Photographs as historical documents

In this paper, we will demonstrate the use the images as evidence – as historical documents that, with their captions,[3] help flesh out other historical documents, or guide one to ask unanticipated questions of the historical record. We’ll demonstrate the use of these visual documents through our search to understand one small but significant part of American history – the New Deal land redistribution program in the lower Mississippi alluvial plain – the Delta of popular parlance.[4]

Imaginative map of the distribution of Resettlement Administration projects.

We are fortunate to have access to virtually the entire collection of photographs made by the RA/FSA, in roughly the sequence taken by the photographer. Between 1998 and 2000 digitized versions of the photographs were made available on the web in a searchable database. For the first time rejected – “killed” – images for which no file prints were made could be viewed by someone other than a dedicated scholar in the Library of Congress. And also for the first time, the collection could be searched on key words, freeing the researcher from the topical indexing system which was oriented toward users of single images.[5] 

It is now possible to easily and flexibly search these images for detailed information about specific places, by specific photographers, as well as topically.

Screenshot of FSA/OWI home page, 6-05

The photographs reveal both by what they document, and by what they fail to document. Both presence and absence are important.

Photographs in general provide direct empirical evidence of the phenomena translated to the chemicals (now digital code) exposed to light through a camera’s lens. But they also reveal, through the knowledgeable or naïve frame and choice of subject matter, what the photographer (or the person directing the photographer) considered important and significant.

Screenshot of a set of images with contiguous call numbers. Obtain a series by opening one record on the FSA/OWI website, then clicking - Display Images with Neighboring Call Numbers -