Archival photographs with verified rights statements, plus labeled AI illustrations.
Illustrations (AI-generated)
Hero images on this site are labeled illustrations, not historical photographs.
Railyard in fog. Illustrated railyard mood piece for gallery atmosphere—not an archival photograph. Illustration (AI-generated). Not a historical photograph.Jungle campfire. Illustrated camp scene for gallery atmosphere—not an archival photograph. Illustration (AI-generated). Not a historical photograph.
Farm Security Administration / OWI (Library of Congress)
Each photograph below was checked on its Library of Congress item record for a rights advisory of “No known restrictions.” Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection (except where noted).
Itinerant laborers riding the freight. West side of San Joaquin Valley, California. Itinerant laborers on a San Joaquin Valley freight—west-side harvest traffic. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Negro waiting for freight train to leave Dubuque, Iowa. A Black traveler waits for a freight to leave Dubuque—Midwest yards as both workplace and gate. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Man in hobo jungle killing turtle to make soup, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A Minneapolis hobo jungle: cooking from what the camp could catch, not a cartoon mulligan. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Member of the transient camp. Hagerman Lake, Michigan. A resident of Michigan’s Hagerman Lake transient camp—state relief housing in a former lumber camp. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Men in transient camp near Hagerman Lake, Michigan. Men gathered at Hagerman Lake: hard-times lodging between jobs, not a romantic jungle postcard. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Itinerant worker. Fort Worth, Texas. Dorothea Lange’s itinerant worker in Fort Worth—the road face of Depression labor mobility. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Street and homes in “Little Oklahoma”. Tents, shacks, and freight cars remade as homes for forty displaced families. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Migratory agricultural workers having supper at the railroad crossing at Camden, North Carolina. Supper at a Camden railroad crossing—migratory field workers pausing where tracks meet the road. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Freight train going east near Yuma, Arizona. Eastbound freight near Yuma: the desert main line that carried harvest labor and rumor alike. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Rear brakeman Clarence Averill, Chicago & North Western. Crew life beside the cars on the Chicago–Clinton freight run. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Caboose on the Chicago & North Western. The conductor’s second home on the Chicago–Clinton run—rail work’s rolling office. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Cabooses on the C&NW Proviso yard track, Chicago. Color film of wartime freight infrastructure. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Negroes sitting along railroad tracks, Raymondville, Texas. Men sitting along the tracks in Raymondville, Texas—waiting as part of the South Texas labor circuit. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Men eating in the transient camp at Hagerman Lake, Michigan. This is a former lumber camp. Mealtime at Hagerman Lake transient camp, a former lumber camp turned state shelter. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Supper at the railroad crossing, Camden, North Carolina. A migratory agricultural worker’s nickel pie and glass of milk. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Brakemen inspecting for hotboxes, DeKalb, Illinois. Chicago & North Western crew work that kept long freights moving. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Resident of the transient camp at Hagerman Lake, Michigan. A Hagerman Lake transient-camp resident: the institutional cousin of the informal jungle. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Man in hobo jungle killing turtle to make soup, Minneapolis, Minnesota. John Vachon, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sept. 1939. Another frame from John Vachon’s Minneapolis jungle cookery sequence. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Two freight riders past sixty, Omaha, Nebraska. John Vachon, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, Nov. 1938. Vachon’s caption notes that neither man expected to work again; they rode freights from Omaha to Kansas City to St. Louis and back. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Man making baskets at transient camp. Hagerman Lake, Michigan. Russell Lee, Hagerman Lake, Iron County, Michigan, Apr. 1937. A transient-camp resident weaving baskets inside Michigan relief housing. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Men in the recreation room of the transient camp at Hagerman Lake, Michigan. Russell Lee, Hagerman Lake, Iron County, Michigan, Apr. 1937. The recreation room at the same Hagerman Lake transient camp. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transient in the Gateway District, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Harvest worker. Russell Lee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aug. 1937. A harvest worker between jobs in Minneapolis’s Gateway District. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transient laborer resting, Gateway District, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Russell Lee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aug. 1937. Resting in the Gateway District—urban transient life under the Resettlement Administration. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transient laborer asleep in park, Gateway District, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Russell Lee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Aug. 1937. Asleep in a Minneapolis park when missions and camps were full. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transient laborer. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Russell Lee, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, May 1937. A lone transient laborer portrait from Lee’s Minneapolis series. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Luggage with transient in front. Grand Forks, North Dakota. Russell Lee, Grand Forks, Polk County, North Dakota, Oct. 1937. Luggage with a transient in Grand Forks—the bindle as still life. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transient laborer along roadside, Hancock County, Mississippi. Russell Lee, Hancock County, Mississippi, Oct. 1938. Roadside rest in Hancock County, Mississippi. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Negro transient agricultural laborers quarters. Homestead, Florida. Marion Post Wolcott, Homestead, Miami-Dade County, Florida, Jan. 1939. Quarters for Black transient agricultural laborers in Homestead, Florida. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Negro quarters, mostly transient agricultural workers. Homestead, Florida. Marion Post Wolcott, Homestead, Miami-Dade County, Florida, Jan. 1939. Homestead Negro quarters for mostly transient field workers. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Transients clearing land, Prince George's County, Maryland. Carl Mydans, Greenbelt, Prince Georges County, Maryland, Nov. 1935. Transients clearing land in Prince George’s County, Maryland—work relief off the freights. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.Dwelling of transient sharecroppers. Mississippi County, Missouri. Carl Mydans, Mississippi County, Missouri, May 1936. Dwelling of transient sharecroppers in Mississippi County, Missouri. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection. Source.
