Russell Lee, "Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family,Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940"
Reproduction from color slide.

The United States Library of Congress is currently exhibiting a treasure-trove of color photographs from the Depression era.

"Bound for Glory: America in Color" is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI). Comprised of seventy digital prints made from color transparencies taken between 1939 and 1943, this exhibition reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II.

"The photographs in Bound for Glory, many by famed photographers such as John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott, document not only the subjects in the pictures, but also the dawn of a new era -- the Kodachrome era. These colorful images mark a historic divide in visual presentation between the monochrome world of the pre-modern age and the brilliant hues of the present. They change the way we look -- and think about -- our past."

The website, www.loc.gov/exhibits/boundforglory/glory-home.html, has a great selection online.