Color Photography from the 1930's and 1940's

Gorgeous images from the Library of Congress Bound for Glory exhibition. We tend to think of color as a recent development but it has been around for a lot longer than most people think. (1861 and it was developed by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell - quite the polymath if you read the Wikipedia article.) Ordinary black and white photography was only invented 30 years earlier -- there were other earlier images but these were not permanent. Talbot in 1834 was the first person to make permanent images. The Library of Congress exhibition is from 1939 through 1943 and contains photos of ordinary Americans. Gorgeous work. Here are five examples:

Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range
Madison County, Montana, August 1942


African American migratory workers by a "juke joint"
Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941


Worker at carbon black plant
Sunray, Texas, 1942


Mike Evans, a welder, at the rip tracks at Proviso yard of the Chicago and Northwest Railway Company


Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber
Tennessee, February 1943

These are just thumbnails of the original images -- visit the site for some wonderful photography and a fascinating historical record. Again: Library of Congress "Bound for Glory"