resources
Additional shooting scripts may be found in:
In preparing the finding aid to the FSA written records held by the Prints & Photographs Division, Annette Melville noted that, while the National Archives does not hold a distinct body of records for the Historical Section within the records of its parent body, the FSA Information Division, relevant records may exist in the record groups for the FSA (RG 96) and for the Office of War Information (RG 208) [visit the National Archives site].
For more information on related written records, see the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information "Selected Bibliography and Related Resources" and Appendix 4 of the finding aid.
Prepared by: Barbara Natanson and Jeff Bridgers, Prints & Photographs Division Reference Section, Oct. 2011. Revised Mar. 2022. |
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