Rare Color Photos From The Great Depression (PHOTOS)

These rare color photos from the Great Depression were compiled by the Farm Services Administration from 1939 and 1944, and were recently gathered by the Denver Post's excellent photo blog.

All told, there are some 1,600 pictures which are now available online thanks to the Library of Congress. The photos, which depict small town life, industry and recreational activities during the Great Depression included in a 2006 exhibit "Bound for Glory: America in Color."

Check them out below:

Faro and Doris Caudill, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico. (1940)

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Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection. Photo: Russell Lee

Faro and Doris Caudill, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico. (1940)

Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection. Photo: Russell Lee

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Faro and Doris Caudill, homesteaders, Pie Town, New Mexico. (1940)

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Comments

[BikeFreak]

11:43 PM on 08/10/2010

Those people look a lot like us.

Ohhhhh! Wait a second...

[synergie]

07:47 PM on 08/10/2010

Wait, people were in color back then?

Very cool pictures.

[Souris9]

02:07 PM on 08/10/2010

How do you get the non- "fullpage Big Shots" slideshow? I'd rather see the whole picture than just the center portion blown up until it's completely pixellated.:p

[StopMakingSense2]

01:50 PM on 08/10/2010

Nice pictures. Make great pr for the republicans. See it wasn't so bad back then. Why do you resist us taking you back there so much?

[jan1204]

10:35 AM on 08/10/2010

i wish the photo's were still in black and white like in the old days it makes me appreciate them more.

[Dawn Dinks Winter]

09:00 AM on 08/10/2010

These are amazing photographs ,

[Jon Jony]

05:45 AM on 08/10/2010

There is only one problem with these photos. They are not from the Great Depression.
The Great Depression was from 1929 - 1933. All of these photos shown were taken after 1940....

[LP86]

08:37 AM on 08/10/2010

There's only one problem with this comment. You posted it like 14 times!

[Charles Versfelt]

08:40 AM on 08/10/2010

Jon Jony... you're hickuping. The same post, many times.

The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s-early 1940s. This, according to many sources I found in google.

[Jon Jony]

05:44 AM on 08/10/2010

There is only one problem with these photos. They are not from the Great Depression.
The Great Depression was from 1929 - 1933. All of these photos shown were taken after 1940.

[Charles Versfelt]

08:40 AM on 08/10/2010

Jon Jony... you're hickuping. The same post, many times.

The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s-early 1940s. This, according to many sources I found in google.

[Jon Jony]

05:44 AM on 08/10/2010

There is only one problem with these photos. They are not from the Great Depression.
The Great Depression was from 1929 - 1933. All of these photos shown were taken after 1940. Seriously lame.

[Charles Versfelt]

08:40 AM on 08/10/2010

Jon Jony... you're hickuping. The same post, many times.

The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s-early 1940s. This, according to many sources I found in google.

[Jon Jony]

05:42 AM on 08/10/2010

There is only one problem with these photos. THEY ARE NOT FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!

The Great Depression was from 1929 - 1933. All of these photos shown were taken after 1940.

[Charles Versfelt]

08:40 AM on 08/10/2010

Jon Jony... you're hickuping. The same post, many times.

The same reply, again:

The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s-early 1940s. This, according to many sources I found in google.

[Jon Jony]

05:41 AM on 08/10/2010

There is only one problem with these photos. THEY ARE NOT FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!

The Great Depression was from 1929 - 1933. All of these photos shown were taken after 1940. Seriously lame.

[Charles Versfelt]

08:34 AM on 08/10/2010

The Great Depression lasted until the late 1930s-early 1940s. This, according to many sources I found in google.

[RTIII]

04:43 AM on 08/10/2010

The image with the caption:

"Retiring a locomotive driver wheel, Shopton, Iowa. (1943)."

is, quite simply, mistaken. It is NOT _retiring_ a locomotive driver wheel, it's CREATING one. In particular, the wheel in question is being "shod."

Otherwise, well taken and well credited photos...

As an aside, my summer home as a boy was Natchitoches, LA, so I know the places imaged here, and these images of that place are _remarkable._

[DG3]

03:21 AM on 08/10/2010

I can't believe how cheap produce was back then.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m216/dgates01/storefront3.jpg

[WonderingNThinking]

02:31 AM on 08/10/2010

These are really cool old photos, but not really seeing them as the epitomy of the great depression.

[missgramma2005]

10:05 PM on 08/09/2010

Amazing photo's. Notice that nobody in the photo's was overweight? Thanks Huff.

[Charles Versfelt]

08:35 AM on 08/10/2010

That was before the days of companies loading everything with high fructose corn syrup.

[missgramma2005]

12:15 PM on 08/10/2010

Very true. Plus all the growth hormones that's being put into livestock for human consumption. Plus I love chocolate and ice cream!!!!

[Souris9]

02:09 PM on 08/10/2010

Slowly starving to death is excellent for weightloss, I hear.