Flavorwire

The most iconic images of the Great Depression and World War II, from Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother to V-J Day in Times Square, like most of the period’s photos, are in black and white. But, as Photo District News reminds us, color photography did exist back then, and the US government’s Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information dispatched several photographers between 1939 and 1945 to capture everything from rural farmers to WWII machinists in vibrant color. In fact, the Library Congress has cataloged thousands of these images. We spent the morning browsing their archives; page through a gallery of our favorite photos from the collection after the jump.

Jack Whinery and his family, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940. Photo credit: Lee Russell. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, LC-USF35-585