Migrant Mother, The Library of Congress, and PBS.

digital file from original nitrate neg I feel compelled to post some versions of Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother” image. This was one...

digital file from original nitrate neg

I feel compelled to post some versions of Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother” image. This was one of the pictures that resonated with me during my very first photo class at RISD a gazillion years ago; I chose Lange to profile in my requisite slide presentation, and have been fascinated by the FSA photographers ever since.

A few folks have alerted me to the PBS film on this topic that’s airing tonight, and the related article in the Times: “Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the
F.S.A./O.W.I. Photographers” shows how the small Farm Security
Administration’s New Deal project to document poverty turned into a
visual anthology of thousands of images of American life in the 1930s
and early ’40s.”

Sounds unmissable.

One of the thing I like so much about the FSA works is that they’re public domain; they show an incredible cross-section of America, and they belong to all Americans. It seems downright patriotic to me.

Something I’ve been meaning to do forever is to order a “Migrant Mother” print. It’s amazing how easy and inexpensive this is to do. I also went searching in the Library of Congress’ online vaults, and I found out some interesting things about the print. They provide three versions (you can also download very high-res files and print them yourself). The version up above is the original nitrate negative for “Migrant Mother”. It was retouched in the 1930s to erase the thumb
holding a tent pole in lower right hand corner. The file print made
before the thumb was retouched can be seen in copy negative (second image below).

There’s also some more information about the people in the image:

“Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California”

digital file from print

digital file from b&w film copy neg. of unretouched fileprint showing thumb in right corner

It’s pretty unbelievable how easy it is to order a print– printed by a real person no less– from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.

Here’s the pricing structure. Looks like I’ll be getting an 11″x14″ fiber print (since it’s from a nitrate neg) for $78.00. Pretty good deal, I’d say.