Railroad Man Photograph

Railroad man photograph by American FSA (Farm Security Administration) photographer John Vachon, 1914-1975. This gelatin silver print photograph is formally titled “Former railroad man now unemployed, Omaha, Nebraska” through the Farm Security Administration’s records – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) and dates to November 1938.

Library of congress number LC-USF33- 001314-M4 [P&P] LOT 412 (corresponding photographic print). This gelatin silver print photograph by John Vachon dates to the 1960s-1970s. It is stamped “Reproduced from the Collections of the Library of Congress” with Vachon’s signature, title, negative date, and printing notations, in pencil, on verso.

A member of the renowned group of FSA photographers, Vachon worked as a filing clerk for the Farm Security Administration before being recruited by Roy Stryker to document rural and small-town America and the Great Depression and Dust effects Bowl through the plain states through the WPA (Work Projects Administration) project at the FSA (Farm Security Administration)

Vachon’s crisp black and white photographs of daily life offer a glimpse into the early 20th-century American experience and the effects of the Great Depression.

The sheet measures 8 x 10 inches; the image measures 6.55 x 9.55 inches.

The photograph displays circular edge loss to the margin edges. The photograph surface displays minor abrasions and surface imperfections with markings and notations on the reverse.